The Sunday Roast
The French nicknamed the English 'les rosbifs' for it, and a chemistry society once ruled on exactly how tall a Yorkshire pudding should be. Meet the Sunday roast.
Published
Quick Facts
- What it is
- A roasted joint with roast potatoes, vegetables, gravy and trimmings, traditionally eaten midday on Sunday
- Classic joints
- Beef, pork, lamb and chicken, each with its own sauce
- Famous song
- 'The Roast Beef of Old England', written by Henry Fielding in 1731
- Yorkshire pudding in print
- Hannah Glasse's 1747 cookbook gave the pudding its Yorkshire name
- Pudding height ruling
- In 2008 the Royal Society of Chemistry said a proper Yorkshire pudding should be at least four inches tall
- Foreign nickname
- 'Les rosbifs', the French name for the English
- Yorkshire Pudding Day
- Marked on the first Sunday of February
- Monday sequel
- Leftovers become cold cuts, sandwiches or bubble and squeak
The meal that gave the English a nickname
Few dinners have been so closely tied to a national character. In 1731 the writer Henry Fielding put 'The Roast Beef of Old England' into his play The Grub-Street Opera, and the song became a patriotic favourite. Roast beef stood for good living, honest farming and a certain suspicion of fancy foreign cooking. The French noticed. Their nickname for the English, 'les rosbifs', is still going strong today. Beef also gave the Yeomen Warders at the Tower of London their popular name, the Beefeaters, though the exact origin of that name is argued over.
Why the oven belonged to the baker
Plenty of nineteenth-century households had no oven of their own, only an open fire. In many working-class communities the answer was to carry the Sunday joint, in its tin, to the local baker, whose oven was still warm from the week's work. You collected it after church, with the fat sizzling, and went home to cook the vegetables. Sunday suited the meal because it was the day of rest. It was the one day of the week when a family could sit down together at midday and take its time. The joint was often the biggest expense of the week, so a good one was a point of pride. Leftovers were part of the plan. Monday's cold meat, pickles and bubble and squeak were the roast's afterlife.
The pudding that was meant to fill you up
The Yorkshire pudding began life as 'dripping pudding'. A recipe by that name appeared in print in 1737, in The Whole Duty of a Woman. Ten years later Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy printed a version under the name Yorkshire pudding, and the name stuck. The batter cooked in the hot fat dripping from the meat, so nothing was wasted. In Yorkshire it was often served first, with gravy, to take the edge off hungry appetites before the more expensive meat arrived. Plenty of Yorkshire families still do it that way. In 2008 the Royal Society of Chemistry weighed in with a ruling: a proper Yorkshire pudding should rise at least four inches. Cue outrage in kitchens across the country. The first Sunday of February is now Yorkshire Pudding Day.
Which sauce goes with which joint?
The roast has strict pairings, and the arguments start when you break them. Beef takes horseradish and mustard. Pork takes apple sauce and crackling, ideally with sage and onion stuffing. Lamb takes mint sauce or redcurrant jelly. Chicken takes bread sauce, stuffing and sometimes bacon rolls. The great dispute is over the Yorkshire pudding. Purists say it belongs with beef only. Most households ignore them and serve it with everything. Roast potatoes cause their own rows. Goose fat, beef dripping and a hard shake of the par-boiled spuds before roasting all have fierce defenders.
From the home table to the pub carvery
Today the Sunday roast is as likely to be eaten in the pub as at home. Many pubs build their week around it, and the best ones sell out before the afternoon is over. The carvery, with a chef slicing meat from a hot counter and diners piling plates high, turned the roast into a day out. Every part of the UK has its own accent on the plate. Scottish menus lean on local beef and lamb. Welsh tables are proud of Welsh lamb. Yorkshire insists that the pudding comes first. The formula has held for centuries: a big joint, crisp potatoes, plenty of gravy and everyone around one table. The Sunday roast has survived changes in the way families live and eat, and it is still the meal Britons most readily describe as a proper dinner.
Notable people
- Henry Fielding
- Hannah Glasse
Keep exploring
Yorkshire Pudding
Published
Yorkshire pudding was designed to fill you up before the meat arrived, and a famous 2008 ruling said a proper one must stand at least four inches tall.
Scotch Whisky
Published
Scotch whisky has to sit in an oak cask for at least three years, so every bottle on the shelf is a small act of patience, and some outlast their makers.
Welsh Cakes
Published
Wales's national teatime treat is cooked in a pan, not baked in an oven, and it's been fed to families for generations. Is it a biscuit, a scone or a pancake?