Vintage Sunday: Wearever No. 325 Covered Roaster

Ladies and gentlement, I present to you perhaps the best covered roaster ever sold:  The Wearever Aluminum No. 325, originally sold in the 1940's.  The one in the picture above is my own, and you can probably tell by the assorted little dings and patina that it sees a lot of use.

Its big rectangular footprint is awesome. The bottom surface of the roaster measures about 9 by 14 inches, and the bottom pan is 5 inches deep, with a matching 5-inch-tall lid -and because it's a rectangle instead of on oval, it's easy to scrape along with the square blade of a spatula.

So, what can you do with such a big roaster?  A pair of chickens or a full turkey is the obvious answer, but this pan gets a lot more use than just poultry duty.  It can hold a full corned beef brisket along with veggies and liquid for oven braising.  You can use the bottom and the lid, side by side, each holding more than a double batch of homemade Chex Mix, so instead of doing four standard batches for all those holdiay parties, you can do one big quad batch all at once.  It's great for pre-cooking lasagne noodles - you can lay the noodles down full-length and flat (can't do that in a stock pot.)  The pan will easily bridge the front and back burners on my range, so I can quickly make huge quantities of gravy for big family dinners.  And, of course, you can always use a big roaster for small jobs as well.

The best part about the pan, though, is the affordability.  I paid 50 cents for mine at a church rummage sale many years ago, but they were produced in huge quantities, and I still see them at tag sales and rummage sales for a dollar or less, and at flea markets for less than $5.  Many standard roasting racks will fit comfortably within these pans, but if you can, make sure you get the original 3-piece set consisting of the roasting pan, lid, and aluminum rack (very sturdy and made of sheet aluminum.)  Once you find one and use it, you'll wonder how you ever got along without one.

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