I’m cooking a roast for the first time ever

[PepperSteaks]

And I’m scared!
Any tips? I’m a useless cook but would like to have a good crack at this. Was thinking pork but is that too hard for a beginner?

Look at delia smith website, it’s sll there. It’s all in the timing!

You might be better with beef or lamb so that if it comes out a bit pi k it doesn't matter. (I know some people say you can eat pork a bit pink nowadays but it is off putting for most)

You can get the ready stuffed and seasoned cook in bag chickens, some ready made yorkshire puddings then just do the veg.

The BBC food website has a roast timer so you can put in the weight and type of the meat and it will tell you how long to cook it for, and on what temperature.

What are you making to go with it? We can surely help you with your overall timings - i write a little timeline when I'm making a roast that goes something along the lines of 1pm meat in, 1.15 potatoes on hob, 1.30 batter in fridge 2pm veg on...

Chicken in a bag. Boom. Done. 🍗🍴

If you want crackling with your pork ask the butcher (don’t attempt yourself) to take off the skin with half of the fat on top of the joint, lay it on bars above where the pork is cooking - it will continually baste the pork with fat and give you awesome crackling.

Buy cauliflower cheese ready made, use herbs in the water when you par boil the potatoes before covering lightly in either oil or fat and putting in the oven to crisp up.

Carrots are best non fancy.

Jamie Oliver has good instructions for roast - it’s in his book for people who aren’t confident cooks. Must be available online

Yes to timings - Home made yorkies are the best but maybe for next time.

You definitely need a written plan to bring everything together on time.

Start with the time you want to eat and work backwards from there. Don't forget resting time for the meat. Do as many prep jobs early as you can.

Pick a time that you want it ready by - 14.00pm say & work backwards. It would be dished up by 14.15pm roughly.

Allow meat to sit for 5-10 before carving,

So potatoes need par boiling for 15 mins & roasting for 50.

So par boil at 12.55

Veg takes 20 mins to boil, prep by 13.00 & leave in cold water, put on heat at 13.30pm

Etc.

Pork is hard to get right.
Chicken is the easiest. Shop bought Yorkshire pud and then some veg.

I use this for roast pork and her perfect crackling every time and I’m a very rubbish and inexperienced cook
www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/r/roast_pork_with_perfect_crackling_and_apple_sauce.html

Spend the money and buy a meat thermometer (the kind that have a long metal cord that goes into the oven). You absolutely can't go wrong if you have one of those.

Delia’s roast beef is another option.

What I do is work out all the timings by writing it all out. This includes when to put the roast potatoes in, when to put the veg on and any Yorkshire puddings.

Beef is better as you can let the beef rest without worrying about it being underdone. Then you turn oven up and cook potatoes.

So basic outline:

Preheat oven. Prep meat, pop in oven. If you cook the meat on a bed of chopped carrot, onion, celery and some garlic you can use this veg in your gravy with the juices. Everything is strained so you don’t have lumpy gravy!

Prepare potatoes (peel, parboil), put a tray with fat (eg goose fat) in oven. When it’s time, pop potatoes in the oven. Remove meat when you need to and rest.

Prep veg. Start cooking about ten minutes before you want to serve up. Make gravy using meat juices and some veg water (I cheat and use bisto as well!)

Remove potatoes and pop in Yorkshire’s (I cheat and use pre made ones which only need warming - not frozen).

Serve up!

If you do Nigella's slow roast pork, that is v easy. But you would have needed to start it yesterday.

Alternatively, I like to leave pork fat on the joint. Remove it when I get the meat out too rest and stick just the fat and skin bit on high while it's resting. Perfect crackling and finishes as the meat does.

Chicken would be easier for a first go though. Don't muck about with the vegetables too much, that's where your timing will go wrong and you'll start to panic; only do one interesting one, I like cauliflower cheese or braised red cabbage. I absolutely agree with doing a timing sheet, working it all out backwards from when you want to eat.

Good luck 😊 my biggest piece of advice is don't stress. Prep what you can before you start any cooking and set multiple timers on your phone.

You've made me want a roast now! 😂

Chicken is probably easiest. Frozen peas are easy too. If you have braised red cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli cheese or carrot and swede mashed up you can easily make them this morning and re heat them.

Write down the time you want to sit down to eat and work backwards

Look at your oven size and consider what space you have for things to go in together

Boil your potatoes until they're almost done and give them a good bash around in the saucepan before roasting

You will be fine, it is easy.
Everyone does a roast a little differently, after a couple of attempts you will see what works for you.
I would recommend doing chicken chicken though, if you do it in a roasting bag it is pretty hard to get wrong.
What vegetables do you want to do with it?

Agree with the chicken in a bag suggestions - tasty and very difficult to mess up

Some observations made over my many roast dinner failures and successes :

• par boil your potatoes and bash them up a bit in the pan before you roast them, this makes little bits crumble off them and they go lovely and crispy in the oven

• pop a lemon that's been quartered into the cavity of your chicken, it steams the meat from inside so it's nice and moist (and it doesn't make the chicken taste horribly of lemon!)

• make the Yorkshire pudding batter as early as possible and chill in the fridge, and if possible cook them in a separate oven on a high heat and DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR WHEN THEY ARE IN THERE

• extra veg bulks the meal out and means leftover meat can go towards another meal later on

-pigs in blankets are the best.

Start 1.45 before you want to eat. I cook two roast chickens and use the me at to make loads of curry portions for the freezer. So handy.

But today just do one. Pre heat oven. Put chicken in an oven tray with a tiny bit of butter on the top.
Peel and halve potatoes. Put into a saucepan of cold water. Same with carrots or whatever.
At an hour and twenty minutes check chicken (leg) to see if cooked.. to be extra sure cut off leg and check.

Then for roast. Par boil potatoes so slightly hard still and throw into chicken tray.

To make stuffing dried mixed herbs. Breadcrumbs and butter with chopped onion and melt (microwave easiest)