To not enjoy a 'Sunday Roast'?

[ManicUnicorn]

Is it just me who doesn't get the love for it? It's probably the most boring and bland meal there is. A massive lump of tasteless meat and boiled vegetables, smothered in gravy.

My DF insists he has to have one every single Sunday, but quite honestly I'd rather have a curry, or pizza, or slag Bol, or anything other than a roast fucking dinner.

Why are we so obsessed with having a roast dinner on Sunday in this country?

I only cook a roast on Christmas Day. It is bloody epic. Plenty of veg left over for bubble and squeak with bacon, sausages, beans and fried eggs on Boxing Day. Lushness.

I don't eat red meat so we don't have those. But I like roast chicken, duck, pheasant etc. I stuff my chickens with onions, garlic, lemon and herbs to keep it moist,

Cooking a good roast and on point roast vegetables takes practice.

We don't do the whole Sunday roast thing - way too much hassle.

Hmmmm I'm not sure, my DP deals with the temperature/cooking for beef and lamb as he has more experience and I generally do the pork and chicken. But to be fair your best bet for making sure it isn't tough is to get a meat thermometer as it takes a lot of the guesswork out.

If the cut is lean you don't want to cook it for too long, if it's properly fatty it's always best to go low and slow.

I know my DP finds James Martin's recipes a good guide for temp. And you can't generalise from leg to shoulder - shoulder is nice and fatty so you would generally cook it differently to a leg.

Leg - low and slow works too : you just need to baste it and roast the tatties around it to keep the fat in the pan

We LOVE our sunday roasts, but we only have them from late sept. to april (we bbq a lot in the summer, even if the weather is not too good - we are very determined!)). I have a very good butcher locally, and all the meat is from local farms. I am very fussy about the quality of the meat, and won't buy roasting joints from a supermarket, as they often are 'tasteless lumps of meat'. What can beat some lovely local old spot pork (raised in an orchard) with crispy crackling and apple sauce? Oh god, I'm hungry now.

I could not be arsed to cook a roast every week. I'd rather have something like a curry.

Manic DH' has just said to me, it might have been bad but he had worse at school

Today we will be having pork loin cooked in milk with caramel (courtesy of Claudia Roden's Food of Spain) and then white currant yoghurt cake.

I love cooking but only if it's interesting - don't do the same thing twice often. It's luxury for DH now

Yes that's true of course, low and slow will work on all lamb dishes to be fair. Despite what I actually said I kind of meant it the other way around - some cuts are fine with a higher temp and shorter cooking time but that doesn't translate well to all cuts.

Beef rib joint, on the bone. Lots of pepper, and paprika rubbed in. The juices make a great gravy (make them into a roux, then add veg water, and a rich beef stock pot). Roasted potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and sweet potatoes - all but the potatoes with a little honey and orange glaze. Yorkshire puddings with a pinch of mustard.

Mmmmm.

Low and slow chicken is fab too

today's low and slow pork smells amazing - we eat in half an hour (DH cooks it)

We have just got back from holiday and the thing I am looking forward to most (that makes being st home bearable!) is our Sunday roast. We have one every week and all love it! DH cooks most of it but I do the gravy (which is my favourite bit). Today we will be having chicken and I will make the gravy from the pan juices (will throw in about 10 whole garlic cloves about 15 mins before chicken comes out). I mash up the roast garlic into the pan juices and then add either white wine or sherry and the veg water. Can't wait!

A roast sirloin of beef perfectly cooked could never be called tasteless. A lovely meaty taste, cooked tender and medium/rare with the sweetness of the blood (I could never be a veggie!). Combined with a lovely peppery gravy, steamed or roasted vegetables and Yorkshire puddings, it is far from bland.

A lump of tasteless meat and boiled vegetables??!
Don't blame the food, blame the cook.
Our Sunday roast is tasty, the vegetables are steamed or roasted and the home made gravy is a tasty meal in itself.
I wouldn't have it every week though. Once a month is usual for us.

I'm soooooo in the mood for roast beef now. And if you want an excellent accompiment to warm or cold beef, try Nigel Slater's celeriac remoulade. So. Good.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. Sunday roast is (can be) the lushest meal ever when done right, which the ones in your house claerly are not so is you problem

a) that your fella loves making a roast but is shit at doing it
or
b) he expects you to make a weekly roast which you hate doing and rightly resent?

solutions, respectively

a) suggest he looks at some recipes to do it better / considers alternative methods, ingredianets or even making a different meal
or
b) stop making them for him

Thanks Ta1kin and Holger will try that. I rarely baste but that seems to be important?

missmolly
chicken - definitely baste - but the bacon over the skin stops it drying out too much
leg of lamb - ditto
shoulder of lamb - self basting and we roast it on stems of rosemary so it does not sit in its own fat
pork - baste the sides but not the skin that will go to crackling
beef - much shorter cook but definitely baste

I felt like a roast today but could not be arsedto go to the shops so we are having;

Italian pork sausages roasted on a bed of sliced mixed peppers onions and courgettes and sauteed rosemary potatos.

Yum.

My favorite though has to be chicken.

Don't boil vegetables, steam them. So much tastier. Steamed carrots are gorgeous.

That said, pretty much the only roast I do is the Christmas dinner. Which is an operation planned with military precision.

Sounds like you've never had a good Sunday dinner! A rare rib of beef, beef dripping roast potatoes, fluffy Yorkshire puddings and home made horseradish is amazing!

I hate roast dinner. I hate Christmas dinner too. I go for a curry at Christmas.

Ironically my DP loves traditional Christmas dinner. I'm white and he's Indian so we have a good laugh about that

Memories. Tradition. Sunday was the day we met up with extended family for a late Sunday lunch when I was a young child. The roast went in the oven before my DGPs generation went to church, along with a rice pudding, and cook slowly with little supervision. A roast could feed extras as needed. I still love a big roast - if it is cooked well, and there is lots of family and friends to share it with. I agree the washing up- especially in a small modern sink can be a pain!

Starving now!! Roast for one is a bit sad though

My DH says come around here about 6pm, he will change your mind!

I love a roast dinner, but we only have them very occasionally. Sunday is a busy day in our house driving dd to band practise, doing the weekly shop sometimes driving my nephew places too, so we aren't always in so just have something straight forward. Quite often we have pizza on a Sunday, today we're having stir fry. But like I say when we do have a roast dinner we all love it.