What's your favourite roast dinner?

jinglbellsfrocks, it may be an outdated idea, but for me, it's traditional and that's the way I like it. I remember my late mother-in-law in 1957 serving up what looked like a gargantuan meal all on one plate. That was in Dartford, Kent, and she was extremely miffed to find that I just couldn't face it all. She thought she was doing something great by including YPs, but putting them all on the plate together with 2 or 3 veg, potatoes cooked different ways, the whole lot, just turned my stomach to look at and I just couldn't face it. And that's the way it has always been, I'm afraid. Everything on one plate is just toooooo much. I'd rather they left the YPs out altogether than try to say 'it's traditional' because it just isn't.

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And so many pubs don't cook their veg soft enough. Hate hard carrots and green beans.

I like beef best, but it has to be beef I have cooked myself. Never found a pub with a chef that could serve tender beef. Not even the ones near me where royalty have been known to visit. Lamb and pork are always fine.

margrete all the best pubs serve a Yorkshire with all their roasts. Or they do round here anyway.

I thought the days of having the Yorkshire pudding first, to partly fill you up were over by the time I was born in 1941. But then, I am a southerner.

Oh I love leftover yorkshires with golden syrup poured over.

Actually I love just about anything with hot golden syrup poured over. White rice is delicious with it.

Any that I haven't had to cook.
One man's roast dinner is another woman's Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

TriciaF, yes, if any were left over they'd be eaten later, with jam. I bet your Granny from York never put them on the plate along with the meat and 'trimmings'. BTW I too was born in York.

Margrete - you've reminded me, my Granny, who came from York, made delicious Yorkshire Puddings, but she served them for a dessert, with golden syrup poured over.

As this is 'Gransnet' i.e. older people, why hasn't been mentioned yet that Yorkshire Puddings are traditionally served as the first course, NOT on the plate with the meat, potatoes and what are called 'all the trimmings'. Doesn't anyone else remember this?

This was what I grew up with. Yorkshire Puddings were always on the plate first, either with onion gravy or with chopped lettuce in vinegar. No need for a clean plate, the next course i.e. meat, veg etc could go on the same plate. And no 'sweet' course to follow.

This all follows from the 'poverty' years when a joint of meat had to last the week and Yorkshire Puddings were meant to fill you up.

As for us, just the 2 of us, we never - or rarely - have a 'roast dinner'. We eat a lot less than we used to when we were more active. I don't go anywhere to eat out where Yorkshire puddings are served on the plate with meat, veg, potatoes - it's enough to put me off eating anything.

Anni - I agree with you about the veal in France - it's delicious.
For some reason I'm not very successful with roasts, ie open roast in the oven. Our favourite is lamb, but I do a pot roast with lots of vegetables, and the same with chicken (usually our own.)
I make stuffing, cooked separately in balls. A variety of ingredients usually apple onion and grated lemon rind.

Lamb shoulder well cooked with - yorkshire puddings, onion sauce, mint sauce, roast potatoes, carrots, cauliflower cheese, runner beans and gravy.

Nuts! That's my roast of choice as a veggie! Quorn do rather a nice one as well.

We never cook at lunchtime now but I do roasts in the evening.

My favourite is lamb (pink, not well done) but we have beef or some sort of bird (duck, pheasant, turkey) quite often. I usually roast my joint with some kind of 'jam' on the top so honey and grainy mustard for beef, redcurrant with garlic, salt and rosemary for lamb, cranberry and bacon for turkey and so on. When this melts into the juices I make a sauce with the DH's wine, a little cornflour, some stock and another teaspoonful of the 'jam'.

I serve the meat with parboiled roasted potatoes and parsnips, a green vegetable or two, Vichy carrots and the sauce I have made from the cooking juices. I don't get too many complaints!

I had no idea there was such a thing as 'Yorkshire Pudding Day' but it sounds like a very good thing so I shall get the knock-down, yellow sticker prime beef I bought in Waitrose out of the freezer and cook that to celebrate it - and make some Yorkshires to go with it.

For all you coeliacs out there. I have a successful recipe for gf Yorkshire pud. 1 oz plain gf flour, 1 egg and 1 fl oz of milk. Whizz together with a pinch of salt. Makes a 7" round pud and it does rise around the edges.

I always cook Silverside. I brown it on a high heat, until it's sizzling, then I add onions, garlic, tomato puree and oxo stock, about half way up the joint. I cover with a lid and cook in the oven for four hours at 130C. I always cook it the day before, because it makes it easier to carve when you want to serve it. The stock makes fab gravy. This way of slow cooking beef never fails.

Indiana. I was intrigued to read about your method of cooking beef in a saucepan. How long would you cook a small topside joint for,.
Also, do you put a lid on it.
Thinking of trying it, as never can get the meat tender, although it's a long time since I have cooked roast beef as partner is a veggie . But when the family come to visit I would like to try it. Thanks.

Roast beef and Yorkshire pud.

Lobster and oysters - yesssssssssss. We regularly get invited to our French friends sea food dinners. They came for Christmas and brought 6 oysters per person plus large prawns and clams. So what with the s'amuses bouches, foie gras (don't all scream it is not what the media report - I live in Duck Central and know how it really is), trou normande (sorbet made from apples and calvados which cleanses the palette ready for the rest), turkey and all trimmings, cheeses, port wine jelly (Christmas pud got passed on) and all the appropriate wines, aperitifs and digestifs- the whole Christmas lunch took about 6 hours!!

Sadly I have suddenly become very allergic to prawns - one of my favourite foods, so dare not try the other crustaceans such as lobster and crab - other favs.

Exactly galen. Especially the bit about it being cooked for you. I so love lobster but DH doesn't - he also doesn't cook. Sigh.

Just got back from a nice Sunday lunch (roast beef) at our local pub. The couple on the table next to us were talking very loudly about every detail of their meal. We managed to ignore them until they got to the bread and butter pudding which the man said he was sure he'd seen Mary Berry do on the telly.

'I don't really rate Mary Berry,' said the woman. 'When all's said and done, she's just a modern day Delia Smith.'

One that's been cooked for me
Preferably oysters followed by lobster

The best roast dinner I ever had was at a yoga weekend. I am a meat eater but this was vegetarian....nut roast and it was a beautiful meal, so good that I remember it years later.

Lamb