Hi lovely people, so I've got your questions about roast dinners. I'm gonna
try and answer as many as possible and I'm trying to answer them the best that
I can. Okay first one, is it possible to make a
roast dinner in advance and reheat it on the day so it's not dry and overcooked?
Hmm yes, of course it's possible, it depends on the cut so the prime cuts for
roast dinner are often like the loins, saddles, fillets stuff like that
They're not so good reheated, but if you kind of think about it differently
things like shoulder a pork, shoulder of lamb, lamb shanks things like that you
can like cook with love and care and time let it cool down and then the next
day sort of pot roast it back up, glaze it it will be amazing. Even the simple
humble sort of tray bake of parboiled potatoes and some marinated chicken
thighs or legs and parsnips you can do like a little mini roast dinner in one
tray for two people, super romantic like really affordable and absolutely you can
get it already the day before and then when you get in bang 45 minutes, 200
degrees hundred ninety degrees, golden, crispy bit of gravy happy days.
The best idea's for less leftover roast meat the next day? Okay
best ideas oh my lord, I mean there's so many things you could do, shepherd's pie
cottage pie I like it depends on the cut of meat that you've got but you can
shred it and kind of wok fry it back up and if you kind of kiss it with a little
bit of sweetness and chili so that let's say for example you know chili jam
ginger you know you can kind of go into Asia peanuts, noodles, rice you can do
beautiful sandwiches. I think a good sandwich is pretty underrated my lord
amazing sort of rameny, brothy kind of dishes, beautiful. I have the smallest
oven and I'm trying to get a roast with veg in is hard especially potatoes, how
can I improve? Have a roast at least twice a week because it's cheaper. Okay, I
don't know how small your oven is darling I mean the standard oven size is
60 centimetre, to go smaller than that is kind of like those tiny little ones
and that's definitely a challenge. I would say
timing like first of all like if you rest meat properly so people kind of get
into the habit of cooking meat all the way through in the oven when the reality is
and you've got to just cook it just under in the oven and then let it rest
for half an hour-40 minutes, alright and it carried on cooking so if you put a
thermometer in your meat the temperature will go up internally when you take it
out of the oven for the next half an hour alright so it's still cooking. So
that half an hour-40 minutes you can do cool things with and you can do your
potatoes and bits and pieces this, that and the other so there are clever little
tricks like that. Other things that I do is I play with the racks so if I've got
a chicken if I've got a big one like that just put some scissors or a knife
down the back, open it out like a book and then put it on the bars at the top
and then you can put another bar underneath and have your potatoes and
have the fat all raining down on the potatoes and then underneath that you
can do veg and this, that and the other, okay. So that's an one way to look at it, but I
admire your challenge, I kind of want to see a picture of your oven thought. Show us a
picture of your oven and let me have a look please. How do I choose a piece of
beef? What cut? What characteristics should I look for? What's the most
affordable but, still delicious value? Okay Kimbo, first up beef is really
expensive, a steak, it's always pretty good to go for a sirloin you know then
that's in the middle price wise, fillets up here, you know rump sort of you know a
bit cheaper but rumps always solid. I would look for marbling so that's the
kind of little bits of fat in between, you don't want pure lean meat that's
going to be dry and tough as old boots so marbling is definitely important
I think in this country the best thing we've got is grass, grass-fed grass-fed
beef is incredibly nutritious you get all the amiga three's from the grass so much
much better in my opinion nutritionally and flavor-wise
than grain and corn-fed beef. I think the best thing is also that if you use a
butcher, like a butcher shop they are really incentivised to look after you in
good times and bad, "Alright John, how's it going?" you know ask there have a
dialogue, have a conversation and build up a relationship
and if you're regular they'll look after you they'll have an interest in your
family, okay. So it's hard it's a big question this one, it's a big question
but you know ask for the name of the farm where it came from
Look for marbling use your instincts and and then you can kind of go into all
kind of geeky conversations around, has it been hung? How long for? You know
What's the simplest way to keep everything warm in your roast dinner so
that by the time you've dished it all up you're not whipping it down just so it's
still lukewarm? So look here's the thing, the easy way and the historical way to
guarantee that everything is piping hot and delicious is have warm plates so I
don't know where you're gonna warm plates whether it's an airing cupboard, a
radiator or just having it over a pan that's boiling some water to cook some
greens or some veggies but have warm plates
it really helps. Also gravy, boiling hot literally boiling gravy going into a
pre-warmed gravy jug saves all, saves all. So actually the idea of the roasting
meat being piping hot is kind of nuts, it's completely unfounded, it's not part
of history like it would always you can taste it more if it's kind of room
temperature, warm, okay. Then the gravy heat and as far as all your other veg is
concerned you can time that you know so you can have kind of your greens on the
top, your roast potatoes and sort of like you know all your kind of alforno's and
stuff in the oven. So my friend it's all about timing and planning hot plates and
hot gravy. When you're cooking do you ever play any kind of music? I do. It sets
the tone of my meal and inspires me, what song or music would you like to cook to?
Actually way back I actually did an album called music to cook by which was
a whole kind of host of my favourite tunes at the time. If you go on
Spotify, Jamie Oliver, actually all my playlists are up there and I love, I love
love, love to cook to music I really do. Often just as I'm about to enjoy it a
lot, my wife will come and turn it down because the baby's going to bed, boo. But you
know sometimes I close the door and crank it up, love it, love it, little glass
of wine happy days, very happy days I know what
you mean. Okay, Yorkshire puddings, even without beef? Of
course the answer is yes, the answer is yes. The classic Yorkshire pudding was
always generic with any meat and actually was never eaten with the meat
Historically that would come out the Yorkshire pudding would come out
first with the gravy to fill up really hungry people that normally in those
days would have been like working hard. Fill them up and then the meat would
come out with the veggies and a little bit more gravy and that will be any kind
of meat. So look go for it but also in the old days you know back in the day
they used to put jam on the Yorkshire puddings as well
So I say Yorkshire puddings are like one of the best inventions ever. I
particularly like Yorkshire puddings fresh from the oven
with smoked salmon and lemon and horseradish creme fraiche, come on!