To think cooking a roast every weekend is completely unnecessary

[ChristmasAlone]

Stems from a conversation I just had, I'm cooking a roast at the moment and mentioned it was the first one I've cooked this year. I love a roast, but just think cooking one every weekend (I know it's Monday) just feels completely unnecessary and takes away from its beauty if you're having every Sunday.

but I can prepare a cottage pie and leave in the fridge until we get home then pop in the oven for 30 minutes, same I guess with fish pie or a lasagna. I can't do that with a roast dinner and come home and have supper on the table in 30 minutes or thereabouts

The cooking time isn't more though surely?

Assuming you shoved the beef/lamb into the oven earlier (which takes a minute), and have the other trays hot, then in 30 minutes I can take the meat out make roasties, yorkshire, gravy and boil veg.

I do cheat with roasties though - I parboil in big batches, and freeze so can be cooked from frozen. The rest can be assembled very quickly.

I do agree that a roast commits you to keeping an eye on the clock for what can feel like the whole afternoon, but the actual active cooking time isn't bad.

I think that in the UK - a country famous for only having come up with one edible meal in it's entire history - fish and chips - people eat disgusting food and have a weird obsession with having the most disgusting of their disgusting food every single week, probably because that fits very nicely with man getting his proper reward from his woman for doing all the hard work all week.

That's my (male) take.

What now??
What a bizarre post.

I can and do often prepare a roast dinner the night before, fridge it then just warm up/put the Yorkshire’s and roasts in.

but I can prepare a cottage pie and leave in the fridge until we get home then pop in the oven for 30 minutes, same I guess with fish pie or a lasagna. I can't do that with a roast dinner and come home and have supper on the table in 30 minutes or thereabouts

The 30 mins doesn't include the prep time though does it? If I was working on a Sunday or if we are out all day then probably wouldn't have one. But we eat ours in the evening, shove the meat & potatoes in the oven, get on with other stuff, or watch TV a bit - then finish off the veg and gravy in the last 20 mins .

I do a roast most weekends.
Its so easy - bung the meat in, kids prepare the veg, bung them in and its all ready.
Don't do one if the weathers hot but Oct - Apr its most weeks.

What's everyone's ideal post roast pudding?

Crumble?

I saw a Nigella recipe yesterday for a lemon and elderflower sponge that looked perfect.

I’ve a chicken roasting as I type. And some gratin in the oven too!
To be honest, I usually do 2 roasts a week. I find it easier than a lot of my more fiddly dishes - stuff that needs watching/stirring etc

@ShoppingPrecinctPrincess

What's everyone's ideal post roast pudding?

Crumble?

I saw a Nigella recipe yesterday for a lemon and elderflower sponge that looked perfect.

Treacle pudding. Or bakewell. With custard.

The 30 mins doesn't include the prep time though does it?

I prep about 3/4 meals up in an hour that can be cooked later in the week.

My point is I don't prep on the same day, I come home and turn the oven on and pop the dish in the oven to cook.

A roast isn't something I like reheated from personal choice, whereas a curry, chilli or cottage pie to me prepared so far and then cooked or reheated is ok, often though these dishes taste better a a day later

Once you have it off pat it's easy.

Remove meat from fridge. Peel spuds and bring to the boil. Put roasting tray with oil into oven while spuds are boiling. Bung meat in roasting dish and oil/salt/pepper/garlic/mustard depending what it is. When spuds are par boiled and oil is sizzling drain them (I keep the water) and put into the sizzling oil coating them all over and bung in the oven (I usually bung in a quartered onion if doing lamb or beef). Depending on size of joint sometimes the meat goes in first.

Cook two lots of veg using the reserved water. Veg goes straight into a serving bowl to be blasted in the microwave later. I only use one saucepan for the veg and reserve it for the gravy.

This is the law here:

Chicken, stuffing, cranberry, bread sauce
Beef, yorkies and horseradish
Pork - apple sauce and cider gravy
Lamb, leeks in garlic sauce

Except for chicken the onions stay in the roasting tin for the gravy. Drain as much fat off as necessary and add a dsp of flour and a knorr stock pot, add the veggie water. Slosh of white or sherry for the chicken; red for lamb and beef, cider for the pork. Stir continuously and strain.

Everything is ready at once and take to the table.

The cooking time isn't more though surely?

I do agree that a roast commits you to keeping an eye on the clock for what can feel like the whole afternoon, but the actual active cooking time isn't bad

30 minutes or a whole afternoon?

Im out of the house and so can't keep and eye on the clock

We have one every Sunday with a nice pudding after. In the summer, they get replaced with Bbqs. I remember being jealous of my friend who had one every weekend and moaned about it. I still don't understand why. Ha!

I make one most weekends (which DH finds weird because he’s forrin! 😂) because it’s my favourite meal! We have quite a few things week after week though, just because we like them. I just change up the meat, veg, style of potatoes etc.

I would love to have a roast but we always seem busy with one activity or another so cant really spend that much time cooking. I usually prep a nice lunch the night before and then put it in the over for 30-40mins on the day. Much easier that way.

