Sunday Roast

jim8888

I've never cooked a Sunday roast, but I'd like to. There are four of us but I wondered what is the best cut or joint of meet to buy and roughly what weight? Hopefully I will be buying it from a local butcher....
Any recommendations, tips or cooking instructions would be handy too!?
Thanks in advance.

redfox

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JIL

Do you want help with the whole dinner or just a roasting joint?

If you go to the butchers they will always advise.

Do you want leftovers in order to make sandwiches?

I would suggest starting with what meat you like best and maybe you could get some idea from there.

There's a few menus on the BBC website.

Pollycat

JIL wrote: »

Do you want help with the whole dinner or just a roasting joint?

If you go to the butchers they will always advise.

Do you want leftovers in order to make sandwiches?

I would suggest starting with what meat you like best and maybe you could get some idea from there.

There's a few menus on the BBC website.

Yes, you definitely need to decide which meat people prefer first.
Advice on cooking beef will differ massively depending on how you and the other 3 like it.
We like it very rare, my sister likes it very well done so I'd never choose to cook a beef joint if she is a guest.

I like to cook a large joint for the 2 of us and I freeze the rest.
But if that's not an option for you, then it's not good advice.

Have a think and then come back for more specific advice.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Don't forget the Roast tatties.


I par boil mine, then drain into the colander. Add plain flour, shake it all around. Then add a bit of butter and ground rosemary, pinch of salt,


Than add to larded pan and cook at 180, 200C depending on the Joint, until golden. The flour adds a crisp and the rosemary add a taste!


For the Joint, if serving four, get a decent 4lb chicken, some stuffing.


For pudding, I steam a decent Spotted D I C K!

beautiful_ravens

I dont cook 'real' roasts anymore, I cook chicken breasts in a roasting tin with lard and bacon ontop of each one.

I microwave some quartered potatoes while preheating [fan] oven to 200*C.
Put a roasting tin with lard in it in the oven.
When the potatoes are..er kind of almost soft in the micro [8 minutes?], the tin comes out [hot lard] and the potatoes go in. They go in at the same time as the tray of chicken breasts. It takes both things half an hour to 40 minutes.
Towards the end I start the veggies and gravy.
Carrots need longer to cook, they get started first. Frozen veg take hardly any time. I do frozen yorkshire puddings which go in when the veg is almost done.
Gravy is the instant granules, but I mix the meat juice into it when I take the chicken out.

Yes, I do a very lazy roast dinner!!

ERICS_MUM

Aunt Bessie's or Marks & Spencer's Yorkshire puds.

Tink_04

I always think a chicken is the easiest place to start! Get a roast in the bag one to try first if your worried!

Pollycat

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

Aunt Bessie's or Marks & Spencer's Yorkshire puds.

I only buy the frozen uncooked ones.

jackyann

I agree that for a proper roast, chicken is the best start. I always stuff mine and check the temperature, but if you don't want to, put a handful of herbs and an onion (or just the onion skin) inside to add flavour.
I am a great fan of gammon cooked in Coke, which will sit and keep warm for ages (I don't roast it in the oven to finish, just remove skin and slice) and you can make a separate parsley sauce to serve.
If people are great gravy fans, then make it separately, and add any juices from the chicken at the last minute. Easier and no worry about having enough.
Keep veg simple - I personally never make cauliflower cheese to serve as a veg, and am not sure when it suddenly became a 'thing' - to me it adds in another awkward factor. For many years (thanks to the late Jocasta Innes) I have served casseroled peas, using the cheapest kind. Put in a small casserole with a pinch each of sugar & salt, a knob of butter, and cook in the oven, at almost any temperature - if high you do have to shake and check more frequently. They will sit for ages, and have a lovely flavour. I copy that for broad beans too.
Remember that meat, once cooked, will sit safely for ages, wrapped in foil, somewhere warmish. My mil cooked beautiful meals on a very old, small oven. She would cook the meat, wrap in foil, put on top of the oven, tun it up very high and make the roast potatoes. So it sat there for about 3/4 hour, then moved to the table while she cooked the veg.

Hope this all helps. And yes, when you move onto something other than chicken, ask your butcher - they slightly overestimate the amount you need, but give fantastic advice. Some of my best recipes and tips have come from butchers, or the other customers who chip in.