Family friends around for dinner Saturday night- can i do a roast?

[hmmmwhattoeat]

I will start with the fact i love a good roast, and i know logically you can have one any time,BUT it seems odd to eat one on a Saturday night for some reason.

Apart from the fact i like a roast, another benefit it brings is that i can prepare most of it in advance so it still enables me to drop kids to and from their clubs and I know they will also eat it!! Win win

Would you think its a strange choice if you went around for an evening dinner and were served a roast dinner???

Unreasonable- you can not serve a roast for saturday night dinner
Reasonable- stop being silly thats perfectly fine

Me too. I hate everything about it, except for the roast potatoes.

Just because you roast meat doesn't mean you have to have roast vegetables as well.

I am not sure how many people have a roast on Sunday these days. I think originally prople had roasts on Sunday so they could have an easy cold meat meal on Monday. Monday was traditionally wash day for laundry and seemingly an exhausting all day affair before people had washing machines and hot water at the turn of a tap. I think you can have a roast any day you want unless you are boiling water in a kettle for washing and operating a mangle.

Whatever you do, do not make a Sunday roast on a Saturday. Strictly verboten. However, you could make a lovely Saturday roast.

Yes please.. what time shall I be there!!

How about roast duck, dauphinois potatoes and french beans? Kind of like a roast, but with more of a dinner party vibe. Maybe followed by a nice sharp tarte au citron.

I love a roast dinner and would never turn one down. To be honest if somebody else was cooking it ,I'd probably eat it for breakfast

It wouldn’t occur to me not to serve one on Saturday night if I fancied it.

I’d do roast Guinea fowl Normande, Delia recipe here
Roast potatoes, roast parsnips and red cabbage - it’s not too far into spring yet to ditch my favourite vegetables.

How about roast chicken or 70s classic chicken supreme with spicy / cajun potatoes and some roasted veg. Although I will eat a proper roast dinner on any day of the week and do when there are leftovers.

Depends for me. If its a dinner party eith a lot of wine then no. I wouldnt want to eat a roast and booze. Would prefer something lighter

If its a dinner party with 1 glass at dinner and not a boozy one then for sure. Before we had a kid mine and DPs treat was a carvery on a Saturday night. Its quiet, no mad queue to get what scraps were left! Then home for a glass or two and a cosy night in with a film.

It's just too dull @hmmmwhattoeat
I wouldn't invite friends for a roast unless it was Sunday and I often do. But you do something like a curry or paella or chilli. A little less everyday food. It's Saturday after all. Have fun 🙂

Snap

OP what have you decided to cook tomorrow night ?

I love a roast and wouldn’t care if it was a Saturday night.

Too heavy if you're drinking also, plus surely its not really the easiest thing to do when hosting. Lasagne, chilli, curry are all easy to prep in advance, or pasta/fajita dishes are nice and quick.

stop being silly it’s fine.

the downside of a roast is it’s very heavy.

we sometimes do salmon and roast potatoes with some veggies- it’s slightly lighter, you can prep beforehand and it’s toast potatoes that are the star.

I’d be very happy to turn up at your house, and find a lovely roast dinner waiting for me 👌🏻👍🏻👌🏻

This - with a spice rub on the meat.

I wouldn't mind a roast (veggie-fied) but your reasons for doing it don’t sound great. ‘So you can prepare ahead’ - what bits of a roast are you preparing ahead? It all needs to be freshly cooked to be delicious. And so ‘the kids will eat it’ - so you are catering more for children than the adults?

It sounds like a nice enough dinner but not special enough or guest-orientated for a dinner party.

I think people are largely talking about a very traditional British roast with roast potatoes, gravy etc, which is heavier IMO than, say, quinoa and a yoghurt sauce.

Roast chicken is too heavy but lasagne is not - really??

I'm very curious, after reading a few posts, why a roast is boring on a Saturday but not on a Sunday

God MN is fun 😁

A roast can be any day of the week although depending on the time of the meal maybe a tad too late as it can be a heavy meal before bed.

What bits of the roast would you want the most?
Could you do a slimmed down roast? Most people would be happy with some form of meat, potato, veg and gravy combination if eating out and it is a tiny step from that to a roast!!

I know right - how does this compute?? Why is a roast dinner more difficult to digest than a stew or a pie or pasta? I just don’t get it!

I do think pasta is a lighter dinner than a full-on roast, and a stew probably too. Pie not so much maybe.
It's the fat content, I think – potatoes done in oil or goose fat or whatever people use, gravy with the pan juices etc.