hippytea wrote:

I'm too chicken to try it with anything else!
Which cut are you using?

Yum chicken

I am not sure what cut because it will depend on the store. In fact, the cut of the peppered roast I usually buy for myself is a mystery to me. I do not usually buy by cut; it is usually price for me. 

mummza wrote:

- pork shoulder roast with lemon mustard gravy
- potato puree
- spiced green beans
- roasted carrots with cumin and coriander
- salad with radiccio and arugula

Well that sounds delicious.

chocobanana wrote:

hippytea wrote:

I'm too chicken to try it with anything else!
Which cut are you using?

Yum chicken

I am not sure what cut because it will depend on the store. In fact, the cut of the peppered roast I usually buy for myself is a mystery to me. I do not usually buy by cut; it is usually price for me. 

mummza wrote:

- pork shoulder roast with lemon mustard gravy
- potato puree
- spiced green beans
- roasted carrots with cumin and coriander
- salad with radiccio and arugula

Well that sounds delicious.

Price is a factor, but you really should know what piece you're buying.  The reason being that each piece needs a different method of cooking.  A beef tenderloin is going to be very expensive and needs to be cooked seared and then put in a hot oven for a short amount of time and be served medium rare.  A chuck roast is very cheap but cannot be cooked the same way, it needs low slow cooking, benefits most from braising and does better as a stew or a meat pie. 

Since you don't know what meat you're buying then you are a novice at cooking.  Which is find, we all start somewhere.  I do suggest that you speak a little with your butcher, building a relationship with a butcher ensures that he will take care of you as a customer.  Ask him what cut of beef would be best for a roast dinner, or if you buy by price ask what cut of beef you are buying and what method of cooking would it benefit from most.  Ask him how he would prepare it.  Meat is expensive any way you look at it, best to get acquainted with what you're buying so that you can prepare it optimally. 

I'm no expert at buying meat but I know what I'm doing when I walk into my butcher shop, I know what to ask for, I know how I want it cut and prepped and very often other customers ask me "what are you going to do with that lamb shoulder, I've never bought one before and I wouldn't know how to prepare it."  Even the butcher asks me what I'm making, keeps asking me to invite him to my dinner parties lol.  So don't be afraid to approach another customer to ask for advice if they look like they know what they're doing.

PS - it was me who wrote out the menu you quoted above, not mummza. 

Last edited by koukouvagia (Fri 14 Dec 12 12:53pm)

chocobanana wrote:

koukouvagia wrote:

Since you don't know what meat you're buying then you are a novice at cooking. 

PS - it was me who wrote out the menu you quoted above, not mummza. 

I would say I am a novice cook. I cook what I like and generally don't overcomplicated things because at the end of the day, for me at least, food is not a high importance of mine other than for survival! I don't have the time to cook but thought it be nice to make something for friends who are having me over for the weekend.

Sorry about that I must have got mixed up when I was removing sentences.

Well, around the forum you''ll find people that are foodies, people who cook for their families because they are interested in freshly made nutritious food, people who care deeply about eating fresh and seasonal food, people who are interested in humane ways of raising farm animals, and people who are interested in saving money as well.  I don't know what you mean when you say "food is not a high importance of mine other than for survival" but surely it's not the thing to say to someone you are serving food to.  That's like saying "I don't know much about food, don't care very much about it, but here - eat this." 

If you do indeed want to do something nice for the people that are visiting then why not take them out for a nice dinner, or make them a nice breakfast which may be a little bit easier to do than preparing a hunk of roast.  Do something that you are comfortable with and if you really don't care about food then showing your affection and gratitude by cooking doesn't seem very fitting here.  Is there something else you could do?

Personally I wouldn't get myself involved in making roast beef without making sure the recipe suits the cut I'm using. Cooking times and temps vary hugely for different cuts, and if you get them wrong it'll end up dry or tough or both. And beef roasting joints are terribly expensive to take a risk on ruining it.

My advice is, if you don't want to be bound to a specific cut, then go ahead and buy whatever looks good, but then Google for a recipe specific to that cut. And make sure you buy it a day in advance, so that if you've bought something crazy tough you have time to cook it low and slow.

To be honest, I love roast beef when someone else makes it, but I don't like making it myself. I get performance anxiety. I'd rather throw a brisket in the slow cooker and serve that with roast beef trimmings. Your margin of error goes from maybe 20min to 3 hours - I like that.

If you're in the States then I would think it difficult to even find a solus butcher.  I know they're few and far between in Canada.