Whatever happened to the sunday Roast?

I like to get a large piece of brisket and cook it overnight in the slow cooker. Always put it in the cooker dry never add water. Plenty of stock comes out of the joint for the gravy. There is only the two of us so whatever meat is left is sliced into small portions and put into containers with what is left of the gravy and frozen. Saves on electricity and usually get three more Sunday lunches. Flavor of the brisket is wonderful.

Usually have roast parsnips, spring cabbage when available and a small portion of mashed potato. Always have Yorkshire puddings, big enough to fight getting out of the oven. Freeze those left out of the 12.

For a change its turkey today. Typing this - wish it was beef.

There was a cooking programme on the other day which said there are some sauces kept for years by just replenishing the original with fresh - a tradition in some sectors/countries. What say you GN's about that?

I do my roast potatoes exactly as does Kittylester, the goose fat is great for flavour.

2 chickens do Sunday lunch for 6, reheat on Monday for me and DH. Plus enough for a sandwich lunch.

Soutra - """It is also said that one man's Sunday lunch is another woman's Saturday night"""
I don't get this.... I'm always being told I'm slow on the uptake... lol.
Will you explain it for me

Tegan the problem with stock or gravy is that it is pretty much the same as the cultures used to grow germs in laboratories, and that is something they do very well. In a commercial kitchen you are always told to throw stock out at the end of the day - no more stock pot simmering away on the back of the stove. I've always found that it's fine as long as you don't keep it for days and you take care to reheat it thoroughly.

We have our roast meal on a Saturday. It's a hangover from when we worked... Sunday evening was spoilt by 'planning' for the following week , so,we decided to have it on Saturday instead... Far more relaxing!

1st rule of Sunday lunch (ideally any meal)

(S)he who cooks does not wash up.

It is also said that one man's Sunday lunch is another woman's Saturday night

DD1 rarely cooks a Sunday roast. Tonight they're having chilli-con-carne

I was watching her from the kitchen window earlier, weeding her small garden, listening to the radio, then relaxing on the patio with a glass of wine.

I was washing up having spent most of the morning doing the roast.

Who's the idiot?

oooh Edinburgh Gransnetters - have a lovely time! Have a teacake for me, won't you? I so miss going up to Scotland late summer/early autumn each year - the last time we had our regular visit was 3 years ago when DH's health while not great, was a little more predictable!
Sunday roasts are such a typically British meal aren't they? And actually no more work than an "ordinary" meal as long as your timings are right. When we moved out of London to the country we had a stream of friends and former neighbours to visit for Sunday lunch and I managed to go to church with the children and DH in those days too. Preliminary drink at the village pub, leisurely lunch, kids all out in the garden together, bit of a walk to show them the surroundings, tea and then wave them off home. Happy days! The enthusiasm for visiting us in the country began to wane though when the weather got worse and winter kicked in and especially om the occasion when I had to provide clothes for said friends' mud drenched London children!
I think this is a tradition which we need to think about reviving - certainly much better than the present-day obsession with shopping on a Sunday.

NShSh!

Forgot to say - you need to put them back in the oven (doh)

I don't do roasts as I live alone but even when DH was alive, I was resentful of the time it took. It would take me all of my precious sunday morning doing the veg, then a long time doing the dishes afterwards so it meant that we had little time to go out, by the time Id done them it was three oclock and not worth going out.

I have a slow cooker full of veggie soup for today though, it doesn't need looking after and I can freeze what s left or use tomorrow. The only time this year I have ever roasted anything was for xmas dinner.

I won't be eating very much for this sunday lunchtime - bread and cheese probably. Must leave plenty of space for afternoon tea.

I parboil Maris Pipers and, at the same time, have a roasting tin with goose fat in a really hot oven. I drain the potatoes and let the steam disperse, shake the potatoes and then I tip the goose fat over the potatoes in their pan. This uses less fat and ensures my potatoes are covered all over! They take about thirty minutes so can be done while the meat rests, the Yorkshires cook and I make the gravy.

My mother said they were the best she'd ever tasted

So sorry if my comment dismayed some of you - I hardly think it ruined the thread for everyone else!

When on holiday I always look for a Sunday roast cause I'm just too far removed from making one at home. Think because I was working soo very hard I felt just too exhausted to be bothered. I'm salivating now at the thought of a decent Sunday roast and might in fact think about making one in the near future. However, I can only focus on the afternoon tea some of us Gransnetters will be having today in the beautiful city of Edinburgh.

Not so much in the summer, but in the winter when all the family come for Sunday lunch / dinner (it's generally about 4.00 pm when we start) I do a proper roast. It's the only time we eat red meat and I try to choose a joint which feeds the eight or nine of us satisfactorily but with nothing left over.

I always serve it it in the French way though, as my French mother did. A plate of crudités to begin, then a separate vegetable course followed by the roast meat and potatoes and then a green salad on the same plate to mop up the juices. And then a Tarte or fruit. I love doing this big family meal and they love eating it.

Tegan

We love a Sunday Roast. Have a nice, if tiny, piece of beef defrosting for this evening.

As I am cooking today, I will parboil Maris Pipers empty the water and shake them in the pan to fluff up the outsides and then just throw them in around the meat. Can't do this with chicken though -then I heat up rapeseed oil and throw the spuds in with other root veg.

DH uses much the same methods as me but his roast always comes out completetly different to mine

Boil 'em for a little while, shake 'em up in the saucepan with lid to rough them up a bit, roast in rapeseed oil.

Or, if there's just the two of us here, I might just microwae them for a few minutes to soften them, and then roast as before.

Don't roast too quickly.

How do you cook your roast potatoes. One of my Dils' does hers in olive oil and butter they are lovely. My late Mil cooked hers in lard without boiling first, I loved those too.

Sunday roast is a much loved tradition in our extended family. It's such an easy meal to prepare, and extra potatoes/veg mean it can usually be extended to feed any family/friends who decide to join us. I made a meat and pot pie with the remnants of the lamb roast last week, and lie so many others here, never "waste" the left overs.
Today, there won't be a roast here, as we're invited to join a birthday celebration in one of our children's extended in law families. There is to be an Italian theme (special request from one of the young ones) with lasagne as a main course. I wonder if that's what the complaints are, that we're substituting non British Sunday roast types at family/friends get togethers. We often "do" a Mexican/North African/Greek etc at Sunday afternoon get togethers, because it's so easy to put together, keep warm and as ever, increase/reduce the amount of food to fit the number of people. What's not to like

...also the hundreds of new gransnetters on the competition thread won't have read the May one ......

The S.O. [who did a course of some kind decades ago] won't use re heated gravy [said on the course no reheated gravy or rice; I only found out about rice a couple of years ago so I'm lucky to have survived this long ], so what is it with reheated gravy and, if that is the case, why is stock not poisonous? Maybe what he was taught was not to reheat gravy that had been made and kept warm for several hours [it was a catering course of some kind]? Given that his cooking hygiene can be a bit slap happy in other ways [not as careful with implements used to cut raw chicken for example] the gravy thing puzzles me.

Ana so sorry to have bored you. I await your erudite postings for my edification.

Our £15 lamb - went for three days (for 2) and then a sandwich so it was worth it. I'm not a big fan of cold meat though and hated it when my mother used to serve it up on Monday with new potatoes and peas- the only vegetable served in her kitchen - with the exception of baked beans.

Having a casserole today. There was a pack of Sainsbury game casserole in the freezer. Not sure if I'm keen but will do lots of veg.