Every Sunday, from the kitchens in the best restaurants in Warwickshire to family kitchens across the United Kingdom, home cooks try to make the perfect Sunday roast. Outside of the country, the Sunday roast dinner is seen as little more than a chunk of beef, a bit of bread, and a slathering of that ubiquitous British brown gravy.
If you’ve ever tried to make your own Sunday roast dinner, you know that getting the flavour like mum used to make is a lot easier said than done. From the way you prepare the roast itself to what you use to make the Yorkshire pudding, making a traditional Sunday roast dinner — making it right — can actually be quite the challenge. If you’re tired of making a dinner that isn’t quite up to snuff, read on to find out about some of the things most cooks get wrong.
How to Make a Sunday Roast Dinner Like Mum’s
- Treat the Meat Right
- Slow and Low Makes the Best Sunday Roast
- Put the Drippings to Good Use
For the fine dining magazine Saveur, a great Sunday roast starts with properly preparing the meat. Start off by seasoning the roast with your own mix of salt, pepper, herbs, and olive oil. Wrap the roast tightly in plastic, place in the refrigerator, and allow the seasoning to permeate the roast for eight to 12 hours. After removing the roast from the refrigerator, be sure to give it an hour or two to rest and come to room temperature before popping it in the oven. If you skip either step, you’ll wind up with a tasteless, dry brick of beef.
If you want to get your roast just right, suggests About.com’s British and Irish Food, you have to give yourself enough time to cook the meat properly. A two to three pound roast should have a good two and a half hours of cooking time to develop a flavourful outer crust, while keeping its juicy pink center. Start out by cooking the roast at a relatively high temperature, right around 220C. After roasting at this high temperature for half an hour, drop the oven to 180C and cook for 10 to 15 minutes per 450g, depending on your desired rareness.
Of all the mistakes home cooks make when crafting their Sunday roast, making cardboard versions of Yorkshire pudding is doubtlessly the most common. The problem? Too many people forget or refuse to use the drippings from their roast to add moisture and a much needed hit of flavor to their pudding. Admittedly, adding drippings is not the best idea for the health conscious, but if you’re going for authenticity, you really have no other choice.
Is there anything we failed to mention for making a traditional Sunday roast the right way? Tell us about it in the comments below. Find more on this here: www.regencyarms.co.uk