Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)My parents received a roaster in 1941 as a wedding gift. All my warm holiday memories featured the traditional turkey and dressing in the roaster. Needless to say it's 2008 and the old roaster is tiring just a bit. The enamel cookwell is fissuring in 2 spots and the rack has had to be welded.
So this year I splurged and purchased this roaster with the stainless steel cookwell just in time for Thanksgiving!
The only negative is the burn in! Now I wasn't around in 1941 when my parents received theirs but I don't remember my mom complaining about a burn in in later years. Anyway I took the roaster OUTSIDE (that's crucial), removed the cookwell, paperwork etc..... and turned it on. 1 hour later the smell was horrific, 2 more hours no change, 8 hours and the smell was still BAD, VERY BAD!!
I turned the roaster off after the 8 hour burn in and since it still stank I did another 8 hour burn the next day and by the end of 16 hours of total burn time the 'stench' had died down. The strength of the stench worried me. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin the Thanksgiving 20 pounder so I plopped a 5 pound frying chicken in the roaster, turned the roaster to 350 and left it cook for 2 hours.
At first I was worried because there was still a little residual smell at the start of the cook but within a few minutes all you could smell was the heavenly roasting bird. 2 hours later the chicken was falling off the bone tender. The entire bird simply slide off the bone as I attempted to lift it gingerly out of the roaster.
The spices had deeply penetrated and my husband and I stood at the roaster and feasted upon the fallen chicken pieces left in the roaster. It was the best roast chicken we had had in recent memory.
Clean up, oh the dreaded clean up, as the old roaster aged cleaning got more and more difficult and it was a much dreaded and hated task. I purchased the stainless cookwell to hopefully facilitate cleanup and now began clean up with much trepidation. Was I pleasantly suprised. After washing out all the organic bits I simply sprayed with a little oven cleaner put the roaster lid on and snickered knowing my husband would end up being stuck with the cleaning next morning. Boy was the joke on me! The next morning ALL the inside was clean and after a quick sponging with some dishwashing liquid the stainless steel cookwell was clean!
So for the first time in the past 20 years that I've been responsible for roasting the bird I am NOT dreading the clean up portion of the program and for me THAT alone is worth 5 stars!
Thank you Nesco no more dreading Thanksgiving
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Nesco American Harvest 4808-25-20 18-Quart Roaster Oven with Stainless Steel Cookwell, Stainless SteelThis stainless steel 18 Qt roaster oven can go just about anywhere; the kitchen, covered patio, RV, cabin or anywhere delicious, easy to prepare meals are needed.The full 18 Qt cookwell capacity is large enough to easily prepare meals for large crowds.The exclusive "Circle of Heat" heating element wraps around for moist, even cooking.Food cooks from the sides, not from the bottom, for great tasting results.Conveniently positioned temperature guide displays recommended temperatures for roasting, baking, cooking, steaming, slow cooking and serving.The stainless steel cookwell easily removes for easy cleaning.Convenient automatic temperature control helps maintain even cooking temperatures.Extra high domed, self basting cover helps ensure moist cooking.Comes with stainless steel cookwell.
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