Roast dinners

[saundra]

i used to cook a roast sunday dinner every sunday
i find it easy as lissie /kaz say weve been doing it for years
was allways pork lamb or chicken
i seem to cook the same as everybody else
but i use lard for yorkshire
i put the tin on the top of the gas while i pore the batter in to get it smoking hot
us the veg water for gravy and use gravy granuals
i dont know why people panic over xmas dinner
its just the same as a roast with sausages wrapped in bacon that i often do anyway and a pkt of stuffing
with todays supermarket shopping it gets easier
i like aunt bessies carrot/swede mash as i cant peel a sweed these days and im happy to use frozen veg
except i like fresh cabbage
i always cook a roast when family visit
but not so much for just me these days
i really enjoy braissed steak tho so does j but i do yorkshires and roasy potatoes with it

[Workingman]

I don't do roasts as much now, but when I did it was always from fresh. Once the prep was done, including the Yorkshires' batter, the rest was a breeze.
I also always do chicken or turkey similar to Lissie. The bird is cooked breast down for the first 2/3rds then turned and cooked uncovered for the final 1/3.
Gravy is stock plus meat juices plus browning and thickening.

[Cal]

We have a roast most Sundays in the evening, unless we decide not to.

We never add oil or fat to a a joint - its not necessary if you do it in a roasting bag with a little water, and some red onion . I never eat roast potatoes, I have boiled or mashed. M dry roasts a few in a separate tray for him. Our favourite meats are beef or lamb - always as lean as possible. M likes Yorkshire puds, I'm not keen. We usually serve with green beans or broccoli, carrots and peas and maybe sweet potato. I use the juices from the meat and a little vegetable water plus a green oxo and some bisto and flour to make a lovely gravy.
If we have chicken I put a lemon inside it (again no oil or fat) and we serve it with a jacket potato, peas and sweetcorn.

[debih]

Do you have a roast every Sunday? Pretty much so, yes.
Summer and winter? Both, though if we are at the allotment we don't, so less often in the summer
Lunchtime or evening, or somewhere in between? Generally around 5pmish
Always the same meat? Rotation? Whatever's on offer? Usually beef, lamb or pork. Rarely chicken - that's a week day roast!
If you have chicken, do you slice it, or have it on the bone? Legs saved for packed lunch, meat sliced, carcus frozen ready for stock making.
Do you always have Yorkshires, whatever the roast? No - only if I can be bothered.
Would you always have roast potatoes? More often than not roast potatoes, but often dauphinose or if having lamb, we often roast it on top of the boulangere potatoes. Occasionally fondant potatoes.
How many veg? And what kind? Usually 3 veg which depends on what I have. Cauliflower cheese, broccoli, mashed carrot and swede, cabbage, creamed parsnips (my favourite), leeks.
Proper, roasting-tin made gravy, with flour added to the fat, or instant (Bisto-type), or flavoured, unthickened tin juices (Jus)? If I'm making it then instant. If Mick's making it, then its the proper stuff.

And those roast potatoes.
Frozen roasties or fresh potatoes? I don't think I've ever (knowingly) had a frozen roast potato
What size do you cut them? I usually cut them into 3, but more if they are big. I cut the end off and then cut the remaining potato in half - giving roughly 3 equal size pieces from one potato.
How long do you par-boil? Always. Then I rough them up a little in a colander
Do you save the water for the gravy? No - but I sometimes save some for bread making
What kind of fat? Sometimes duck fat, sometimes left over fat that I keep in the fridge from previous roast joints
How do you put the pieces of potato in - rounded side down, or cut side down? Doesn't matter - they get turned anyway.

We often have a "mini" roast during the week - roast chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes and veg.

[Diflower]

Yours are probably the most like ours Debih, except you have them more often
I tend to agree about the chicken, I don't think of it as a 'proper' roast either, a roast should be a nice lump of meat
Unfortunately Morrisons didn't have much, so chicken it was.
The potatoes too, I often do boulangere or dauphinoise, and especially if cooking for more people, then you don't have to alter the oven temperature (plus they look after themselves).

