Go on try some of our delicious tried and tested recipes. Click on the links below to find out more.
01. Roast Beef with Yorkshire Puddings
02. Roast Chicken
03. Roast Pork with Crackling
04. Roast Spring Lamb with Rosemary
05. Pot Roast Shoulder of Lamb
06. Roast Spring Lamb with Oregano
07. Braised Mutton with Carrots & Caper Sauce
08. Roasting Times for Lamb & Mutton
Lamb at its best
A great value for money cut is shoulder. This requires long slow cooking. Ask the butcher to remove the rib bones but leave the collar bone in place. (this acts as a bridge for the fat to run away from the meat). Place a whole shoulder in a large roasting tin a few cloves of garlic pushed under the meat, a sprig of rosemary laid over the top are ideal accompaniments. Place uncovered in a hot oven for 20 minutes and reduce the heat to 160 for a further 3 hours. If you like really unctuous potatoe half way through cooking tip the meat juices and fat into a separate bowl and surround the shoulder of lamb with par boiled potatoes, they wont become crisp but they will take up the flavor of the lamb garlic and rosemary. Don't try to calve meat slices off the cooked shoulder, rather pull the meat off the bone and cut into hefty chunks. A full shoulder will serve 5 hungry people. For a supper dish for 2 or 3 ask the butcher for half a shoulder but insist on having the blade side as this has more meat.
Mastering perfect crackling
To get perfect crackling you need perfect pork. Ultra lean pork as provided by the modern hybrid pig does not have enough fat under the skin to produce the crackling. Look for a boned and rolled shoulder or a loin of pork on the bone with at least ½ an inch of fat between the lean meat and the skin, it is this fat which bubbles through the scoring on the skin that creates crackling. Place the meat on a rack in a roasting tin, it really is not necessary to put salt over the meat, this will not improve the crackling at all, roast the meat at 180 after 1 – 11/2 hours the crackling will be golden and bubbly, if the meat is not cooked turn the heat down to 160. if at any time through the cooking period you think the crackling is becoming too dark, lay a piece of foil loosely over the top.