Roast dinners are in fact my favourite dish. Synonymous with Sundays (equally my favourite day of the week) down the pub, drinking wine and catching up with friends.
To celebrate #NationalRoastWeek I thought I would take a look at the history of the signature dish. I have also been on the hunt for amazing offers in the city for this weekend!
“The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast beef; love, like being enlivened with champagne”
Stayin’ in to cook a Sunday roast dinner
You can also invite your friends around for a Sunday roast dinner or club together with your housemates to get all of the ingredients. When I lived with the lovely Ed & Stephen Bailey, we used to invite our friends including Whitmore to our Sunday lunches. You don’t need to be the one out of pocket just because it is your suggestion. Pick the best cooks in the group to help and designate others to bring alcohol (lots of wine) and even to stretch out for a desert. Iceland do some incredible cheap ones. Alternatively, get yourself to invited to a friend’s house and bring a cheap bottle. You might even get out of doing the washing up!
Top tips from our readers
Always make your gravy in the pan you roasted the meat in..
Put the roasting pan on the hob and pour the boiling water into it then add your granules and a dash of wine or cider (depending on the meat)! Simmer and stir whilst your meat rests. All the juice, and ‘scrumpy’ bits will make it the best gravy EVER – Lucy
You can liven up a roast chicken by rubbing butter, seasoning and herbs under the skin. Adds flavour and keeps the bird moist. The juices then make a lovely sauce – Nikki
Toby carvery are doing roasts for £3 this week!!! Ok it is the meat-Free version but still, three quid!! – Amber
Par boil and shake potatoes to a fluffy edge to make them crispy during roasting. You can also sprinkle chicken stock over your roast potatoes before they go into the oven, for extra flavour. Same goes for herbs. Or try cooking them in Coconut Oil for less fat. – Nikki
Sometimes life just gets a bit too much living in the city. Why not take a break to see family instead?
Just relax and have some time out from city life. Also, to have someone else pay for food for the weekend (oh and wine).
“Cooking certain dishes, like roast pork, reminds me of my mother” Maya Angelou
London is fantastic for pub roast dinners
Check out The Londonist for their guide on the Top 20 places to get a decent Roast Dinner this weekend. FYI – Weatherspoons have taken them off their menu 🙁
Where does the roast dinner come from?
This article was first reported in the Daily Mail. An infographic by Mix It Up reveals, hardly any of the elements which make up a Sunday roast originated in Britain.
The roast dinner club
The Roast Dinner Club was founded by John Hicks. A man after my own heart he thinks Roast Dinners can be eaten any day of the week, and rightly so!