Roast Beef?

[schroeder]

I have never cooked roast beef(I don't like it)so where to start? What joint should I buy? How to cook it?
It's for DH and probably DS and I know he could cook it, but he has made me things he doesn't like before, so I said I'd give it a go.

The best joint of beef to roast is rib. 1 rib does about 2 people with no leftovers. Jamie Oliver's meat roasting times always work out perfectly for me.

At the other end of the spectrum (in terms of cost) is brisket, which I cook for hours and hours at a low temp and whilst a totally different flavour to rib, is very good.

Pice wise, I would recemmend a quality topside too especially if you want a traditional roast dinner.

Its not just the cut, really its the quality as you cant compare a supermarket topside against a top notch butchers/farmers market. Supermarket beef can be tasteless & tough.

You need to look out for the words 'matured' (14 days - 28 days), Pedigree - longhorn, welsh black, aberdeen, hereford and so on. Home reared on grass. It needs to have a nice covering of fat too.

I would start with a 800g - 1kg joint, too small and you'll over cook it. You can use the thin sliced left overs for sarnies so no waste. Cover with wholegrain mustard, plain flour, S&P. You can brown it first or just pop it into a hot oven - say gas 7-8 for 20 mins then turn down to 180/4 for 40 mins max! Remember that you want it moist and letting it rest for half hour it will continue to cook - so you could cook for less.