A traditional Roast On A Sunday

[Middicat]

I cannot lie I love love love a traditional roast on a Sunday I look forward to it all day. My husband on the other hand is saying it is not the 1950s anymore and it is old hat to want this and he reckons very few people actually have a roast at home on a Sunday each week.

Am I being unreasonable to have this one meal I really enjoy each week. Am I alone?

I would say that his argument also involves the fact that as we have young children he usually ends up cooking most of it and he says it is not worth all the effort!!!! I disagree - would also like to add we usually have what he likes on any given day of the rest of the week.

why is a Sunday roast such a vibey politically charged meal? it obviously touches some nerves! I think it's to do with people thinking it's out of the 1950s, who shd cook it etc. I think its about how we relate to traditions, the "family", what a Sunday is...its a weird space for sure.

We have a roast dinner every Sunday without fail

I like one. But I don’t like that I am basically stuck at home for it. I never found a restaurant doing one I enjoy so either I cook it myself or we do not have it.

Each week would mean we aren’t able to go out and I refuse to be that restricted, we do one when we are in and fancy one, maybe once a month on average.

He can look after the kids then!

If I’m off, I’ll cook one . I find it very relaxing to do - and because DH thinks it’s more difficult and time consuming than it really is, it means I get to sit at my kitchen table peeling veg whilst watching a Poirot , with cups of tea at my elbow , while DH goes outside and does fencing or hedge trimming or chopping wood, without asking for me to give him a hand , and asks DS instead ( it’s not hard labour ) . Then when it’s eaten I get all the plaudits and no washing up. Winner !

Having a roast is fine, but not if you get him to make it!

I love a roast dinner and we have one most weeks throughout autumn/winter/spring and maybe every 3 or 4 weeks in the summer.

Tonight’s dinner was roast pork belly. Had with boiled potatoes and gravy, sage and onion stuffing, roast carrots and parsnips with garlic, thyme and lemon, Savoy cabbage fried in butter with garlic, plus apple sauce. Delicious!! Everything made from scratch except the stuffing as we prefer the bog standard dry mix in a box. We have enough leftover to have a hash for breakfast using the potatoes, then we will have pork, stuffing and apple sauce sandwiches for lunch.

Your DH is definitely being unreasonable (although to be fair I do think you probably ought to cook it 50% of the time. Don’t see why you having young children means you can’t cook while he looks after them).

In response to LittleBearPad lasagne is absolutely a faff to make that is why it used to be our Sunday treat as I actually had enough time to do it, always takes far longer than I remember, a roast is much more straightforward.

@Babdoc

How is a roast “a faff”? Am I missing something here? I just stick it in the oven and leave it to roast itself. Are other people standing there stirring it?! When the family are up for Easter, we stick a whole leg of lamb in the oven after church and go out for a walk round the loch while it cooks. Christmas ditto, but with a turkey. It is way simpler than grinding ten different spices and chopping meat and veg for a curry, then standing there frying it and making a fiddly sauce etc. Or making pastry for a pie. It’s probably the least faffy meal I ever make!

But JUST a toasted joint is pretty joyless. It’s the cauliflower cheese, roast spuds, carrots, peas, parsnips, stuffing, Yorkshire Puds, that take the fucking time

Yes I love a roast and made one today.

Roast beef and trimmings - lovely but horrendous fuss. Par boiled the potatoes roasted the next day, prepped the mash, puréed the turnip, prepared the broccoli, green beans, carrot, cabbage and sprouts. Made the gravy. Did the Yorkshires …..

Then the washing up ..,,

@RiverSkater

I love it Buy ready made everything, Yorkshire puss, roast potatoes, gravy and microwave bags of veg so it's less cooking.

Can’t say puss is my thing, but feels pretty accurate

It’s the cauliflower cheese, roast spuds, carrots, peas, parsnips, stuffing, Yorkshire Puds, that take the fucking time.

I don’t bother with cauliflower cheese as I’m the only one who like it. The rest doesn’t take much time. It takes some time cooking but roasties just do their thing. Parsnips the same. The rest is the last 20 mins.

We have one most Sundays, but we have it in the evening not at lunch time because we usually go out for a long walk somewhere during the day.

DH usually cooks it. I would happily but he insists that he enjoys doing it and it is a really straightforward meal to cook.

How is a roast dinner a faff?!

Well, it requires someone in the house for several hours for a start (no I am not leaving an oven on in an empty house). It requires peeling and chopping potatoes, carrots, parsnips and green veg, preparing stuffing ingredients or Yorkshire pudding mix, preparing the joint or chicken and taking stuff in and out the oven every once in a while. Preheating yorkshire tin then filling it. Juggling things on shelves to cook evenly. Parboiling and then fluffing then roasting potatoes in a preheated tray. Then making gravy, draining everything, carving the meat and serving all the different elements while trying to keep everything hot and then tackling a small mountain of clearing up - board, knives, roasting tin and rack, tray for potatoes, pans for veg, tins for yorkshires, pan for gravy….

Making a curry involves cutting up a couple of chicken breasts and some veg, adding some spices and a couple of tins, stirring occasionally and then it’s done. And adding water to rice and boiling on a hob for a few minutes. Drain rice, dump rice on one side of the plate, tip curry on the other. At the end I have a board, knife, wok, spatula and a saucepan and sieve for the rice to wash up, that’s it. And from start to finish is maybe forty minutes not three hours.

How on earth can it take three hours to cook a roast?

I like a roast dinner but it’s too much effort for every week. We often have something hearty but easier like a stew or pie/sausage and mash instead.

I would say that his argument also involves the fact that as we have young children he usually ends up cooking most of it and he says it is not worth all the effort!!!! .

No job is too much effort for the woman who doesn't have to do it herself.

We have a roast every Sunday. I love it and it's one of the best dishes to get my fussy four year old to eat!!

I do some weeks but not others, I also sometimes cook roast in the week as well or instead

2 hours start to finish. And a roast without some gloop (cauliflower cheese/dauphinois) is not a proper meal!

How on earth can it take three hours to cook a roast?

Slow roast lamb, beef or pulled pork can take 5 or 6 hours in the oven (but admittedly don't need any additional attention during that time)

@RiverSkater

I love it Buy ready made everything, Yorkshire puss, roast potatoes, gravy and microwave bags of veg so it's less cooking.

I think Yorkshire puss is taking household economy a bit far.

I don’t find a roast dinner a faff to do , it’s one of the easiest things to prepare however we only ever have a full roast dinner if our son is visiting as my husband and daughter are not keen and it’s pointless doing it for myself . If my son is home for a few days we have a roast every day as he’s difficult to cater for . Today it was just myself and husband and we had salmon encroute .

@antsinyourpanta

How on earth can it take three hours to cook a roast?

Slow roast lamb, beef or pulled pork can take 5 or 6 hours in the oven (but admittedly don't need any additional attention during that time)

Yes so hardly any effort.

The poster implied it was three hours of hard work.

I love a roast but it's a faff to make a decent one with all the extras.