Joint of beef - oven, slow cooker or air fryer

[HareOverThere]

I’m going to cook a joint of beef for Christmas instead of turkey. Would it taste better cooked in an oven, air fryer or slow cooker and any tips? I’m not very clued up or cooking a roast. Thanks!

My choice would be slow cooked in the oven.

What type of beef joint were you thinking off? I cook mine in the slow cooker (most Sundays) in a little water and I season it and make gravy. It’s delicious. I give it 4-6 hours

Depends on the joint.

I normally do beef as I don't like turkey. I was thinking of doing slow cooker this year. I have a friend who does this in a little coke (the full fat version) which sounds odd but she swears by it.

What joint?

It really depends on the joint you're going to cook and how you like your beef. I cook a rib joint in the oven and serve it pink in the middle. Other joints I cook in the air fryer using the dehydrate function.

The joint I’m looking at is a topside one that says it serves 8, but could do a different one?

I do beef every christmas. I always do a rib of beef because it is relatively economical and it is very forgiving. x100 if you're doing a relatively big one - 2 or 3 ribs at least. Topside is a LOT less forgiving, especially if you are not used to cooking beef.

I always have to check the cooking times using this website but basically, if you cook it for a bit too long or a bit too short or your oven is a bit cold or a bit hot... it doesn't matter because you'll land up with tender meat and you can ensure you have more well cooked pieces on the sides, and more rare bits in the middle. It also benefits from a nice long resting period which gives me time to sort out all the last minute bits and use the oven again for yorkshire puddings etc.

Expensive cut - oven

Cheaper cut - slow cooker. It'll be well done, but tender if cooked for long enough. And this leaves oven available for veg

Never tried in air fryer

I did a small sirloin roast in the air fryer a year or so ago. It was quite stressful, but came out beautifully. I seared it first which I wouldn't do again. But it was basically just a MASSIVE steak so it worked well. I think it was 700g or something.

Oven. Definitely oven.

And if you've not done a joint of beef before, I recommend having a practice this month. Jamie's recipes are usually fool proof and easy to follow (https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef/roast-topside-of-beef/). Delia has some useful notes (https://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/meat/how-to-roast-beef) but she's not as prescriptive as Jamie.

As a coeliac, both of those recipes make me shudder though - particularly Delia's.

Slow cooker with a big glug of red wine.

Thanks. Good idea to do a practice one I’ll do that, maybe the Jamie recipe as the gravy sounds nice.
The rib joint looks good though for Christmas, not sure how well I’ll do at it - being a bit thick but is it just a couple of big bones and you carve the meat off them?

Definitely oven.