Sunday Roast: Perfect rare roast beef recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Beef and Steak and Veal | 72 comments
We reward ourselves once in a while with a really good joint of beef. It does a Sunday lunch plus at least a couple of meals during the week. Beef is easy as long as you have the three elements spot on: the choice of joint, temperature and timing. With beef, I found this all a bit overwhelming until I met Tommy Cody.
I worked at Tommy and Peggy’s house for about a month. They always insisted that I joined them for lunch. It was an elegant affair. Peggy and I were given pre lunch drinks to sip and could hear the happy clatter of saucepans and running water, getting more frenetic as the designated time approached. Tommy moved steadily towards the crescendo as we chatted in a wave of anticipation and wafts of delicious aromas.
Lunch was civilised – a starter of great soup, an excellent main course and a tempting pud. Always accompanied with a decent glass of wine. Eating lunch with Tommy and Peggy made me feel special. I loved the conversation, the food, the wine and the virgin napkins. These were replaced every day.
There was one major problem. I needed a snooze after such a spectacular lunch. T and P repaired to thier boltholes but I had to carry on working. It was a battle but so much better than a snatched sandwich in a chilly Jalopy.
Tommy took up cooking when he retired and had made the clever move of doing the shopping as well. As every great chef knows, shopping can be inspirational. And Tommy’s meals were impressive. Four weeks in their house was a great test. He never faltered.
Danny got pretty fed up with hearing about Tommy’s spectacular meals. For example, his roast beef was cooked on an electric spit in the kitchen. I only sampled it cold in a salad but it was heavenly. Eventually D insisted that I asked the name of the joint and its provenance.
Tommy tipped that the best joint for a succulent rare roast beef is a corner cut of beef. When Jalopy and I chugged over to our butcher (Fred Fitzpatrick, in the Exning Road). All I could remember was the word “corner”.
“Ah,” Fred laid down his cleaver.
“He must mean corner cut of beef.” I have never found this labeled as such in any normal supermarket but having researched this, I think that it is similar to the best topside. Fred produced a lovely long joint and proceeded to cut the length we desired.
Perfect rare roast beef recipe
For medium rare or well done, simply cook the joint for longer (testing every 10 minutes)
Most cookbooks will give you timings and temperatures. We find Prue Leith (Leith’s Cookery Bible) gives the best results.
Needless to say we have tweaked. Here’s our favourite roast beef recipe that serves four with seconds. For bigger numbers, do check with Prue’s book or with your butcher.
Ingredients:
- 1.2 to 1.5 kg of corner of beef (less fat than rib roast but juicy, tender and tasty). For best reults use a jont of about 2 kg or over.
- half tsp of ground sea salt (we love Maldon sea salt from a grinder)
- 1 tsp of freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Method:
- Pre-heat the oven to 240 (220 fan assisted, gas mark 9). That blackens the outside for tasty outer slices.
- Make a mini-baking tray from foil, just bigger than the joint and place in a roasting tray. This will contain the juices in a smaller area than if just plonking the joint onto the tray. It helps keep the juices from drying out.
- If the surface of your joint is dry, just rub a little olive oil over it. Usually, we simply take ours from he fridge in its bag, so it’s still moist on the outside.
- Mix the salt and pepper and coat the joint all over.
- Pour the olive oil into your foil baking tray, place the seasoned joint on it and put it in the oven. Make sure that the oven has pre-heated fully.
- After 15 minutes, turn the temperature down to 180 (160 fan assisted, gas mark 4) and let it cook for a further 25 minutes per kilo (11 minutes per 450g/1 lb). For good rare beef, do not exceed these timings.
- Take it out of the oven and place it under a duvet of towels for 15 to 20 minutes. Make your gravy by pouring off the juices and simply adding carrot water (we always cook carrots with a Sunday roast. The juice helps to make great gravy when added to any meat juices).
Tips and tricks:
- I used to think the resting a joint was crazy. Danny insisted on doing this and it really makes a diiference. The meat does relax and become more tender. I did a test. It makes a big diffrence.
Leave a reply
Hi Sarah – Belated thank you for taking the time to send a comment. We would love to know how it turned out.
Hi Hazel – Great that it turned out well for you! But we are beginning to think that oven temperatures vary wildly (see Marks’ disappointment above). Thank you so much for leaving a comment.
Hi Francine – I have a horrible feeling that the beef went on cooking in transit to Mother-In-Law. But your gravy recipe sounds scrumptious.
Mark, Mark, Mark – We are so sorry that your joint was a total disappointment. I can only guess that a rolled sirloin joint has less diameter or density than our “corner of beef” joint. Either that or your oven cooks at a higher temp than ours. Or both. What a shame. But thanks for posting your results.
Hi Anna – bear in mind that our method can easily be overcooked. Even an extra 5 minutes can change it to medium-rare (pink in the middle only). If your Dad loves it REALLY rare, then give it 7 minutes less cooking time. If any of your guests like prefer more well-done beef, you can pop their slices under a low grill for a few minutes to “ease” the pinkness towards grey.
my dad loves rare beef, and I have never cooked it for him before, so I will let you know his thoughts after sunday lunch. fingers crossed
Disaster – followed recipe, temperature and timings, with the exception that I chose a rolled sirloin joint. Unfortunately it turned out well done. Sunday lunch guests were charmingly complimentary but we all know what they really thought!
Back to the rare beef drawing board for me!
Hello
I just stumbled upon your site in search of a good rare roast beef recipe. The beef is in the oven as instructed. It shall be wrapped and taken to my mother in law’s where she will have prepared the veg.
Before putting the roast in the oven, I cut a piece which I have sliced and fried in a pan with a chopped onion. When they browned, I added about a pint of water with a stock cube and some fresh thyme. I brought to the boil and it is now simmering.
When the meat has cooked I shall drain the juice from the sauce and make the gravy in the roasting pan to incorporate all of the meat residue.
I shall let you know how the roast is, it smells devine….
Thank you for a wonderful site. I have added to my favourites.
delish! thanks so much,turned out perfectly 🙂
I avoid cooking beef, because I can never get it just right. And what’s the point in spending all that money on a beautiful joint when it comes out grey? 🙁
The timings and temperatures above worked brilliantly! Thank you so much! The beef was absolutely perfect.
I don’t suppose you have similar instructions for medium-rare roast leg of lamb, do you? I find it’s a bit hit and miss – sometimes it’s good, sometimes not.
xx
,i have tried so many times to cook beef,i have always cooked it on a high temperature and now i know why it always turned out wrong ha ha,now i have read your comments,iam going to try this tomorrow for our sunday dinner,am geting sick of cooking chicken,only i dont want it too rare,so will give it a try and let you know how it went tomorrow
sarah
Hello Trevor
Good news.
I hate overcooked roast beef – school dinners.
It took a while to perfect this recipe. Glad that it worked for you.
As an Englishman, you’d think I should know all there is to know about roasting beef. The number of times there have been bad words said in my kitchen when the beef doesn’t come out as I would like!!!!!!!
I was cooking an English meal in France for some friends, and decided to try this method (with my fingers-crossed, because I was sure it wouldn’t work).
Why, oh why haven’t I found it before? I was absolutely fabulous – and so easy.
The beef and horseradish sandwiches the next day were equally delicious.
THANK YOU!
Trevor
Hello Cher
Thanks so much for taking to time to leave feedback! I love this method of cooking beef.