Well, this year, we had fore-rib of beef with all the trimmings.
- Rare Roast Beef
- Roast Potatoes
- Roast Parsnips
- Roast Shallots
- Sauted Mushrooms
- Yorkshire Puddings
The beef was from my local butchers (Howarths) and was well aged. When raw it had a significantly gamey odour, but that soon dissipated when it started cooking. It was wonderful!
Tender, tasty and the fat got nice and crisp. Just rubbed it with some olive oil and a quick twist of salt and pepper. Then into the oven.
Half an hour at gas mark 8, then popped it down to 3 and put the electronic meat thermometer into it and cooked it until core temp. was 62degC. If you do not have a meat thermometer with a timer and alarm, you are probably getting more stressed for worse results than you need.
I took a tip out of one of Nigellas books and made the Yorky batter in the magimix(food processor). PAINLESS! really worth doing that way. Makes batter effortlessly, no lumps, perfect. I will probably do pancakes more this coming year as a consequence.
When doing the roasters, I have found that they are best done on a baking tray with a shallow lip 1 to 1.5cm (about half an inch). Less chance of them accumulating a steam bath(?)
For afters I did a rice pudding, but the kids just turned their noses up at it. Very disappointing, but probably inevitable. Still, there was more for me.