Hi I recieved an electric roaster for christmas it seems somewhat big to keep around just for roasting. Does any one have one and what other uses can I put it to??? can I water bath in it for canning??? what do you all do with yours???

-- ronda (thejohnsons@localaccess.com), December 27, 2001

Answers

ronda, We use ours for the following; heating tomatoes for canning before running them through the "Victorio", heating the freshly made applesauce brfore packing into jars, making spagetti sauce,putting together homemade soup before canning,roasting chickens,turkeys,and large roasts of beef,we use it as a big pan when making sausage or grinding hamburger. Yes, we love ours and are on our second one in 18 years.

-- Ralph in N.E.Ohio (Roadapple@suite224.net), December 27, 2001.

Ronda, I just got one for Christmas myself. I absolutely love it. Along with roasting, mine has a rack that fits onto the bottom rack to use it as an oven to bake cakes, pies and muffins. I haven't tried using it that way yet. I plan to just use it as a counter top oven. I guess we could just use it anyway we would use a large kettle or oven.

-- Ria in Ky (MinMin45@aol.com), December 27, 2001.

We use ours for making large amounts of soup.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), December 28, 2001.

My mother had one she used for water bath canning but I don't remember how she did it. As I remember, she just put a few inches of water in it because it wasn't deep enough to cover the jars. She used it much like people do crockpots now except bigger. Our church has 4 of them used to keep htings hot for serving huge meals, making horrific amounts of chili, etc. Never baked in it but I do remember it made the best meatloaf, while baking potatoes at the same time; slow and brown. Ymmmmmm.

-- Rosalie (Dee) in IN (deatline@globalsite.net), December 28, 2001.

I make huge batches of Apple butter in mine!!!!

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), December 28, 2001.

Anything you do in the oven can be done in the roaster - even baking a pie. I have used mine also when I need a great big container of some type for mixing (like at thanksgiving time when we had both sides of the family come - 32 people - I mixed the stuffing in it and baked it there too). I also use mine mostly at canning time. For the tomatoes, but the absolute best is for making apple butter.

I cook my apples for the apple sauce in there for the apple butter and run them through the strainer then you just put the usual apple butter ingrediants in there. Set it on a medium heat in the evening just before supper time. Give it a few stirs now and then until bed time. Turn it down on low and leave it in there all night. When you get up in the morning it is the perfect apple butter already for canning. Perfect favor, texture and thickness! You will be amazed when you open the lid and see how it went from applesauce at bedtime to apple butter in the morning. And as an added bonus...what a wonderful smell in the morning when you wake up!!

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), December 28, 2001.

Thank you for all the good ideas. I am not much of a gadget person so the appliance needs to justify it's space in the kitchen. I know it is nice for big gatherings as I only have a single oven and always need room for more dishes. all your suggestions are very helpful thanks

-- ronda (thejohnsons@localaccess.com), December 28, 2001.