We don't have them often but DH and ds are vegetarian so they are not.that popular except with me

My DM however made a roast dinner every Sunday without fail when I was growing up and I loved them so actually miss it a bit . There was always a lot of clearing up but my sister and had to do a lot of that that
. It meant Sundays were very predictable,. Church, roast, clear up/ TV. Then sandwiches and tea and cakes etc with any after lunch Sunday visitors , of which we always had several every Sunday afternoon

I love a roast - usually chicken or lamb, sometimes beef. We have at least one a week in the winter. In the summer we tend to have a lighter version - roast chicken or lamb with potatoes and salad.

I find them one of the easiest meals to cook and there is hardly any washing up. But I don’t often cook Yorkshire puddings or bread sauce etc from scratch.

@squiglet111

It's one of the only meals that we all like and enjoy and will all finish. It's hard to find meals that both kids like and will both eat and enjoy! So have one once a week!

Same here. DS loves a roast, in 'normal' times he usually has a mate round too who will join us. Most teenagers like meat and roast potatoes! DP works shifts - he's used to reheated dinners. A roast is one of the easiest meals of the week to cater for everyone. I don't find light pottering in the kitchen, whilst doing other things, a big deal.

Dd no longer eats any red meat, and has a lot of training for her sports on Sundays. So I don't make Sunday roasts all that much anymore.

As it happens, dd will accept chicken so we have done an occasional spatchcocked one. And we got the attachment for the bbq so we can do it that way.

But Christmas turkey? Forget it!

YANBU. I love a good roast dinner and probably do a chicken every 4-6 weeks or so (other meats less often) but although it does't need constant watching, most need you to be in the house for at least a couple of hours. We do a lot of sport / outdoor activity, particularly in the better weather, so sometimes just want something that can be assembled a bit more quickly.

Equally we both enjoy cooking and there are plenty of other dishes that we wouldn't cook midweek that we might want to stick in the oven at the weekend if we are in. (e.g. veggie bakes with pulses, curries from scratch etc.).

There are so many interesting cuisines that are accessible these days, so as much as a really good roast is one of my favourite meals, it would seem a shame to stick to 'traditional British' meat and two veg when there are loads of other things we enjoy.

When I do it, I do it efficiently. I buy something way too big for the household and use the meat in other dishes, soup or sandwiches for a couple of days no this is not the mumsnet chicken

@1AngelicFruitCake
It does generally take hours to cook, BUT you don’t have to be watching and stirring all of the time. We v occasionally do a slow roast pork shoulder which goes in the oven the day before and is then largely ignored until it comes out of the oven half an hour before we eat. Veg can be roasted if you like, frozen peas in the microwave. Basically you can put as much or as little effort into it as you feel like on the day. It doesn’t have to be the full works every single time.

If I’m going the whole hog, I admit it’s a bit of a military operation in terms of timing. I work out when everything needs to go on an off and set timers. A lot of it can be prepared in advance though and I’d rather peel a few potatoes and carrots than chop, mince, and measure loads of stuff. I pour a glass of wine, turn on some music and potter ....

Hell, if you want to, you can find most of the accompaniments already prepared in the supermarkets these days. That’s what my elderly mum does!

It’s certainly not something people should feel they have to do (especially if you don’t like it - why would you bother!), but for us it sort of marks a special day of the week, we often have friends round (pre-covid) and have a long leisurely convivial meal.

We also like to,have leftovers!

(The washing up UP is a bastard though, but for us it’s worth it!)

Other than the Christmas turkey roast dinner maybe once or twice a year. I enjoy them when I have them but for me they’re too much time and effort.

@1AngelicFruitCake
Oh, one other thing, In my experience, to do a really good roast, you need really good meat. It can be bloody expensive.

We do such an version often.
Just season and flavour a chicken or thighs and drumstick (herbs or spice rubs work)
Peel and cut potatoes and root veg. Season, oil and flavour them.
Put both trays in the oven and leave to cook. Get on with other stuff. Maybe baste or turn.
Make any other veg on the hob. We like sautéed greens or steamed broccoli.
Everyone enjoys it and I don’t think it’s hugely high in calories.

We have one most weeks, and sometimes have one at the weekend and midweek too! It's a great dinner, that all of my fussy eaters manage to eat at least some of 🤷‍♀️

I also find it one of the easer mealtimes. As long as I remember to bring the meat in a d then the potatoes in, i can mostly cook the bed while I'm setting the table/cutting the meat/getting them to wash their hands etc, so it's and easy meal to cook IMO

We have a roast nearly every Sunday evening (never at lunchtime).
We rotate the meats - chicken, pork, beef, lamb - so it mixes it up a bit. Always have roast potatoes but only Yorkshire's with beef.
I don't find it a faff to cook at all (especially as DH often does it ) and if we didn't have a roast it would be yet another day I would have to think about what to have 🤪
In the Summer we usually have more roast chicken with salad.