The quintessential roast beef
Friday, 17 February 2012 00:00
When mighty Roast Beef was the Englishman's food. It ennobled our brains and enriched our blood.
Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good.Oh! the Roast Beef of old England,And old English Roast Beef!
With these immortal words, Henry Fielding paid tribute to the quintessential English roast that has maintained its popularity, and indeed spread around the world since he penned these words in The Grub Street Opera in 1731.
It waned in popularity when low fat high carbohydrate diets became fashionable, and with the price of good quality beef now being where it is, it has become something enjoyed on special occasions.
Traditionally served with vegetables, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and gravy – it is a simple dish, hearty and satisfying.
It was a feature of Sunday lunch for as long as I can remember, and it was something that my dear old mum excelled at making. Many is the Sunday I recall, that started with a brief breakfast, as the pre-cursor to a morning of heightening anticipation, spurred on by the delicious aromas emanating from the kitchen.
As lunchtime drew nearer, the aromas intensified, and the family gravitated toward the dining room. Whereas Mum cooked the roast, Dad performed the peculiarly male ritual of carving. I recall that we had a carving set which included a sharpening steel, over which he would dextrously pass the edge of the blade a few times, to give it a razor-sharp edge. He would then set about deftly carving a number of wafer thin slices of beef, with a rich brown edge and a rosy red centre. I assumed the role of carver once I married, and despite Dad's frequent and kindly instruction, the curse of left-handedness makes carving a laborious undertaking for me, to this very day.
I've done the odd pot-roast from time to time, and I've oven roasted a beef roll or a chunk of topside frequently, but the king of roasting cuts is sirloin. When a visit to Raymond's neighbourhood supermarket the other day resulted in a 2kg cut at the very reasonable price of R89.99 per kg, I leapt at the opportunity of doing this simple but so very English dish.
Ingredients, selection and preparation
- 1kg – 2kg sirloin: fat on.
Before you have a fit, I leave the fat on for three reasons: the fat helps to keeps the meat moist, it adds flavour, and listening to Professor Tim Noakes on a talk radio programme on Friday, it is now accepted that a high fat diet is NOT bad for you, whereas a high carbohydrate diet most certainly is.The size of the cut you roast has two variables: how many people you plan to feed, and how much cold roast beef you want for enjoying on sarmies. I did a 2kg chunk, and only Mrs M and I ate dinner that night. Go figure.All you need do to the beef is pat it dry, and season with salt and pepper, simple as that. - Salt and pepper for seasoning
- 500ml hot beef stock
- 3 tsp corn starch
- 2 tsp gravy powder
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 240 deg C.
Place the sirloin in a roaster on a grid to keep it out of the moisture that will accumulate in the bottom of the roaster.
Place in mid-oven and roast at 240 deg C for 15 minutes, to sear the outside.
Turn the oven down to 170 deg C, and roast for a further 15 minutes (rare), 22 minutes (medium-rare), 25 minutes (medium-well) per kg. Anything over 25 minutes per 500g, and the meat will be pretty much dead, and not really worth eating. The rule of thumb is the longer and slower you roast the meat, the more tender and juicy it will be.
Ideally, in order to get a perfectly done roast, you should use a meat thermometer, inserting it into the thickest part of the meat, and not touching bone. Internal temperatures are 60 deg C (rare), 68 deg C (medium) and 74 deg C (medium- well to well done).
Take the meat out of the oven when you're 5 deg C from your target temperature, as it will continue to rise while it is resting for 15 to 20 minutes before carving. Cover it snugly with a sheet of aluminium foil and two or three tea towels to retain the heat while it rests.
Place the roasting pan on the stove top and turn the heat up to medium. Add a cup of the hot beef stock, and deglaze the pan thoroughly.
Add the remaining beef stock, and bring to the boil.
Stir the corn starch gravy powder into a a half cup of water, and add it to the roaster. Stir diligently with a whisk until the gravy has thickened nicely.
Using a very sharp carving knife, slice the sirloin across the grain as thin as you're able.
Serve with roast potatoes and your choice of other vegetables, and a good few spoonfuls of luscious gravy. Enjoy!
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: depends
Yield: 4-8
Wine match
Daughter Alex moving out to share an apartment with a colleague in Stellenbosch resulted in a bit of a spring cleaning of said daughter's bedroom and study.
A crop of very dusty wine bottles emerged, which it turns out were the wines she made in her second year while studying oenology and viticulture. Since they were by now a few years old, she asked me to dispose of them which I duly did, by pouring the contents down the drain, and putting the bottles in to our weekly recycling bag. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a bottle of 2009 Kleine Zalze Cellar Selection pinotage, in the detritus of Alex's earliest foray into wine making.
Needless to say, it found its way onto the dinner table to be enjoyed with the roast beef. Deep garnet in colour, it offers rich black plummy fruit on the nose with a delicate umami note. In the mouth you'll taste plums, mulberries and intense black fruit flavours. The tannins are surprisingly firm, due not doubt to the 50% new French oak. The finish is long and sumptuously fruity, with a complementary umami note.
Written by Norman McFarlane You are reading The quintessential roast beef articles
