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Selection & Usage Tips

Secrets of Roasting

Since cavemen put a hunk of mammoth on a stick and hung it over the fire man has been continuously improving how to produce a great roast. Here we set out our thoughts on achieving that Perfect Roast. We use a 3 stage process and pay homage to Hugh Fearnley - Whittingstall author of the River Cottage Meat Book for the framework of our method.

A roast to give up dinner with any movie star

The Brown:- Stage one of our process is to get the outside of what we are cooking nicely brown. To begin with lighly salt the outside of the roast . Then for beef , lamb and pork roasts we suggest 220-230 degrees Celcius . Poultry and smaller roasts we suggest lowering this to 210-220 degrees Celcius. How long depends on the size of your roast. For under 2kg 20-25 minutes 2-3kg 30-35 minutes and over 3kg give it 40-45 minutes. This will give you a nice seared crust on the outside of your roast. It is very important that this is half hour only. Much longer than this and you will get black and crispy bits!.

The Roast -Now that we have a nicely seared outside it's time to slowly cook the middle. We suggest that this phase should be done at around 150-160 degrees celcius. The times we set out here are not hard and fast and we do suggest that you invest in a meat thermometer as this is by far the easiest and most accurate to get this critical stage right. If cooking roasts over 5kg then the cooking times below will not be accurate and in order to get it right you will need a meat thermometer. Also note some smaller thin roasts like a whole Patchawarra tenderloin may be ready to go to stage 3 after the browing phase.The times set out below are in addition to the time spent browning the roast.

Beef, Lamb or Venison

	Time	Temperature
Rare	12 minutes per 500g	55 degrees C
Medium	20 minutes per 500g	63 degrees C
Well Done	25 minutes per 500g	70 degrees C

Pork (should never be served rare - juices should run clear)

	Time	Temperature
Medium	20 minutes per 500g	67 degrees C
Well Done	25 minutes per 500g	72 degrees C
Very Well Done	30 minutes per 500g	77 degrees C

Poultry (key to this is to do the minimum time then check until the juices run clear)

Chicken (1.5kg and up)	40 -70 minutes
Farmed Duck (2kg and up)	60-90 minutes
Turkey (3.5kg and up)	100-200 minutes
Goose (2.5kg and up)	70-120 minutes

Rest in Peace :- Patience is a virtue when it comes to roasting and including this last step will make a huge difference to the final product. How long is basically 3/4 of the time you spent on the Browning phase. The meat should be rested in a moderately warm place so in the oven with the door open or on the bench in a warm spot are ideal. Resting under foil can result in the meat "sweating" and giving a stewed taste to the roast if you do use foil then ensure it is only placed on lightly and that air can escape from around the edges.

 

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