Please settle this dispute re: "a roast"

[UnlimitedChipsAndSalsa]

I need the power of MN (to prove that I'm right...). If someone says they are "making a roast on Sunday" what meat(s) could possibly be being served?

Roast dinner with rice? 😱No no no . That's all kinds of wrong.

Umm, sometimes it depends what part of the country you're from. Or a generation thing. Dad used to do roast beef with puds, veg and gravy once a month back in the early 90s, then it'd be chicken or occasionally pork with crackling and shocking 'roast' potatoes.

Think those up North go with beef or lamb but I could be wrong, if so don't shoot!

Don't knock it 'til you've tried it! I was sceptical too initially, but it isn't negotiable in DH's family so I gave it a go. I'm a convert and now prefer mostly rice & peas with a just a couple of small roast potatoes for crunch. Just rice would be wrong however, and without the roast potatoes it no longer qualifies as a roast...

Never understood the obsession of having a roast dinner just because it is Sunday. Yes I might have one if I am out for lunch in a pub and that’s all they are serving but would never have one at home and don’t know anyone who does.

Definitely wouldn’t be having one in this weather. It is a winter meal to me

Agreed

In my boring house it would be chicken, beef, lamb, pork or turkey served with roast potatoes, mash, veg and gravy plus appropriate extras like Yorkshire pud/stuffing. Some people roast a ham, or goose...

Thanks for taking the time to weigh in on this, everyone! When you're wrong, you're wrong (but I think I liked it better when just DH was telling me I was wrong, rather than 100+ people😀). I have updated my definition of 'a roast' accordingly, though I'm not sure I'm open-minded enough to stretch it to include sausages and breaded chicken. Will have to ponder that.

And, of course, you brought quite a bit of joy to DH. 😊

I agree any joint of meat but what's 'usual' I guess depends on your experience. To me a 'usual' roast would be chicken as when we had a roast growing up (which wasn't that often) it was nearly always chicken and if I cooked it now (again very rare) it would be chicken or gammon. Beef would be unusual to me and not even something I would order out to be honest.

There would be a mutiny in our house if there were no roast potatoes (or gravy)

I don't eat meat and regularly do a Sunday roast - without any meat.

Lol! I won’t shoot, and technically you are correct, Beef is much more traditional up north, but growing up we often had chicken instead, as it’s cheaper-and everyone likes chicken. I do chicken now because I’m super fussy at how beef is cooked and I just can’t get it right, not like my Nana did

Can I just say that anyone who includes gammon in a roast is WRONG. Gammon is an inferior meat. It's jumped-up ham. Thank you.

One of my favourite roasts!

A lump of meat.

Roast is method of cooking. Arguably it should be called baked but that is a different discussion. It doesn't have to be a whole joint to qualify as a roast. But it most definitely is more than a piece of beef.

Roast pork, roast chicken, roast lamb, roast beef, roast turkey, etc Anything like that that’s roasted. Also, a veggie nut roast would count in my book if suitably accompanied.

Beef, lamb, pork, chicken, gammon. I suppose there’s nut roast if it’s a veggie family.

Who has duck on a roast .. like seriously 😂

Roast duck is the standard Christmas dinner in my house.

I'm vegetarian, but I would say a roast suggests a bit of or a whole animal in an unprocessed state, e.g., lamb, beef, pork, chicken, game etc.

The only alternative I would stretch to would be a beef Wellington.

To me a 'roast' isn't about a specific lump of meat but more about the whole shebang - the trimmings, the event...

Another Canadian chiming in - If I hadnt been so late to the thread Id have said beef

To me chicken is a mid-week roast. A Sunday roast is beef, pork or lamb. Fresh veg and proper roast potatoes and Yorkshire puds too, never frozen. Can accept frozen potatoes and yorkshires with chicken in the week if in a hurry, but never frozen veg, it always has to be fresh. I think frozen have an odd texture.

Beef!'

I think you're right too OP. A roast implies beef (or possibly lamb). None of this chicken nonsense 😄