Traditional Sunday beef roast

If anyone insists on a hot dinner, suggest they cook it themselves or perhaps put everything in the slow cooker in the morning, switch on and walk away for a few hours.

Tea3

I’m astonished by people firing up the barbecue on the hottest days of the year. The temperatures soar into the 30s and folk opt to gather around a furnace in the garden.

It's only usually the caveman in the family who throws a steak on the barbie.
The rest of the family can sit at a respectable distance, perhaps throw together a salad. Better than slaving over a hot stove/oven indoors.

I find having the oven on heats up the whole house, so tend not to roast or bake anything when it's too warm.

If you have a BBQ, a roast turns out nicely. We have an electric rotisserie; chickens and roasts are delicious. You just have to get the hang of putting them on the spit evenly so they turn nicely. If no rotisserie, in a roasting pan on the grill works.

Having spent 2 summers cooking in Turkey for an archaeological dig (40C), I cook very little on hot days but instead make tasty salads and maybe a baked potato for DH to go with it. If your other half really wants a full roast maybe he could have a go at cooking it himself ?.

Oh dear- us women can truly be our own worst enemies.

Tea3

I’m astonished by people firing up the barbecue on the hottest days of the year. The temperatures soar into the 30s and folk opt to gather around a furnace in the garden.

Better a furnace in the garden than the house!

If you're reheating food you need to make sure the thickest part of it is reading 75c on a food probe ?
If possible stir or turn things over part-way through reheating to make sure they heat evenly.

If OH demanded roast beef and all the trimmings on a boiling hot day, I would book us into a nearby restaurant. He could have roast beef etc., and I would have salad.

I used to au pair for a
lady in France who would cook a rolled roast of pork or sometimes beef in the little moulinex rotisserie oven and that was served cold the next day and ensuing days as the meat course. (Even on week days we would have 5 courses)

Of course, a roast dinner is unknown in France anyway, but roasting the meat the day before and serving it sliced, cold, with salad for Sunday lunch would surely be a good compromise.

ExDancer , yes, I freeze in Chinese takeaway tubs. They are just the right size. I defrost in them, then transfer to a Pyrex dish, covered, to reheat in the microwave.

I love a roast beef dinner regardless of the weather.
I cook the beef slowly and use whats left in a home made beef pie.
Dh loves it too thankfully.

I’m astonished by people firing up the barbecue on the hottest days of the year. The temperatures soar into the 30s and folk opt to gather around a furnace in the garden.

Why would I demonise DH over this? How is it his fault?
We have our meal at night, and because DH is a farmer and they work Sundays just like any other day, for him to cook the meal suggests that I go and attend to his cows whilst he does it or the poor things would be waiting for attention till 8 or 9pm. I'm not going to start milking cows at my age.
That was very bad practise luluaugust for the school to only part cook the meat.
Anyway, I did raid the freezer and found roast spuds (Aunt Bessie, very nice too), mixed swede and carrots and some cauliflower. (Gawd knows how long they'd been there but we're still alive).
The oven was on so I did my own Yorkies as being from Cumbria - next door to Yorkshire - I find frozen ones unacceptable. We had ice cream for pudding.
Cabbie21 I'm going to try your large joint idea which sounds very sensible - and large joints always cook better anyway. I take it you cover the sliced meat in gravy and freeze it in a flat container? What a splendid idea.

I would be very careful to make sure the meat is fully cooked if you are going to leave overnight. Years ago the cook at my DD's school half cooked the lamb the day before and they had an outbreak of food poisoning. I was very lucky that my small daughter had pushed the meat to one side and got away with it. Roast dinners seem to have stopped here since lockdown.

I don’t think it’d bother me to roast it. It’s very hot here (SW London) but with windows and back door open, plus the extractor on, it wouldn’t be too bad.
I wouldn’t cook it at lunchtime, though - roasts in this house are always an evening meal.

Funny how people in much hotter countries than the U.K. - even those without aircon as standard, still habitually eat hot food.
I have a Singaporean SiL who doesn’t consider any meal a Proper one, if it’s not cooked and served hot!

I have a Roast Dilemma today too - I have a chicken that should be cooked soon, but dh is going to be out all day, probably not back until 8 ish, and will have eaten.

So I’m going to roast the chook anyway, and make plenty of gravy, but have some cold for myself later, with salad.
Tomorrow I’ll heat up some of it in the gravy - until recently I’d never thought I’d do this but it works pretty well - and serve with the usual. Even possibly roast potatoes, since dh loves them.

www.iceland.co.uk/p/iceland-beef-and-yorkshire-pudding-roast-dinner-450g/50701.html

Could you serve this straight from the freezer on a lolly stick?

Frozen Roast beef ready meal for one sorted! Any complaints he knows the answer.

but I can see the disappointment when the usual hot meal doesn't appear.

Does he see the heat exhaustion on your face as you serve the hot meal?

My dads Aga is still on during this heatwave. He sits about six foot from it with his jumper on. He’s 95, later on my brother will cook a full roast beef dinner for him.

I could not carry on like this just to produce the Sunday roast. Even for dad.

This made laugh…. I e insisted we cook the rib of beef to eat with salad stuff because I love it soooo much and I’m so greedy I couldn’t not have it today!

If you can be bothered have a day of cooking and freezing, or go straight to ready frozen.

Frozen roast potatoes and parsnips are good but need cooking for longer than advised, Yorkshire’s are far better then I could make.

I prefer freshly cooked veg but even that can be bought ready prepared.

Meat cooked, sliced and frozen in gravy works as others have said.

I have just put the beef in the oven, wondering why!

We have a decent sized joint delivered about every three weeks. I cook it on a Sunday, and we slice it all up. I freeze two portions in gravy to reheat two further Sundays. Usually there is enough to eat cold on the Monday after I have cooked it.
Of course, this hot Sunday would be the day I cook from scratch, wouldn’t it?
I have to say it is a very economical way of getting four good meals. I defrost, then reheat in the microwave.

Well of course that is true. I should have made it clear that there is no pressure from him to provide a hot meal, but I can see the disappointment when the usual hot meal doesn't appear.
I wondered if the suggestion was viable, or just plain untrue.

I often do a re-run of a roast meal but it's never quite as nice as freshly cooked. We like our beef very rare so I slice it up and pour heated gravy up and give it a quick blast of the microwave. I pop the yorkshires and roast potato into a very hot oven just to reheat and cook fresh veg. We haven't died yet!

I would suggest to Mr. ExD that if he wants roast beef in this weather he either cooks it himself or takes you out to a carvery. Why should you spend Saturday afternoon/evening in a hot kitchen then heat it up the next day?