What's a good joint of beef that's easy to cook for Xmas dinner?

[MullerDuller]

We never really cook beef apart from the odd steak but we're having some guests this Christmas so would like to have a few different meats.
Probably needs to feed 8/9 but there will be other meats as well so probably enough to feed 4/5 if it was on it's own.
probably happy to spend £20-£25.
Nothing too complicated!
Thanks

Rib but it would pricier than that. Top rump and silverside are only good for braising imo, good for a pot roast though and would be within budget.

Rump cooked slowly in the slow cooker or oven would be lovely

Topside is generally quite widely available and not too expensive compared to other cuts. I think you’d get a good piece for £20-25.

It’s very little trouble to roast - much easier than turkey. After faffing about with various recipes I copied this one into my notes - it’s probably a bbc good food or something.

We like it medium - pink and tender in the centre. The timings below work well. I used to faff about with meat thermometers but I find that the temp continues to change after it is left resting and the best thing is to stick to the timings below and allow plenty of time for both coming to to room temp (easily an hour) and resting afterwards (easily 30 mins, cover with foil to keep it warm).

Let the meat come to room temperature before you cook it.
Roast the beef at a high temperature (240°C/fan 220°C/gas 9, or as high as your oven will go) for about 15 minutes to get the heat through to the centre of the joint. Then reduce the temperature to 190°C/fan 170°C/gas 5 and continue to roast for 12-13 minutes per 500g for rare, 17-18 minutes per 500g for medium, or 22-24 minutes per 500g for well done.
Rest the meat before carving. This allows the meat fibres – which contract in the oven – to relax again, so the meat will be more tender.

Rump is a bit expensive/ fine muscle fibres for braising. I roast rump and sirloin. Use top rump, sirloin or even brisket for braising.

Beef is half price in Waitrose at the moment , probably similar offers in other supermarkets .
As pp have said you'll only get top side or silverside for that price .
My friend insists on chateaubriand at xmas , but cost around £60/£70 for 4 of them

As others have mentioned, topside is probably your best bet for the budget and number of mouths to feed. Between 3 to 4lbs depending on price (any butcher will sell it).

Also a really easy way to get loads of great gravy is to use cans of Baxter’s beef consommé, or buy beef broth from somewhere good. I find I don’t get a lot of juices from a beef joint, depending on the joint, and using this to supplement gravy is good.

Op: £20 is a bit tight for roasting beef for 5 people to be honest.
You can get a decent slow cooking joint from the supermarket though.

We did a sirloin joint last Xmas which was perhaps the best beef I've ever had but that'd be more than your budget. However one tip is, unless there's already a good layer of fat on the joint do get it from a butcher so you can ask for a slab of fat to plonk on top, that auto-bastes it and gives lots of dripping you can spoon off and use for the roasties and Yorkshires.

In the Tesco Christmas book they have a finest slow cooked beef rib that serves 6 that looks lovely. It's £30 but clubcard price is £25

I got this last week, and it was the best affordable beef I've ever cooked at home! I got four dinners from it, and I'm quite greedy. It's fair to say that supermarket meat does vary, though - depends where & when they bought it.

https://www.iceland.co.uk/p/Iceland-Luxury-Beef-Sirloin-Roasting-Joint-1kg---1.4kg/87989.html

They've currently got Luxury Aberdeen Angus Beef Roasting Joints at 2 for £20, which is probably topside or silverside and will be fine if you'd rather be sure of having enough. I'd never shopped at Iceland before; all the meats I got are great.

I use one of these. Take the joint out when it beeps and wrap your meat loosely in foil while you sort out the veg, etc.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ThermoPro-Thermometer-Stainless-Step-Down-Countdown/dp/B018Q77AR4

ok, I might be willing to stretch to £30!

Maybe a couple of these
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-british-native-breed-large-beef-topside/642615-806245-806246?srsltid=AfmBOopIMwETRAAfSb44XBRJQLdzayXzp2Au149p1ztYN_imIjwS3k2m

@Garlicpest This may be a stupid question but are all the joints you buy at Iceland, frozen?

No.

I got a rolled rib joint from our local butcher last christmas, and it went down well with the meat eaters (I'm vegetarian). Hate to say though that it was around £90 for one that fed 8 to 10. I roasted it in a very old cast iron meat roaster from le crueset. The trick with beef is resting it well and letting the meat relax after cooking... at least 30 minutes out the oven wrapped in foil before you go near it with a knife.

If you roast it fairly slowly, silverside is lovely. The fat running through the meat keeps it tender and moist, and you get cracking gravy. Topside tends to go a bit dry and there’s less juice for gravy.

Rib of beef is really good for roasting. Your budget is a bit low for beef, it's getting expensive.

A few years ago we had rib of beef from the butchers and thought it was expensive. We'd calculated the weight as on the bone but when we collected it it was boned.

I want a good joint of beef, for Xmas dinner for 2 but have 10 for boxing day! With pickles! How big should I go? Kg 🤔

We recently had a 1.6kg joint for 4 of us roast dinner (hungry teens etc so we didn’t hold back). Probably about half left over and we had loads of sandwiches with it cut thin over the week (easier to get thin slices of beautifully cooked med/rare beef when it’s cold). So I’d say 2kg would be good. It’s much easier to cook large pieces nicely too.

I always buy topside from my local butcher . Once had a tough piece from a supermarket.

I would go to a nice independent butcher and ask for topside.
Roasts lovely.