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Roasting Tips & Timings for Meat & Poultry

The Perfect Roast Meat

The Sunday Roast is a traditional way of bringing the family around the table for at least one day in the week for relaxed meal on what used to be regarded as a day of rest..

The Roast appears to have gone out of fashion somewhat and in Food with Passion's experience, this is because many people don't have confidence to cook a larger piece of meat by this method.

The truth is that there is probably no simpler or lazier way to cook a large piece of meat than to stick it in the oven and check in on it.

Food with Passion has compiled a guide here which sets out indicative roasting times & temperatures for the most common roasting joints & poultry. The following times are based around a fan oven - temperatures for non-fan ovens should either be increased by around 10^o Centigrade or will typically take slightly longer to cook than the indicated times. This is because the extra convection from a fan oven cooks food faster.

The most important advice that Food with Passion can give here is that you must avoid overcooking your meat - the meat will be cooked sufficiently when the centre of the thickest part of the meat has reached the indicated temperature on the chart below.

Don't overcook the meat! Follow these tips

Tha charts below are indicative timings only - no one can give you a precise cooking time because even the same type of meat will come in different shapes and sizes; then we cook them in ovens with varying shades of accuracy around their thermostatis.

Roasting a joint too long will always render it dry and tough and nothing will ever rescue the meat after that mistake. However, a little care will ensure that your Roast will always be cooked to perfection.

The trick is that no matter the shape of the joint, or the accuracy of your oven thermostat, the meat will always be cooked perfectly if the temperature is close to the temperatures that we indicate here.

Food with Passion recommends that you estimate the overall cooking time indicated here and that you start checking the temperature from around the last 20% of the total cooking time to avoid overcooking. Therefore if the estimate is 120 mins overall, you start checking from around 25 minutes before the calculated cooking time. The latest digital thermometers designed to say in the meat throughout cooking can even be programmed simoply to ring an alarm when the joint is ready, avoiding the need to take the joint out to test and then to put back into the oven if not ready.

Resting Times

Roasting drives the juices to the outside of the meat and it is extremely important that you allow sufficient resting time (covered with foil) to allow the juices to return to the centre of the meat. The resting time will also help to raise the temperature at the centre of the meat. You may therefore prefer to take your meat from the oven slightly under the indicated temperature to avoid it "cooking on" too much, though we have found these temperatures to be a pretty reliable point to take meat out of the oven, and you should always ensure that poultry reaches the required temperature.

A joint will rest quite satisfactorily for 30-60 minutes without getting cold and that time can be used to good effect finishing off the other components of your meal e.g.vegetables, Roast potatoes and gravy as required.

The secret to a good roast is....

..that there is NO magical secret. It is very easy to achieve. However, as you will have read here, you MUST be able to measure the temperature in the centre of the meat, and for that reason we must recommend that you purchase a meat thermometer.

Types of thermometer available

The most readily available thermometer is a probe that can only be inserted into the meat when it is taken out of the oven. These are widely available and can be purchased from most good cookware stores.

The lastest thermometer to assist the cook is a digital probe which is inserted into the meat and stays in whilst the meat is cooking and has a flying lead with comes through the door seal to a digital readout to give the current temperature without the need to remove the meat and most capable of sounding an alarm at the desired temperature.

Temperature & Timings

Indicative timings - do buy a thermometer and ensure that your meat is cooked to perfection.

Step 1 Step 2

Fan Oven Seal for 20 mins at the temperature shown ⁽¹⁾ Cut Temperature to Continue Cooking for futher (per lb/500g) Required Meat Temperature

Pork 200^oC - 400^oF - Gas 5 170^oC - 325^oF - Gas 4 25 minutes 75^oC - 170^oF

Beef (Well done) 250^oC - 480^oF - Gas 5 190^oC - 375^oF - Gas 5 18 minutes 70^oC - 160^oF

Beef (Medium) 250^oC - 480^oF - Gas 5 190^oC - 375^oF - Gas 5 15 minutes 60^oC - 140^oF

Beef (rare) 250^oC - 480^oF - Gas 5 190^oC - 375^oF - Gas 5 12 minutes 50^oC - 125^oF

Lamb (Well done) 250^oC - 480^oF - Gas 5 190^oC - 375^oF - Gas 5 18 minutes 70^oC - 160^oF

Lamb (Pink) 250^oC - 480^oF - Gas 5 190^oC - 375^oF - Gas 5 15 minutes 60^oC - 140^oF

Notes : You may substitute step 1 if your oven does not reach the required temperature by sealing the joint thoroughly in a scorching hot heavy pan on the hob until the joint is well sealed. The direct heat will mean that this step is carried out in less time to move straight to step 2. The most important step here is to ensure that the meat is at the correct temperature representing how well done (or not) that you would like your meat prepared. Food with Passion would recommend that if you have normally opted for well done meat, that you give medium/pink a try as this proves to be the most succulent & tasty in comparison tests.

We must stress that the best results will be achieved through use of a meat thermometer to help you determine the point at which the meat will be ready to be removed from the oven ready to rest for 30-60 minutes.

	Step 1	Step 2
*Fan Oven*	Seal for 20 mins at the temperature shown ⁽¹⁾	*Cut Temperature to*	*Continue Cooking for futher (per lb/500g)*	*Required Meat Temperature*
*Pork*	200^oC - 400^oF - Gas 5	170^oC - 325^oF - Gas 4	25 minutes	75^oC - 170^oF
*Beef (Well done)*	250^oC - 480^oF - Gas 5	190^oC - 375^oF - Gas 5	18 minutes	70^oC - 160^oF
*Beef (Medium)*	250^oC - 480^oF - Gas 5	190^oC - 375^oF - Gas 5	15 minutes	60^oC - 140^oF
*Beef (rare)*	250^oC - 480^oF - Gas 5	190^oC - 375^oF - Gas 5	12 minutes	50^oC - 125^oF
*Lamb (Well done)*	250^oC - 480^oF - Gas 5	190^oC - 375^oF - Gas 5	18 minutes	70^oC - 160^oF
*Lamb (Pink)*	250^oC - 480^oF - Gas 5	190^oC - 375^oF - Gas 5	15 minutes	60^oC - 140^oF
*Notes :*	You may substitute step 1 if your oven does not reach the required temperature by sealing the joint thoroughly in a scorching hot heavy pan on the hob until the joint is well sealed. The direct heat will mean that this step is carried out in less time to move straight to step 2.	The most important step here is to ensure that the meat is at the correct temperature representing how well done (or not) that you would like your meat prepared. Food with Passion would recommend that if you have normally opted for well done meat, that you give medium/pink a try as this proves to be the most succulent & tasty in comparison tests. We must stress that the best results will be achieved through use of a meat thermometer to help you determine the point at which the meat will be ready to be removed from the oven ready to rest for 30-60 minutes.