The traditional family roast is a fantastic time to get everyone round and have a good old chinwag over some delicious food.
When I was a student, my housemates and I would get together every few weeks or so and prepare a roast together.
It was a great bonding time and those moments are still talked about today.
A good roast, done well, will infuse the memories of that time wonderfully.
A bad roast will make everyone want to go home to bed though - so what are the secrets to a perfect roast.
How do you leave everyone feeling just...
mmmm.
There are two basic ingredients that are difficult to get right with a roast.
The meat you're roasting, and the potatoes.
If you can get those perfect, everything else just drops into place.
I'm not going to give you a full recipe, as I'm sure you already have an idea of what you'll want to cook - instead I'll just focus on tips to make it as delicious as it can be.
Perfect Roast Potatoes: First off, use Maris Piper potatoes.
They're the best for the job, hands down.
Start by boiling the potatoes for about 10 minutes until they are nicely done.
Next, drain them, and then is the crucial part - shake them around in the colander to get them really "chuffed" up.
This will make the edges nice and crunchy.
The final awesome tip I have for you is to not forget the fat - goose fat is best, but any animal fat will do really.
Regardless of the health implications (if you want to be healthy, go have a salad, not roast potatoes) - it simply tastes the best.
If you're unsure of flavours to add, garlic and rosemary, with a little orange zest is simply divine.
The Perfect Roast Chicken: Chicken is my absolute favourite roasting meat, just because you can achieve absolute stunning results with very little hard work.
Start by rubbing the chicken inside and out with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
Do this in the morning or night before you're going to be roasting for best results, then cover the chicken and leave it in the fridge.
If you're going to do the roast spuds as I mention above, then put a lemon in there too when you boil them up.
When you drain them, stab the lemon numerous times with a fork, then stuff it into the cavity of the chicken.
Next, start to separate the skin from the chicken by making a small incision around the neck.
Big enough that you can fit your fingers in and start prying the skin off.
However, don't take it off entirely, but instead stuff some slabs of garlic butter and sprigs of rosemary under the skin.
When the chicken heats these butter will melt and the chicken meat will sizzle away nicely as well as not lose any juices it has.
Don't forget to cover the chicken in tin foil too, until the last 15-20 minutes.
This will ensure it doesn't up too much too.
When I was a student, my housemates and I would get together every few weeks or so and prepare a roast together.
It was a great bonding time and those moments are still talked about today.
A good roast, done well, will infuse the memories of that time wonderfully.
A bad roast will make everyone want to go home to bed though - so what are the secrets to a perfect roast.
How do you leave everyone feeling just...
mmmm.
There are two basic ingredients that are difficult to get right with a roast.
The meat you're roasting, and the potatoes.
If you can get those perfect, everything else just drops into place.
I'm not going to give you a full recipe, as I'm sure you already have an idea of what you'll want to cook - instead I'll just focus on tips to make it as delicious as it can be.
Perfect Roast Potatoes: First off, use Maris Piper potatoes.
They're the best for the job, hands down.
Start by boiling the potatoes for about 10 minutes until they are nicely done.
Next, drain them, and then is the crucial part - shake them around in the colander to get them really "chuffed" up.
This will make the edges nice and crunchy.
The final awesome tip I have for you is to not forget the fat - goose fat is best, but any animal fat will do really.
Regardless of the health implications (if you want to be healthy, go have a salad, not roast potatoes) - it simply tastes the best.
If you're unsure of flavours to add, garlic and rosemary, with a little orange zest is simply divine.
The Perfect Roast Chicken: Chicken is my absolute favourite roasting meat, just because you can achieve absolute stunning results with very little hard work.
Start by rubbing the chicken inside and out with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
Do this in the morning or night before you're going to be roasting for best results, then cover the chicken and leave it in the fridge.
If you're going to do the roast spuds as I mention above, then put a lemon in there too when you boil them up.
When you drain them, stab the lemon numerous times with a fork, then stuff it into the cavity of the chicken.
Next, start to separate the skin from the chicken by making a small incision around the neck.
Big enough that you can fit your fingers in and start prying the skin off.
However, don't take it off entirely, but instead stuff some slabs of garlic butter and sprigs of rosemary under the skin.
When the chicken heats these butter will melt and the chicken meat will sizzle away nicely as well as not lose any juices it has.
Don't forget to cover the chicken in tin foil too, until the last 15-20 minutes.
This will ensure it doesn't up too much too.
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