Help cooking Roast Lunch please!

Thenotsowyzewun

Hi,

I'm cooking Lunch .
Except I can't cook... :A

And the grandparent's are coming too, so there's 8 to feed :eek:

I've got a 2GB / 4lb Boneless Crown Beef Roast, which according to the net should be cooked for 160 minutes at 200C (Medium), I don't have a meat thermostat unfortunately though, I've put loads of Steak Seasoning (Schwartz, comes in a little plastic tub ) on it and put it in a deep Pyrex dish with foil on top, I'm aiming to have it ready at about 3:30PM (it's been in for about 5 minutes, so I'm cutting it a bit fine!).

Anyway, anyone got any tips for me? I've read that I should "baste" it (I looked it up in the dictionary, means getting that squirty tube thing and sucking up some juices and splashing them all over it) a few times during cooking, once it's got really hot anyway, and I've put some silver foil over the top of the dish - I seem to recall my Mom does that.

When should I add the onions to the meat's dish to cook in it's juices by the way?

And erm, I've got carrots and potatos and peas and yorkshire puds (not from scratch, the easy fake ones , but there's not enough room in the oven to cook all them so I'm going to have to microwave the carrots and peas (only got one 650w microwave too :rolleyes: ).

Well, thanks for your help, I think writing this all down has helped me too.

Oh yeah, I just remembered I need to make gravy too :rotfl:

Happy Mother's Day by the way everyone

TNG

Got any honey? Add some to the water and boil your carrots until all the water has gone and they sound like they are frying rather than boiling.

Leave the meat to rest in the switched off oven, after it has cooked, for as long as you can before carving

Roast potatoes? par boil for about 5 minutes, coat in semolina and add to hot roasting tin with lard

don't worry too much about basting - maybe spoon some of the juices over occasionally

HTH

Thenotsowyzewun

TNG wrote: »

Got any honey? Add some to the water and boil your carrots until all the water has gone and they sound like they are frying rather than boiling.

Leave the meat to rest in the switched off oven, after it has cooked, for as long as you can before carving

Roast potatoes? par boil for about 5 minutes, coat in semolina and add to hot roasting tin with lard

don't worry too much about basting - maybe spoon some of the juices over occasionally

HTH

I've never used this section of the forum before (I'm one of those matched betting / affiliate marketing fanatics!), but this advice is excellent .

Honey Carrots, sounds sweet going to try that I've got hard or runny honey, I'll use the runny stuff unless I hear otherwise .
Haven't got any semolina (got Cous Cous though.. don't think that'd work!! :rotfl: ), but I'll par-boil the potato's, how much lard should I use?

Thanks for your advice much appreciated!

TNG

Thenotsowyzewun wrote: »

I've never used this section of the forum before (I'm one of those matched betting / affiliate marketing fanatics!), but this advice is excellent .

Honey Carrots, sounds sweet going to try that I've got hard or runny honey, I'll use the runny stuff unless I hear otherwise .
Haven't got any semolina (got Cous Cous though.. don't think that'd work!! :rotfl: ), but I'll par-boil the potato's, how much lard should I use?
Thanks for your advice much appreciated!

Yes, runny stuff:D

Flour will do if you've no semolina. I tend you use quite a lot of lard (about half a cm in the bottom of the tin when hot....). And give the spuds a little shake in the pan after draining and before adding to the tin. Makes the edges fluffy and they crisp up a treat


Are you doing gravy from scratch? If so keep your potato water as you can use it in that

HTH - and welcome to OS :T :T

nearlyrich

Instead of semolina just par boil your potatos then drain ( keep the water for the gravy) and shake the pan hard with a lid on, it fluffs up the edges. I don't use lard for roasties, I use frylight olive oil spray because I am watching the lbs but if you use lard make sure it's really hot and spoon it over the spuds in the hot tin.

Hope it all turns out well for you and your guests. Can I suggest a great cookbook for plain stuff? Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course is excellent, real gravy, fantastic Yorkshires from scratch and lot's of other great basic recipes. I have seen it in paperback in Tesco for about £6 or try the local library, there is also a website with the recipes online.

TNG

nearlyrich wrote: »

I don't use lard for roasties, I use frylight olive oil spray because I am watching the lbs .

ooh - might try that today - thanks :T

Thenotsowyzewun

Back, par-boiled the tatties but have only just checked in again and they're already in the oven (have been for awhile) with no flour or lard, which is probably why they're not fluffing up.. they've got at least half an hour to go, should I take them out and coat them in flour, spray with fry-lite (got that ) and put them back in, or just leave them now?

Cheers, going to put the carrots on soon with some honey

TNG

Thenotsowyzewun wrote: »

Back, par-boiled the tatties but have only just checked in again and they're already in the oven (have been for awhile) with no flour or lard, which is probably why they're not fluffing up.. they've got at least half an hour to go, should I take them out and coat them in flour, spray with fry-lite (got that ) and put them back in, or just leave them now?

Cheers, going to put the carrots on soon with some honey

Probably too late now, as they're probably ready , but I would just leave them....

Let us know how it goes :T

inmypocketnottheirs

2GB crown of roast beef! WOW that's some memory!!!

Good luck, hope it went well!

SuperCooper

How did it go Notsowyzewun? I had roast beef too yesterday. If your going to do it again its worth buying some mustard powder (mix a teaspoon with plain flour and pepper and sprinkle over meat instead of spice mix) and worcestershire sauce to splash in your meat juices. Add 1 tablespoon of flour to the juices and mix in. Cook out for a minute or two then slowly add your potato water (or carrot or any other veg water) while stirring with a whisk. I've got a great easy recipe for Yorkshire Pud too if anyone wants it.