Please note cooking times and temperatures are notoriously difficult to generalise and can even depend on the equipment you're using and the number of times you open the oven door. The times and temperatures below are given as general guides only and you may need to adjust them in line with your own experiences. Temperatures and times given on actual recipes will be more representative.
First thing’s first, weigh your uncooked joint and work out how long it’ll take to cook. The times below are based on an initial high temperature of 220°C / gas mark 7 followed by the remaining cooking time at 180°C / gas mark 4 oven. Then timings below are for medium; If you like your beef or lamb rarer or better done, adjust the timing slightly:
Beef & Lamb: 25 minutes at highest temperature plus 13 minutes/500g (12 minutes/lb) Pork: 25 minutes at highest temperature plus 25 minutes/500g (23 minutes/lb) Pork when cooked should always run clear not pink and should not be served rare Whole chicken: 15 minutes at highest temperature plus 20 minutes/500g (23 minutes/lb) To check chicken is cooked, make sure the juices run clear
Put your meat on a wire rack inside a roasting tin, fat side up so the juices run down and baste the rest. There’s no need to cover it, just put it in the middle of your oven. For evenly cooked, tender meat, cook it on a medium setting for a longer time.
To see whether the meat’s cooked, push a meat thermometer into the thickest bit. For beef 50°C is rare, 60°C is medium and 70°C is well done. For lamb, 70°C is medium and 75°C is well done. When it’s done, take it out of the oven, place on warm plate and cover loosely with tin-foil and leave it to stand for at least 15 minutes (for larger joints allow a resting time of 25 minutes). This lets the fibres relax and the meat to re-absorb some of the juices making it moist and easier to carve.
Chef's tips When roasting meat you can either place the joint on a wire tray as stated above, or on some cut bones and root vegetables from which the gravy can be made. It'll really boost the taste and texture if you continually baste the joint with the cooking juices from the tray. If you're roasting a whole chicken, start by roasting for 15 – 20 minutes on each side, then finish the cooking time with the chicken on its back. This means the chicken is more evenly cooked without being dry. Continual basting will keep it nice and juicy too.
Remember - roast first on high, cook through at 180°C, then allow to rest. All three stages are needed to produce a perfect roast
Quick and healthy, grilling works best for tender cuts like steaks and chops. For extra juiciness, or if you’re using a griddle, brush the meat with oil or butter. Season well and, except for chicken, make sure you only turn it once. Flipping it again and again will dry it out.
Beef: Medium grill. 5-10 minutes per side for well done, 4-8 per side for medium and 2-6 per side for rare Lamb: Medium grill. 6-8 minutes per side Pork: Medium grill. 8-10 minutes per side Chicken: Medium grill. Breasts, 15 minutes, turning occasionally. Drumsticks and legs, 25-30 minutes, turning occasionally
Chef's tips Remember grilling is a dry method of cooking, so unless you're cooking a fatty meat like a duck breast, you'll need to brush it with oil before cooking and turn the meat two or three times to allow the meat to retain the moisure. Season according to the type and thickness of the item to be grilled.
Use a baking tray or earthenware dish to bake your meat, seasoning it and brushing with oil or butter to stop it drying out. For even more moisture, create a foil lid on the dish. This will keep the steam close to the meat, basting it in its own juices.
Chef's tips Again baking is a dry form of cooking, so some meat (especially meat that is not covered in pastry) will benefit from placing a tray of water in the base of the oven to create a moister atmosphere. When cooking a dish such as beef Wellington then you need the dryness to cook the pastry properly.
Like grilling, pan frying works best for tender cuts like steaks. It’s best to use a heavy bottomed pan or wok, with a very small amount of oil or butter. Heat this up, add your meat and sear both sides quickly to keep the juices in. Leave to cook, turning once.
Beef: 6-8 minutes per side Lamb: 6-8 minutes per side Pork: 8-10 minutes per side Chicken: 15-20 minutes, turning occasionally Veal: 3-5 minutes per side
If you’re frying mince, brown it through for 4-6 minutes first. Lamb and beef will need another 20-25 minutes, while pork will need another 15-20 minutes.
Chef's tips When frying meat, it is best to use as little oil as possible in the pan, (unless the recipe specifically states otherwise) as a lot of meat, especially steaks, has a covering of fat, which will itself produce fat. For flavour when frying, add a knob of butter in with oil - it won't burn, as the oil raises its burning temperature.
Rememer you don't have to fry everything on top heat - you can reduce the temperature once the meat is sealed on both sides. The thicker the piece of meat, the slower it will need to cook once sealed.
This is nice and quick. Cut thin strips of meat about a centimetre, or half an inch, across. If you cut across the grain it’ll make the meat more tender and help stop it shrinking. Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a big frying pan or wok (vegetable oil gets hotter than some others). Get it sizzling before you add the meat, a little bit at a time. Add vegetables. A couple of minutes later, add sauce and sizzle for a final few minutes.
Chef's tips When stir frying, you need sufficient oil to enable the meat (and whatever else is in the pan - probably vegetables or mushrooms) to cook quickly. If you don't use enough, the mixture will become dry and may burn.
Summer sees the best of us slaving over the barbeque. The trick to getting the cooking just right is to light it well in advance, use plenty of charcoal and don’t start cooking till it’s glowing, with a grey powder on the top. Not sure the sausages are done? The juices should run clear when you stick a fork in. Same goes for burgers, which should take 12-15 minutes to cook. It's really important to wash your hands in between touching the raw and cooked food, and make sure you don't use the same utensils without washing them.
Chef's tips Barbeques aren't all smoke and flames (well, they shouldn't be!). The more flames, the more black and charred your meat will be. If you have a charcoal barbeque, let the coals get really hot, until you have nice red embers, which are just going past extreme heat, as opposed to the start when the coal is still getting hot. If you have a gas barbeque, again, let it get hot first. If there is a slope on your barbeque, lay the meat with the fat at the bottom, so that flames won't blacken the meat when the fat drips onto the coals. Remember, barbeques need attention, so you do need to stand over them and move the meat from the hot spots to the cooler ones, once the meat is sealed.
An easy, inexpensive way of getting your joint nice and tender. First, heat a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan or casserole dish and brown the joint. Add vegetables and seasoning. Root veg is good for this – try a pound, or 450g, for a 2.5 pound (1.25kg) joint. At the same time, add liquid (a quarter of a pint, or 150ml, of wine, cider, beer or stock). Cover it all up and simmer on the hob or in the oven.
These three methods are pretty similar, but braising tends to use whole steaks or chops while stews and casseroles use smaller chunks. Put the meat in a large pan or casserole dish with about 225-350g (8-12oz) of veg for every pound (450g) of meat, plus a quarter of a pint (150ml) of liquid. Go for root veg and, for the liquid, stock, wine, beer or cider. You don’t need to seal the meat first, just put it all in and start cooking. The timings below are based on a 170°C or gas mark 3 oven.
Beef: 2.5-3 hours Lamb: 1.5-2.5 hours Pork: 1-1.5 hours
Chef's tips When using any of these methods of cookery, remember the dish doesn't benefit from having lots of liquid at the start of the cooking process, even if you plan to reduce it down to a thicker consistency. Use just the correct amount of liquid to cook the meat (or meat and other ingredients) correctly. These are slow methods of cooking and are best done in the oven covered with a lid.
We work with some of the country’s best chefs and restaurants, and they’ve very kindly given us a few of their favourite recipes. So, if you’re after a bit of culinary inspiration, just click on our Chefs’ recipes section.
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