The Sunday roast is by far the most popular meal of the week in the UK and Ireland. It is a tradition which goes back centuries, historically featuring roast beef, but today other roasts take equal billing. Roast pork, lamb, and chicken are all served, and each will sit alongside Yorkshire puddings.
By far my most popular roast for a Sunday is beef. First, you need to choose the best joint for roast beef, I love something on the bone like a rib, keeping the bone in makes for a tastier piece of beef when cooked. I love it medium rare and with a good long rest (the beef not me!). It’s also worth trying a Silverside of beef with a French onion gravy or braised brisket with celery as another beef option.
We could then move on to chicken, a whole bird, roasted with garlic and sag, pork loin with honey to give that sweet finish. How about a slow cooked leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary or, even a maple and mustard pulled shoulder of pork. Serve all with a simple gravy made from the roasting juices and big crisp yorkies.
The potatoes and vegetables are so important with your roast, crunchy roasties are fantastic but to give the customer choice you could try Dauphinoise potatoes, layered with garlic and cream or creamy horseradish mash. You could make the roasties even better by adding grated parmesan just before serving.
The vegetables have to be full of flavour, we all know to honey roast the roots and add sea salt but you could also try marmalade and harissa on your carrots and parsnips for a change. And how about the humble red cabbage as a veg, slowly braised, sweet and tasty? Cheap and easy to prepare with a lot of yield from one cabbage.
Now with the mains over, it’s time to finish with something sweet. Nothing more British than a trifle, poached Yorkshire rhubarb can make your normal trifle very different but I love Cava and orange in mine. If not, a simple chocolate dessert is a great way to finish a meal.
Kindly contributed by Steve Midgley Consulting Development Chef, 30 years experience in fine dinning, creating fantastic experiences at Michelin star restaurants.