[TheOstrich]

Ok

Do you have a roast every Sunday? Pretty much, but we might have a "ready meal" occasionally if Mrs O is on Church teas and coffees duty
Summer and winter? Yes
Lunchtime or evening, or somewhere in between?Lunchtime
Always the same meat? Rotation? Whatever's on offer?Rotation
If you have chicken, do you slice it, or have it on the bone?On t'bone
Do you always have Yorkshires, whatever the roast?No, only with beef
Would you always have roast potatoes?Yep
How many veg? And what kind?Usually 2 veg, carrots, broccoli, cauli, parsnips, spring greens ..... often, but not always, from the freezer
Proper, roasting-tin made gravy, with flour added to the fat, or instant (Bisto-type), or flavoured, unthickened tin juices (Jus)?Bisto!

And those roast potatoes.
Frozen roasties or fresh potatoes? Auntie Betties
What size do you cut them?We have both normal and "midweek" minis
How long do you par-boil?N?A
Do you save the water for the gravy?N/A
What kind of fat?N/A
How do you put the pieces of potato in - rounded side down, or cut side down?How they fall outta da packet ....

Some of you may have noticed it's weeks now since I first fancied roast beef. We still haven't had it Along with gammon, It's not a favourite of Master O so we don't have it that often. We tend to stick to chicken / pork / lamb
I could go to the butcher or Waitrose but that really does cost a lot. Really I'd buy it from Sainsburys who are generally reliable for it, but haven't been there for ages.We tend to buy red meat at one of two local farm shops, but getting a decent cut and size to effectively cover 6 helpings (main meal day 1, curry etc day 2) is actually more difficult than you might think

So in answer to some of the above, today we bought a smallish (3lb/1.3kg) chicken from Morrisons.We go for an Asda Extra Large Chicken, usually around £6
I put wedges of onion, a quartered carrot, and 2 cloves of garlic in the roasting tin and sat the chicken on top (having untrussed it, and cut off the leg and wing tips and added them to the tin).We'd only have Bessies, onion and possibly parsnips cooking with the meat
Then shoved a sprig of thyme inside, with a quarter lemon, which first squeezed over.We have a rosemary bush (growing outside the front door) for garnishes
After 20 mins on hot, turned oven down, added 1/2 glass white wine to tin, plus some whole shallots.The cook has usually drunk the wine by then ...

At the end, took chicken out to rest, shallots too, then sieved rest and put back in tin with potato water and seasoning, bubbled on hob to make jus.
Roast potatoes, the shallots, carrot, cauliflower, purple sprouting broccoli, and cabbage Mrs O always keeps the chicken stock for a soup mix base.
Bb always has a drumstick, a wing, and either a chunk or slices of breast.We start with breast, and the crispy skin; for seconds Mrs O and I have a drumstick, and I usually have the parson's nose.


I'm not expecting answers to all of it lol, just an idea - and any particular secrets would be good We always have a home-made white caper sauce with lamb. Otherwise it's Colemans classic mint, or Oceanspray cranberry. And like Debih, we usually have the chicken as a mid-week roast. The key thing is .... so long as we can get two meals off every joint!

[Gal]

We rarely have a roast on Sundays, it's too much like hard work.

If we went out I would but we don't usually as Luke is home.

We have sunday dinner at 5, tonight was tuna and pasta bake

I par boil my roast potatoes, shake them up, add flour and rosemary shake again and stick them in the roasting tin however they land

I slice chicken breast but keep the legs and wings on the bone

Thats about it I can't answer the rest, I hate cooking can you tell

I could have written that myself! I can't eat my main meal of the day at lunch time, I just wouldn't be ready for it and then be starving all evening if I'd eaten at say 1pm. Timing is crucial, once a year at Christmas is quite enough stress IMO!

[Lozzles]

We have a roast every Sunday if we are home, summer and winter
We have it at about 6pm.
More often than not we have chicken...I have a wing and some breast and D has a drumstick and thigh. We also have other joints, depending on our mood.
I par boil my potatoes then cook them around the meat. I also add a lemon and onion to my pan with some herbs, then make the gravy with wine and stock in the roasting tin.
We often have yorkshires too and two lots of veg.
If the boys are home I will also make a pudding...crumble or something like that

[miasmum]

Crumble????? You want another boy????