Christmas Beef - which joint?

[Doorstopbread]

Hello - planning Christmas Dinner and ordering the meat but I'm so confused on what to order. We used to go to a large family for Christmas Day, but this year I'm doing it for our small family of 4. Not a huge turkey fan so a nice corn fed chicken will be on the menu, but also doing beef and no idea what sort of joint to get. I'm utterly useless at beef so usually end up doing slow cooker Taming Twins recipe but wasn't sure about trying something different with a better joint? Grateful for any suggestions on what sort of joint to get and how to cook it!

Thanks, Bea

For me...forerib is the Rolls Royce of roasting joints.

On the bone and plenty of marbling for the best flavour

Doesn't come cheap though.

The last two Christmases, I've bought a large sirloin joint. Just the right amount of fat on the outside, but very lean in the middle. It's been beautiful; absolutely no wastage and it melts in the mouth. But I always oven roast it, I'm not sure how it would fare in the slow cooker.
It would probably drop apart to be honest.

Thanks. Sirloin has come up a lot in my research up to now - forerib with bone in sounds a bit scary though - not the money, the prospect of cooking it 🤣. I'm not wedded on slow cooking the joint. Probably sacrilege, but I may even cook the beef the night before so can do the chicken fresh.

Beef takes very little time to roast. If you're doing a rolled sirloin, for example, it's absolutely delicious and worth having on the day (it will be still be very tasty the next day, of course!).

You can cook your chicken and leave it to rest, cook your beef afterwards and they'll both be ready at the same time.

(depending on the size of the joint, of course)

Yes! I agree with @AllTangledUpInTinselAndTiaras
That's the perfect plan to me!

Mind you, you would also need time to rest the beef. So if I were doing it I'd probably double up chicken and beef (not for the whole cooking time but overlapping IYSWIM).

Both can rest while you do roast potatoes and sides.

Edit: forgot that you can't do this as the beef needs a good hot temp for the first 20-25 min. So back to my original plan - chicken done first, then beef.

Arrrrgh. I'm so used to having two ovens so I can juggle timings much easier, so I'm getting myself muddled. You'll need to work out a plan for timings, sequence and so on but we can help with that once you've picked your joint and we know what you want to do with it.

Sirloin or rib are our go-to joints for beautiful beef, and rib especially looks impressive for special occasions, but they are expensive so it also depends on how much you want to spend.

A cheaper joint can also be done very nicely but might need a different approach.

I’d pick chicken or beef and focus on doing one thing well. Pick the other for new year

That's also a good idea, especially if you don't want to add extra stress doing something new.

Beef really isn't complicated though. Both can easily be done together.

Most beef joints sold for roasting in the supermarket aren't really roasting cuts which is why they are often disappointing.

I second rib or sirloin.

I'm probably over complicating things, especially as we have sausagemeat stuffing and pigs in blankets, so total meat overload- it's just something we have always been used to😬. That alongside sprouts, carrots, parsnips, cauliflower cheese, roasties, mash, Yorkshire's, broccoli 🙈.

I might get a sirloin joint in advance and have a practice

I would do a brisket overnight in the slow cooker, then that leaves the oven for the chicken and assorted sides 😍

It's really very easy. You don't need to practice. I promise you!

It's just a matter of working out the timings.

No harm in practice and enjoying the results one weekend. Sirloin can be dry and my rule is cook for less time than you think and let it rest to be pink and juicy. It continues to cook after you get it out to rest .
No more than 45 mins total for a smallish joint. High heat to brown for 20 mins then turn it rdown to finish for another 20 / 25 mins

I might try a small joint in advance from Costco

That's fair, although I've never, ever had a dry sirloin!

@Doorstopbread you must practice soon so you have time to forget how good it tastes before Christmas comes around! 😁😁

Have the usual Sainsbury's topside for tomorrow so will try a sirloin in a couple of weeks!

@Doorstopbread I buy supermarket topside or silverside and use this method. Not really a method as such, just don't over cook it. As it needs resting time, I'd err on the side of cooking it rare.

https://westilkerton.co.uk/recipes/easy-peasy-roast-silverside-or-topside