Ban the V-Shaped Rack

Please do not use a roasting pan with a V-shaped rack for roasts or turkeys! They hamper even cooking, and they’re expensive. You want to roast this meat with dry heat, not boil or braise it. If you must use a roasting pan, forgo the V-shaped rack and place a standard flat wire rack from your oven on top of the pan. On the grill, try to get the drip pan at least 2 inches below the meat.

In these illustrations you can see that when the meat is in a V-shaped rack in a roasting pan (left), the sides of the pan block hot air and the liquid in the pan cools the meat, leaving it undercooked and soggy. If we raise the meat to the top of the pan (middle), the bottom of the meat is much warmer. If we raise it at least two inches above the pan (right), warm air surrounds the meat from all sides and it cooks evenly.