Doing a roast dinner- few Qs

[Rave]

My wife's away on holiday this week and next, so I thought I'd invite my brother, his GF and one of our friends round for a roast on Sunday- I have a tendency to just live on packet noodles and cheese on toast if I don't give myself an incentive to cook. Now I can cook the individual parts of a roast quite well, my main problem is timing everything so it's all cooked at the same time- I'm hopeless at this. Ordinarily it doesn't make much difference to the wife and I whether we eat at 7 or 8, but with people coming round I can't be as flexible. So:

I got a great deal on a big lean pork rolled shoulder joint, which is about a foot long and maybe 5" diameter. Trouble is it's nearly 6lb which is far too much for 4 people so I thought I'd cut a third of it off and freeze it. The question is, cooking times for joints are always a function of the weight- but given that the whole joint is relatively long and thin, lopping a bit off the end is not going to bring any of it 'closer to the surface' so to speak, so I can't see how the middle is going to cook any quicker? Should I just go with the original cooking time, or reduce it according to the weight formula?

Then, spuds. I nearly always end up waiting on my spuds while the rest of the meal gets cold, and I don't want that to happen this time. Can I peel and cut them some time in advance (I always underestimate how long this takes)?Roughly how long does half a medium sized potato take to roast from cold in a fan oven at ~180C? Is it better to boil them for a bit first? I think roast spuds taste best when cooked in pork fat, but unfortunately this is a pretty lean joint so I won't get much out of it. What else is good to roast them in?

TIA,

Rich :¬)

[Rave]

Good move. Being a lazy git, I tend to go for wedges and mayonnaise to satisfy my midweek potato 'n fat cravings. I'll grab a bit of lard for the spuds then, it's dirt cheap anyway.

[Stewart]

Ah, good old lard. It doesn't come more sophisticated than that.

Your yorkshire puds will be the key, big, round and fluffy, and the meal is a success.

[5lab]

its a lot easier to just buy roast spuds in a bag (aunt bessies do em) then stick em on the baking tray for 25 mins just like chips.. imo tastes good as propper ones too

[kushtibari]

I always boil them for 7 or 8 minutes first then shoogle them about in a pan to rough them up a bit. If you haven't got any pork fat or that kind of stuff use a mix of groundnut oil and butter, does a cracking job. Make sure its really hot when they go in and turn them round in the fat a few times. I always give them about 45 minutes in the top of a normal oven.

Good alternative is sweet potatos - don't have to boil them first cos they're a lot softer, but otherwise do them exactly the same. The brown bits taste gorgeous. Better for you as well. Allegedly.

[Ferral]

For your roast spuds boil them till they start to soften (not so much so they will drop to bits) Then drain them off and put onto a shallow tray brush tray with the pork stock first). Use a pastry brush (so not to burn you're fingers !) and brush the pork stock over the spuds, then a light sprinkling of salt over the top of them and put in the top half of the oven on around Gas Mark 6 for about 25 mins or until they have gone a nice golden brown colour.

As for the joint, just use the normal cooking time you are given for the joint the size it was before lopping off the end piece. To test to see if its cooked right through get you're cooking skewer or roasting fork and push it into the middle of the meat, hold it there for about 10 secs then pull it out and stick the tip of the fork on you're tongue, if its really hot then the meat is cooked right through, if not give it a bit longer and use this method again.

Final thing for the joint, put it in a deepish tray and line the bottom of the tray with large halved potatoes (cut them lengthways as you will be putting the joint on them) add a little water (around 4 tablespoons) then cover with foil. Once the joint is virtually cooked transfer it to another tray and dont put foil over it, pop it back in the oven. Drain off any excess liquid from 1st tray into a pan for gravy stock. Then you can use the spuds you lined the tray with for you're roasties as they will have absorbed some of the pork stock. You can either peel the spuds or just wash them for the tray lining, they are really nice if you actually leave the skin on them, basically like roast / jacket potatoe cross breed ! They will still need putting back in the oven to brown off if you do it this way, so light dusting with salt still applies.

[Rave]

Kushti and Ferral- cheers! Since you've both recommended essentially the same method that is what I shall employ I'm not such a fan of sweet potatoes- I prefer swede for adding a bit of sweetness to a roast dinner. Sadly Ferral it really is a very lean joint and I doubt I'll get much juice at all out of it, but what there is I will use.

[shelley bda]

I dont like swede myself, but roast parsnip, of course in fat is just divine.

And I dont like aunt bessies potatoes as I think they taste a bit oily, but aunt bessies roast parsnips are great.

Do you add oil to the pan when cooking Aunt Bessies roast tatties ? because they are already covered in oil, i just bung 'em on a tray and stick 'em in the oven

And i hope your going to make proper gravy Rave

[Zak33]

Hope Rave is getting on OK today....not heard from him and his roast

IF he still needs help.....

once meat is cooked....wrap in foil and leave......it will stay hot for AN HOUR while spuds cook.

Don't any ever think thats cheating. Its the BEST way for meat. Let it rest..... in foil. It'll taste BETTER and the spuds wil be ideal

Baste spuds a LOT

Every 10 minutes, douse in the hot fat. Never stop. Every ten minutes. 3 or even 4 times while they cook. The UNDER side goes crunchy, so turn them too

good luck Rave mate......sorry wasn't here to help , but the advice is good

[schmunk]

Ah, good old lard. It doesn't come more sophisticated than that.

Your yorkshire puds will be the key, big, round and fluffy, and the meal is a success.

Ahem. Rectangular... (cut from a large pud'n)

[Ferral]

Found that the only problem with hot meat that is tender Zak mate is that it has a habit of dropping to bits if you try to carve it a bit thinner. At work we always chill it once cooked and then carve it making life alot easier. Lamb and pork I have found being the worst to carve when warm.

Rave mate, think you will be surprised what you actually get out of it once cooked !

[Rave]

Well, I'll be putting it on an hour or so, thanks for all the advice. My mum bought me an electic carving knife for Christmas, which is capable of cutting pretty much anything cleanly.

[shelley bda]

Wish my mum would buy me stuff like that, but she knows I'd end up in hospital having digits re-atttached.

Me too! i'm not safe with anything with a blade (even blunt ones ) For a long time Jon never let me have any big knives, i'm just too clumsy

[Rave]

I've been known to stab myself while washing up knives. Anyway the meal turned out well, and nobody seemed to mind that it was served up nearly an hour and a half late.