Sunday Roast

There can be few delights for Sunday lunch or dinner than traditional home-cooked roast beef.
 
After all it is the signature national dish of the English. Joints of pork, leg of lamb or even chicken roast in the oven are always enjoyable alternatives for Sunday lunch, yet somehow none of them match up to the anticipation to be had from beef.
 
I find it difficult to pick the best size for a joint.  Too small and something is missing in flavour if not in the quantity we need.  Too large and we will find ourselves eating cold beef for the rest of the week. But at least the larger the joint, invariably the more tasty it is.
 
The price of beef, like all meat joints can vary, so a decent size joint of beef can be quite expensive, but often you can find butchers who produce good quality meat at a price to suit the budget, and more than comparable to the alternatives.
 
After all, we should make the most of the opportunity.  Don’t the French affectionately call us “Les Rosbifs?”
 
So a joint of beef, accompanied by crispy roast potatoes and scrumptious Yorkshire puddings, is the traditional Sunday lunch. You can add a choice of vegetables.
 

On a cold wintry and wet day like today, the expectation is something special too. For me that is appreciation of the time-honoured values of being British.