Sunday roast
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|
 | |
| Course | Lunch |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Region or state | Western Europe |
| Main ingredients | Roasted meat |
A Sunday roast or roast dinner is a traditional meal of British origin. Although it can be consumed throughout the week, it is traditionally consumed on Sunday. It consists of roasted meat, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes and accompaniments such as Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, gravy, and condiments such as apple sauce, mint sauce, or redcurrant sauce. A wide range of vegetables can be served as part of a roast dinner, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, parsnips, or peas, which can be boiled, steamed, or roasted alongside the meat and potatoes.
The Sunday roast's prominence in
Besides being served in its original homelands, the tradition of a Sunday roast lunch or dinner has been a major influence on food cultures in the English-speaking world, particularly in Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United States, and New Zealand. A South African Sunday roast normally comprises roast pork, beef, lamb or chicken, roast potatoes or mashed potatoes, and various vegetables like cauliflower-broccoli cheese, creamed spinach, green beans, carrots, peas, beetroot, and sweet potato. It is also fairly common to serve rice and gravy or pap and tomato gravy in South Africa instead of Yorkshire pudding.
Origin
The Sunday roast originated in the British Isles, particularly
- Only eating fish on Friday resulted in a British tradition of 'fish Fridays', which is still common in fish and chip shops and restaurants across the United Kingdom on Fridays; particularly during Lent.
- To mark the end of not being able to eat meat, the Sunday roast was created as a mark of celebration.
There are two historical points on the origins of the modern Sunday roast.
- In the late 1700s, during the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom, families would place a cut of meat into the oven as they got ready for church. They would then add in vegetables such as potatoes, turnips and parsnips before going to church on a Sunday morning. When they returned from the church, the dinner was all but ready. The juices from the meat and vegetables were used to make a stock or gravy to pour on top of the dinner.[4]
- The second opinion holds that the Sunday roast dates back to serfs served the squirefor six days a week. Then, on the Sunday, after the morning church service, serfs would assemble in a field and practise their battle techniques and were rewarded with a feast of oxen roasted on a spit.
Typical elements
Meat
Typical meats used for a Sunday roast are
Vegetables
Sunday roasts can be served with a range of boiled, steamed and/or roasted vegetables. The vegetables served vary seasonally and regionally, but will usually include
The potatoes can be cooked around the meat itself, absorbing the juices and fat directly (as in a traditional Cornish under-roast).[6] However, many cooks prefer to cook the potatoes and the Yorkshire pudding in a hotter oven than that used for the joint and so remove the meat beforehand to rest and "settle" in a warm place.[7]
Other vegetable dishes served with roast dinner can include mashed
Accompaniments
Common traditional accompaniments include:
- horseradish sauce. Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding accompanied by "roast potatoes, vegetables, and horseradish sauce" is considered by National Geographic as the national dish of England.[8]
- pork: crackling and sage-and-onion stuffing; apple sauce or English mustard.
- lamb: mint sauce or jelly or redcurrant jelly.
- or redcurrant jelly.
See also
- Carvery
- Pub grub
References
- ^ "Bacon Butty Best of British". SWNS digital. 3 February 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2020.[permanent dead link]
- ISBN 978-1-4039-6967-5. Archived from the originalon 16 August 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
- ^ John Wesley (1825). The Sunday Service of the Methodists. J. Kershaw. p. 145.
Days of Fasting or Abstinence All the Fridays in the Year, except Christmas-Day
- ^ Hill, Amelia (19 August 2007). "How Friday saved the Sunday roast". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
- ^ Classic Roast Dinner Archived 12 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-0-906198-97-1.
- ISBN 978-0-563-36249-4.
- ^ "Top 10 National Dishes -- National Geographic". Travel. 13 September 2011. Archived from the original on 14 October 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
External links
Media related to Sunday roast at Wikimedia Commons