Plastic wrap in the oven? Really?

Monita is a recipe tester for Food52.

added 6 months ago

The instruction to wrap in plastic does seem odd but then you wrap each breast in aluminum foil which will protect the breast and the plastic.

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I accidentally put plastic wrap in the oven and had a mess. I would not try it on a turkey, or anything edible for that matter.

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matthew.shaw.547 added 6 months ago

Voted the Best Answer!

There was a trend a few years ago to use plastic wrap in recipes. However, it turned out that there is a big difference in the restaurant grade food plastic used to test the recipes and the consumer grade Saran Wrap that most home cooks use. I happen to have some restaurant grade plastic wrap at home, and it does indeed work fine in the oven, but the one time I used Saran Wrap, I ended up with a plastic-glazed casserole. Here's the Amateur Gourmet's experience with melting plastic: http://www.amateurgourmet...
My recommendation? Unless you have service grade plastic, I'd just omit it from the recipe altogether. The intent of the plastic is to seal in moisture, and if you carefully wrap it with aluminum foil, the plastic shouldn't be needed.

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My sister's ribs are the best I've ever tasted. I've made the recipe numerous times. She wraps the ribs in plastic wrap, then foil. When she takes them out of the oven and removes the foil, the plastic wrap just peels off. Then she puts them on the grill just to carmelize the sauce. They are succulent! I wouldn't hesitate to use plastic wrap--and we've never used restaurant grade plastic--and can't wait to try this preparation for the turkey breasts!

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bigpan added 6 months ago

There is a brand of plastic turkey bags, I think the name is "Look", but I could be wrong. Ask at the grocery store.
I have used a few times in the past and it works!
Also cuts the cooking time quite a bit.

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You can check the grocery store for high-heat plastic bags or wrap, some of them carry it. All the plastic wraps that I have in my kitchen have warnings not to allow contact with food that is hot or heating.
I would probably just wrap the meat in parchment and then in the foil.

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CarlaCooks added 6 months ago

Thanks for all of the helpful answers! Unfortunately, I don't live in the States, and finding these different kinds of plastic wrap/bags just isn't possible here in Denmark. I think I'll try this technique on some chicken later on, but I won't attempt it for our Thanksgiving dinner in case it doesn't work out. Thanks again!

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In Germany, we have bags used for cooking called Schlauchbeutel. I am sure you must have something similar iin Denmark--but I would give it a try on something rather small!

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