To think beef is the most disappointing roast dinner?

[BarrelOfOtters]

I much prefer chicken with stuffing or lamb. We had beef last night for a change and it was well cooked but just not as tasty.

Beef is the best roast but must be rare and not cooked to death - looking at you MIL!

A beef joint shouldn’t be well cooked. Rare to medium rare max.

And I agree with @DappledThings. Yorkshires with beef. Stuffing with chicken. Suet with lamb or pork.

Good beef is VERY expensive, I paid over £90 for a large 4-rib joint for a special lunch for 8 people, cooked pink, and it was sublime.
There was plenty left over for sandwiches, DS took some hone with him and DH and I had a meal from it the next day too so it worked out at about £7-8 per head. Not cheap but worth it for a special occasion.
Unfortunately small joints of beef are often disappointing. I always buy bigger than i really need and from an old fashioned butchers. It’s always used up!

This!

IMO beef and lamb are best either quick pan seared or very slow cooked with some liquid until falling apart.

A rare roast beef or lamb is ok but not my favourite. A well done roast beef or lamb is awful.

For a normal roast I like chicken, guinea fowl or belly pork.

Our local butcher does grass-fed beef from the lower slopes of Dartmoor. Hung for weeks. Corner cut of topside properly cooked hardly needs a knife to cut it and is utterly delicious. You are definitely unreasonable!

Yanbu.

Nah beef is A list. Chicken is C

Roast beef is the best but had to be a really good quality cut to be tender when cooked pink.

Then horseradish, excellent gravy, parsnips etc, fabulous.

Lamb, gammon, chicken, beef, pork.
I love steak and beef in general but it just doesn't seem to add anything to a roast.
But I'm also a mint sauce and yorkshire puddings with everything person.

There is nothing worse than grey, overcooked beef.

I think beef is the hardest to do well but it's one of my favourites. I love the Yorkshire puddings and cauliflower cheese that go with it too.

I love roast beef but it has to be a rib with a nice bit of fat round the edge, with English mustard spread around it before cooking. Bloody gorgeous😋

Noooooooo beef is the best! Assuming a really good joint and either done perfectly rare OR slow cooked to the point it's falling apart. My mum does it well done so it's like grey rubber 🤢 and it's such a shame as she has it in her head that beef = treat so gets a really nice, expensive cut and always has it on special occasions. If anyone asks not to have it (for a family birthday meal for example) she thinks we're just being polite to save the expense and insists. Such a waste!

Chicken is fine and easy but a bit boring and lamb I like but can be fatty. Pork is one I never make as it always turns out dry and tasteless for me, but I had it at my sister's yesterday and it was beautiful, juicy and tasty with amazing crackling (so I'm told - I don't eat it but it looked gorgeous and everyone else was raving about it!). Turkey barely warrants a mention haha. We usually do goose for Xmas (or beef!).

I am NOT a roast purist and have yorkshires and stuffing with every meat as well as cauliflower cheese 😋

What joint did you buy and from where? Supermarket joints are generally awful. 2/3 ribs on the bone from a butcher is a completely different experience but can set you back £70.

Oh and for a cheaper option DH does a slow cooked brisket thats bloody gorgeous.

You have to pay a lot for a good joint.Also well cooked is often a little dry as well .Try slow cooker or wrap in foil in a slow oven .

It should be slightly pink for a good flavour

We now brine chicken, pork, turkey etc before roasting.

For new year we had a slow cooked 4 rib of beef. It was delicious. We got it from the dry aged cabinet at Waitrose (AKA 'the cupboard of death'). Cost an absolute bomb but was worth every penny.

Cauliflower Yes
Cauliflower CHEESE ffs NO.

Yes. We've had quite a few very ordinary roast beefs, even though DH is an excellent cook and loves meat. At Christmas I splashed out on a £100 joint from an online butcher, and it was AMAZING. Truly sublime flavour and melting texture.

Chicken is both easier to cook (even I can do a good roast chicken) and a good bird is still only £15-£20 or so, so more affordable.

It is the best when it is cooked properly. This so so rarely happens. At which point it is a disappointment.

@SiobhanSharpe which butcher did you use please, I have tried a couple but not been very good. Thanks

Are you comparing supermarket beef with the very best local butchers shop 'please can I have your very best beef, a piece to roast for 6 people' ?

Because the two will be very different.

Any old piece of beef roasting joint from supermarket is generally tough regardless of how its cooked. Its usually silverside or topside with little fat. A decent sized rib, on the bone sirloin or an fille from a decent butcher, hung for a good long time and then cooked properly is sublime. Astronomical cost - around £75-100 for a good size piece.

More bang for your buck is rolled brisket, sauteed off and cooked long and slow in good beef stock and red wine.

If you want the topside round of beef then get one at least a foot long, add big lumps of lard in the pan and on top of the roll, with lots of pepper and mustard powder (no salt). Cook on 220c for 20 mins and then 10-12 mins per pound at 180c (adjust for fan if needed) basting every 20 mins or so. Use a meat thermometer to check the centre, ideally you want it around 50 degrees. More than that it will be over done.

Rest it for as long as you have cooked it. This is very important.

Carve it slowly with a super sharp long carving knife letting the knife do the work. It will run a little pink juice when you carve it but this will mean that it will be rare in the middle as it should be. If anyone prefers well done meat, give them the ends.