The Roast with the Most

Angela Romeo tells us why this great British institution is now more important than ever

Angela Romeo on our favourite meal

EVERYONE loves a Sunday roast – tradition combined with homely, comforting flavour and the aroma of anticipation. Like a joyful relationship, the roast gives simple, flavoursome ingredients space to shine while also complementing each other. Whether we’re going through happy or trying times, to have that Sunday staple can feel like a touch of security. Maybe now more than ever the combination of food, love and nostalgia are playing an important part in our lives.

It’s not such a chore to cook a roast as it may have seemed in the past. Now it’s as much about taking the time to shop, enjoying the cooking and getting friends to put their wine glasses down on the kitchen worktop for a bit to help prepare the veg.

It’s wonderful how recipes evolve within families. My family, for example, all base our roasts on my mother’s. My brother knows when he comes to ours that I may put a twist on a few things: perhaps some sticky maple-roasted parsnips. When I go to his I know I’m going to get the most delicious roast potatoes cooked in butter.

When we go to my mum’s we know we’ll start with nibbles, followed by a prawn cocktail (my favourite), and the main event will be roast beef (my brother’s favourite). Good old Ma Ellis goes all out with the mash and roast potatoes, complete with boiled veggies and lashings of gravy.

It is said that the appreciation of the roast began during the reign of King Henry VII in 1485. The King’s royal guards would eat roast beef every Sunday after church, which led them to be known as Beefeaters.

By the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s, the tradition had filtered down to the general population, but not everyone had access to a spit-roast oven, so canny housewives took advantage of the fact that bakeries didn’t work on a Sunday by using the empty ovens. They would drop off their meat then pick it up, perfectly roasted, on the way back from the Sunday service.

If families were wealthy enough to have their own oven, they would place a cut of meat in to cook as they got ready for church. Just before leaving they would pop in the vegetables. When they returned dinner was mostly ready. The main reason for such a generous meal after church was to celebrate the end of not being able to eat meat on the days leading up to Sunday service.

In 1871, William Kitchiner, with his popular recipe book The Cook’s Oracle giving him a somewhat “celebrity chef” status of the day, proclaimed that “everyone should aim to eat three kg of meat per week, along with a pint of beer every day and two kg of bread”. Nutrition has come a long way since then, but people listened and, for those that could afford it, meat became a regular part of their diet.

As well as religion and tradition for

The ultimate in luxury, roast meat is at the heart of Simpson’s in the Strand. Enjoy the theatre of your chosen meat being wheeled to your table in one of their original Victorian silver-domed carving trolleys attended by their master carver. simpsonsinthestrand.co.uk; London, WC2R 0EW; 020 7420 2111

This quiet village pub serves locally produced food with a bang. It has received listings from 2015 to 2020 in the coveted Michelin guide. Head chef Tom Piper’s innovative dishes consistently receive fantastic reviews – inventive vegan and vegetarian options are always on offer, too. moodycowpub.com;

Herefordshire, HR9 7TT;

01989 780470

An unassuming farmhouse in the heart of Cornwall’s countryside, opened by chefs Tom Adams and April Bloomfield. Impressively, the vast majority of the food comes from the farm’s surrounding 66 acres. A traditional menu with refreshing touches of playful pickles and preserves, deliciously highlights the seasonal and self-sufficient nature of the restaurant. coombesheadfarm.co.uk; Cornwall, PL15 7QQ; 01566 782009

An opulent country house overlooking a magnificent lake in England’s smallest county. With a Michelin-starred chef at the helm, fun, fragrant and imaginative starters and desserts wrap around a wonderfully superb and traditional roast mains. hambletonhall.com; Rutland,

LE15 8TH; 01572 756991

It took my breath away, that lovely tree, A fiery orange merely tinged with green, Flamed transformation of familiar scene.

Its neighbours hadn’t started yet to turn. Deciduous but holding fast, their green prevailed all down the avenue’s long line.

Same species, all mature and English beech as people, like but different. We are each inclined as individuals to reach

Out, eager, to the new or else, retentive

Of the known, hold back, as followers content. We all proceed according to our bent.

But oh, the glory of the trail-blazing bold, Brave spirits, here epitomised, behold,

By one September beech tree forged in gold.