We show you exactly how to cook roast beef with lots of helpful pictures, hints and tips.
We used a sirloin joint, boned and rolled by our local butcher, see the picture below. We divided it into three portions (each for 2 to 3 people) and froze it for later use.
Our local butcher jointing sirloin steak
The price of one portion was less than a pound above the Sainsbury's price. That little extra bought us a joint that was far better than a supermarket joint. That's the truth.
1 medium onion
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Half a tablespoon of flour
Salt and pepper to taste
This recipe is sufficient for two to three people (dependant on appretite). It sizes up perfectly as far as ingredients are concerned. Just double them up if you want enough for four to five people.
Pour 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over the joint and rub it in with your hands.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over the joint and rub that in.
Sprinkle the flour over the top beef fat and pat it with your hands. This will crisp up the fat when it's cooked.
Below is the uncooked joint we used, click it to enlarge the picture. Just enough fat to make the joint moist.
Click here for our Yorkshire Pudding recipe to accompany your roast beef.
Put the baking tray on the hob, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and wait until it's sizzling.
Add the beef joint to the baking tray and fry on all sides to seal off the joint. This will only take a couple of minutes. Take the tray off the hob, peel and roughly chop the onion. Sprinkle them under and immediately around the joint.
STEP 2FOR A 450g BEEF JOINT (serves 2 to 3 people)
Put the beef in the top of the pre-heated oven (see Preparation section above) for 15 minutes.
Now turn down the heat to 190°C / Fan 170°C / 375°F / Gas Mark 5. Cook the beef for another 17 minutes. This will give you rare beef.
For medium cooked beef add 15 minutes more, or for well done beef add 30 minutes more.
FOR A 900g BEEF JOINT (serves 4 to 5 people)
Put the beef in the top of the pre-heated oven (see Preparation section above) for 15 minutes.
Now turn down the heat to 190°C / Fan 170°C / 375°F / Gas Mark 5. Cook the beef for another 30 minutes. This will give you rare beef.
For medium cooked beef add 15 minutes more, or for well done beef add 30 minutes more.
While the beef is cooking as described above, baste it twice during cooking. Basting involves taking the meat out of the oven (careful, the tin will be very hot), tipping the juices to one end and spooning them all over the meat. This helps to keep the joint moist when cooking.
STEP 3When the beef is cooked, take it out of the oven and cover it with foil and let it stand. This will enhance its flavour, tenderise the beef and make carving easier. For a 450g (1 lb) joint, 20 minutes standing will be enough. For larger joints, let the meat stand for 40 minutes.
During the cooking process the onions will have toasted and they have delicious flavour when added to the gravy. If you don't want onions in your gravy just serve the roast to the table with the onions around the base of the beef. It looks great served that way.