Kitchen gadget: Why you must have the meat and poultry baster

Basting means squirting, brushing or spooning juices from the roasting pan and pouring it back onto the meat as it cooks. It could also mean laying something over the meat as it cooks to release fat. This prevents the meat from drying up as it cooks.

My favourite kitchen gadget when doing this is the baster. There are different types of basters in the market. They come in different colours and sizes, mostly to fit within your budget. All basters perform the same job so do not be alarmed. While using the baster, be careful to avoid spurting the juices (you will have a messy oven and loads of cleaning thereafter).

Ensure that the baster is clean. It works very much a like a syringe with a bulb. Hold it at an angle while the bulb is squeezed as you immerse it into the liquid. Once the turkey baster tip is in the juices, you can release the pressure of the bulb.

The juice will then fill up baster and you can move to the meat and carefully squeeze the bulb to release the juice onto the meat.

It is easy to clean and store and is available locally and on Amazon for about Sh2, 000.