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Cook Once- Roast Beef

The cut of beef for roasting is of great importance –for a family Sunday lunch choose a rib of beef. If you want to serve 6-8 people and have some left over, you’ll need a piece weighing approximately 5-6 lb (2.25-2.75 kg) – this would be 3 ribs. Beef on the bone is great as the bone acts as a conductor of heat and gives the roast extra flavour.

By Caroline Marson

Cookery advisor

All recipes by Caroline Marson

Ingredients

Rib of Beef
1 level dessertspoon of English mustard
Mustard

Worth keeping a few different types.
- French mustard or Dijon is creamy and can be used in dressings, marinades or adding to sauces.
- English is good for roast beef, steak, gammon or sizzling sausages.
- Wholegrain is used in chutney’s and pickles
powder
1 level dessertspoon plain flour
Flour

For pastry making or to thicken sauces, soups, stews and casseroles.
- Raising agents are added to plain flour to make self-raising flour, used to lighten and give an airy texture to cakes and sponges.
- Once opened reseal with quick clips or transfer to an airtight container or kilner jar. It will keep for up to 3-4 months
Salt

Salt

Consider tablesalt, sea salt or crystals.

Sea salt’s pronounced and salty flavour means less is required to season food.
Pepper
Black peppercorns

Best used as a condiment.
They can be lightly crushed and used to spice up a creamy sauce or to coat fillet steak or chicken breasts.
- Although it might seem odd, grinding black pepper over a bowl of strawberries enhances the flavour of the fruit.
- Pepper that is pre-ground is not fresh tasting and often has other ingredients mixed in.
- Choose the type of mill that suits you, and if you want coarser pepper you can loosen the screw on the top of the mill or crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 9, 475°F (240°C). A layer of fat on the beef provides basting juices to keep the joint moist and succulent. You don’t have to eat it with the meat after cooking.
To make the fat extra crusty during cooking, dust the fat surface of the beef with English mustard powder and plain flour – just rub them in gently – then season with salt and pepper.
Place the joint in a roasting tin and into the centre of the oven. It will have plenty of fat so don’t add extra. Give it 20 minutes’ cooking at the initial temperature; after that turn the heat down to gas mark 5, 375°F (190°C) and cook it for 15 minutes to the pound (450 g) – this will give you rare beef. Add 15 minutes to the total cooking time for medium rare and 30 minutes for well done.
While the beef is cooking, lift it out of the oven from time to time, tilt the tin and baste the meat really well with its own juices – this ensures that the flavour that is concentrated in the fat keeps permeating the meat, and at the same time the fat keeps everything moist and succulent. While you’re basting, close the oven door in order not to lose heat. Baste the meat with the juices at least three times during cooking.
To see if the beef is cooked to your liking insert a thin skewer into the thickest part of the joint and press out some juices: the red, pink or clear colour will indicate how much the beef has cooked. When it is cooked to your liking, remove it from the oven, transfer it to a board and allow it to stand in a warm place for up to 15 minutes, loosely covered with foil, before carving – to let all the precious juices that have bubbled up to the surface seep back into the flesh. Also, as the meat relaxes it will be easier to carve. Some of the juices will escape, though, and these should be poured into the gravy.

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