How to Cook Roast Beef

Roast beef, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings are one of our favourite combinations, and once you’ve cracked how to make the perfect beef joint, you will never look back.

From lavish to thrifty, a hunk of roast beef spans all the budgets, and is simpler to cook than you think.

Here, our expert Cookery Team reveals their go-to method for making the perfect roast.

Buy quality

It’s all about going for the best you can afford. After all, you get what you pay for in the flavour stakes.

Choose the right joint

Unlike other meats, the different roasting joints of beef are many and varied. An earnest lump of brisket or topside is pocket-friendly, and treated well can still be delicious.

If you’re looking to splurge, there’s no piece of beef more extravagant than fillet, though this is much harder to cook to perfection, and best given the beef wellington treatment .

To impress a true food-lover, your best bet is a hearty-yet-deluxe rib of beef - it’s full of flavour and stays juicy as it’s a bone-in joint and has a good dose of fat marbling through it.

Make sure you have the right amount

How much beef per person for a roast? For a boneless joint, we’d recommend getting about 225g (1/2lb) per person.

For a bone-in joint, approximately 350g (12oz) per person is a good estimate.

How to roast beef properly

If you’ve got lots of people who all like different amounts of doneness, try picking a slightly larger joint than you need and cook the joint to medium.

People who like well-done meat can have slices off the ends, whereas those who prefer it pinker get the pieces from the middle. Any leftovers can be sliced and chilled for cold cuts or a salad the next day.

The easiest way to work out how long to roast beef for is to weigh it.

The most straightforward roasting guide to follow is to turn the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6 and cook the joint for 25min per 450g (1lb) for medium meat.

If you prefer rare meat, cook for 5min less per 450g (1lb).

If you like your beef well done, calculate the cooking time as you would for medium meat, then add an extra 25min on to it.

Use a thermometer

If you’re looking for the perfect shade of pink, remove the guesswork and invest in a thermometer.

Make sure to push it into the centre of the joint (if the joint has bones, check the thermometer isn’t touching a bone as they get much hotter than meat).

Rare is about 50°C, medium is about 60°C and well done is about 70°C (bear in mind these temperatures will go up as the meat rests and continues to cook in its residual heat).

Prep your beef properly

Remove from the fridge an hour before roasting, getting rid of all packaging and wrapping and then patting dry with kitchen paper.

Rubbing the beef joint with some oil, herbs and seasoning pays-off no end. Rosemary, thyme and mustard are tried and tested flavours, but coffee, chilli, star anise and cinnamon make a warming alternative.

Before going into the oven, we recommend browning small joints in a frying pan (2kg or under). This gives the joint good caramelisation without over-cooking it. If you’ve got a larger joint, blast in the oven on a very hot temperature for 15min before lowering.

Give your beef some TLC

Don’t just chuck the joint in the oven and forget about it until the timer goes off. Make sure to give it a little attention throughout the cooking time, too.

A good start would be adding some veg in the roasting tin to help make the gravy – carrots, onions and celery are all great choices. But don’t overcrowd the tin with veg or the beef will stew rather than roast.

During the cooking process don’t forget to baste a couple of times too with the tin juices. But do this quickly, and close the oven door as soon as you can to retain the heat. If there don’t seem to be any juices at first, some melted butter helps to keep it from drying out.

Let it rest

Don’t underestimate the importance of resting your beef joint on a board for at least 30min, or up to an hour.

You can keep it warm by covering it loosely with foil and then some clean tea towels for insulation.

This allows the fibres in the meat to relax and the juices to redistribute themselves throughout the meat, so it’s delightfully soft and tender, rather than tough and grainy.

Use the right knife

Long and thin carving knives with straight or slightly scalloped edges are designed to slice meat effortlessly, but they are only worth the investment if you’re using them often.

Beware the serrated ‘carving’ knife with jagged teeth. These tend to rip meat and aren’t worth the bother.

Ultimately, the most important factor is that your knife is sharp, so even a large chef’s knife that’s just had a few turns on the sharpening steel will do a decent job.

Carve your roast beef properly

Unless you’re a pro, you’re best off carving meat on a chopping board, rather than on a serving platter – the curved edges tend to get in the way of your hands.

Position the meat widthways in front of you. If you’re right-handed, use a fork in your left hand to steady the joint, and start cutting at the end that’s on the right.

Make long, fluid strokes to glide through the fibres, rather than small sawing actions (this will end up tearing the meat instead of slicing it).

Make sure you cut across the grain of the meat instead of with it.

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