Basting (cooking)

Basting is a cooking technique, and usually involves cooking meat with either its own juices or some type of preparation such as a sauce or marinade. The meat is let to cook, then periodically is coated with the juice or marinade as it cooks.

Prominently used in grilling, rotisserie, roasting and other meat preparations where the meat is over heat for extended periods of time. Basting can flavor the meat and keep it moist. In basting, the flavors of meat are not diluted and get concentrated. However, basting can possibly dry out the meat. In some cases, the juices aren't well enough absorbed by the meat to overcome the drying associated with the increase in cooking time due to the temperature decrease of the oven from continual opening of the oven door. This type of cooking is usually recommended for dishes which have strong flavors mostly served with sauces, for example Chicken chauseire.