Adding flavour

[mrpenny]

Just thinking about Christmas dinner but also roasts in general. I don’t have a problem with doing it all and they are always OK but I ever find my own roasts are that ‘ tasty’ unless I add loads of salt etc. When we go out, the roasts are always fantastic and really taste good. What am I doing wrong??? We can’t eat a lot of salt now for dietary reasons.

When my DH does a roast, he usually rubs it with garlic butter, and sometimes a herb like thyme or sage if we have any.

The roasts are good because they use lots of salt and oil.

What part is "lacking" in your mind?

Also what size of roast are you cooking?
Small joints of beef, for example, are hard to roast successfully and can end up dry and dull, especially if well-done.
When you're eating out in a decent pub or restaurant they are likely to be cooking a far larger joint of meat than you might at home.
Beef in particular is usually far better if it's roasted on the bone. But it's liable to be much more expensive.

Use less salt and add pepper too.
herbs make a good addition and add balance of flavour. mustards or herb jellies.
Also something like umami paste.
a good quality gravy will also make a big difference.

I don't put that much salt on a roasting joint but I would be very generous with the garlic. That's just our taste.

What kind of meat are you roasting?

When I roast a chicken I put a lemon and some cloves of garlic in the water when I'm parboiling the potatoes, then I stick the lemon inside the chicken and stab it with a knife a few times to let the juice out, and then I smash the cloves of garlic inside the cavity of the chicken and rub them all over the inside and outside of the chicken.

I do also put olive oil on the skin to make it crispy, as well as a small amount of salt and pepper.

I rub mine down with a simple garlic and butter mixture. I'll also get my hand in under the skin and push some down over the breast as well. Sometimes I'll sprinkle over a bit of paprika for a bit of colour/flavour on the skin.
I used to shove a half a lemon into the cavity, but then found it made pretty much zero difference.

For me, it's olive oil for roasting beef, (unless i have leftover dripping from a previous beef joint) plus garlic, salt and pepper.
Olive oil and lemon with garlic and herbs for lamb. S and P.
Olive oil, garlic and roughly crushed fennel seed (rubbed well into the slashes made in the skin for the crackling) for pork. Salt etc.
Butter, garlic, salt and lemon juice for chicken.

Yes..I do al that too and use lots of garlic. Maybe it’s just that the veg tastes better???

Not sure..I add garlic lemon etc but just never tastes as good!

If I'm doing a roast chicken I always put half a lemon and onion in the cavity. Vegetable oil on the skin then dried parsley, black pepper and sage sprinkled over. The rest of the onion and lemon i put on the thighs.