November is National Roasting Month—a month dedicated to encouraging people to roast more meat. In our opinion, this is the perfect month to take up roasting meats, as Thanksgiving occurs near the end of the month, and after that, the Christmas season begins.

Humankind has been roasting meats since prehistoric times, but it really came into its own during the Middle Ages when hunting and roasting meat was the number one occupation for the noble classes.

In the U.S., roasting became even more popular during the 1950s, but over the past couple of decades, people’s enthusiasm for this type of cooking has waned somewhat. Fortunately, this is the month that we believe will bring roasting back into the mainstream and encourage more people to try it out in their own kitchens.

The History of National Roasting Month

Even though we have a pretty good understanding of when roasting was invented and how it was used throughout history, we’ve been unable to uncover who invented National Roasting Month. It seems to be a celebration that just popped up on the Internet one day.

And we’re unsure why it was placed in November. Perhaps whoever invented it decided it should be placed during this month because turkeys are traditionally roasted for Thanksgiving. Of course, that’s just our guess.

Important Facts About Roasting Meat

We’re not going to do a holiday article on National Roasting Month without taking the time to talk about roasting. You didn’t think we’d do that, did you? We took to the Internet and came up with some interesting facts about roasting that we think everyone should know.

• Roasting is a cooking method that relies on dry heat to cook the meat.
• Roasting can give meats a brown, crispy exterior thanks to the Maillard reaction.
• Large cuts of meat and poultry are the perfect candidates for roasting.
• Vegetables can also be roasted, particularly root vegetables such as potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, and radishes.
• It’s believed that forest fires gave ancient humans their first taste of roasted meat.

Observing National Roasting Month

Everyone reading this article about National Roasting Month probably knows how we’re going to recommend that people observe this month. They know that we’re going to recommend roasting meat. After all, what else is there to do during this month?

In our opinion, it’s the perfect way to observe this month, so choose a type of meat that you like and a roasting method, and get started. Just make sure that you let all of us know what you’re cooking by using the hashtag #NationalRoastingMonth online.