British Roast Beef Dinner

My thanks to the Hungry Squidz Choice group for this award.

Decide when you want to eat.

Take a look at your beef joint. How much does it weigh? This will help you determine the cooking time.
For rare beef, cook it for 20 minutes per pound (or per 500grams) plus 20 minutes.
For medium rare, 25 minutes per pound (500grams) plus 25 minutes.
For well done, 30 minutes per pound (500 grams) plus 30 minutes.

A 5 pound beef joint, cooked for 25 minutes per pound plus 25 minutes would mean a cooking time of 150 minutes, or 2 hours 30 minutes. If you want to eat at 7PM, that means you need to put the roast into the oven by 4:30PM. There are those who say the meat needs time to rest after removing it from the oven, but frankly, I've never noticed much difference. If you do want to allow for resting time, put it in the oven 15 minutes earlier and take it out 15 minutes earlier.

About 10 minutes before putting the joint into the oven, turn it on to gas mark 7/425F/220C.

Adjust the racks in the oven so that one is on the lowest or next lowest rung and one is at the top with a clearance of at least 5 inches.

Uncover the roast and using a sharp knife, slash the fat being careful not to cut any string used to tie the roast together. You can rub a mixture of cracked black pepper and salt into the fat as well if you wish.

Personally, we make a rub using juniper berries, mustard powder, salt, and pepper and rub that into the beef joint. Place about 1/2 cup of water into the roasting tray and cover the entire pan and joint with baking foil.

Place the beef joint in the oven on the lower rack. Take it out one hour into roasting, uncover it and baste it with any juices that have been released. Cover it again, turn it, and return it to the oven.

When it has 45 minutes cooking time left, remove the foil so the meat can brown.

Again, very easy to make. Not so easy sometimes to get it to rise. All you need are eggs, flour, and milk. And a pinch of salt.

Figure you'll need 1 egg for ever 2 people eating. Whisk the egg/s until frothy. Add 2 heaped tablespoons of flour for every 1 egg. Add enough milk to make a thin batter. This should be thinner than American pancake batter, but thicker than crepe better. Add a pinch of salt. Whisk the batter until it is frothy. You want to get lots of air into the batter. Now, push it to the side of the counter out of the way and just let it sit for at least a half hour at room temperature.

This will take about 45 minutes to cook. Again, count back from when you want to eat the meal. Five minutes before cooking, put a small amount of fat, not oil and not a good spraying of anything in a can, into a baking dish. A 1 egg Yorkshire will fit easily into a 1/2 liter baking dish, 2 eggs into a 1 liter dish, and up from there. Put that into the oven and let it heat up until it is very hot, absolutely spitting.

Once heated, get a serving spoon and heat that under running tap of hot water. ADd one serving spoon full of hot water to the batter and whish it briskly for 4 - 5 seconds. Pour it immediately into the hot dish over the fat and put it in the oven on the top rack. Now leave it alone until it has cooked.

You can find out more about Yorkshire puddings from flighty02. She has written one of the most comprehensive articles I have ever seen on the simple Yorkshire Pudding.

You'll want a nice veggie to go with your roast dinner. Just about any vegetable will do here so choose among your favourites.

Look in your local farmer's market or independent shop for fresh, seasonal produce.

Of course, you could just grab a bag of wilted, overpriced, forced hot house grown vegetable from the grocery store. But for such a special meal, why would you want to?

If you don't have a steamer, you can cook the vegetables by simmering them gently in hot water. Leave the lid off the pan. Leaving the lid off helps the vegetables to retain their bright colours.Cook until they are soft but still retain a bit of crispness. There are very few things in this world worse than soggy veggies.

Bring your beef out and carve enough slices off for everyone. One or two slices per person should be plenty. Drain any juices from the pan into a glass bowl. You can save the fat off the top to roast your veggies next time and to make your Yorkshire pudding. The jelly underneath can be used to make gravy or makes a nice treat for your 4 - legged friends.

Cut the Yorkshire into sections and put a bit on each plate. If done correctly, it will have nicely risen in the oven. The outer edges will be crunchy while the middle will be soft.

Divide the roasted vegetables up between everyone. Same with your green vegetable.

To top it off, put a teaspoon of horseradish sauce on the side of the plate to go with the beef.

And enjoy.