Get ready to dismantle the clichés. If we don't always give thanks to British cuisine, it nevertheless includes some tasty traditional recipes that deserve to be seated with great fanfare. This is particularly the case with the Sunday Roast, also called the “Sunday roast”. With such a title, there is no surprise but its origin and its ceremonial arouse our curiosity… and our taste buds. If we readily attribute the origin of the consumption of meat on Sunday to the Christian religion (a festive meal following Friday when it was forbidden to consume it), it was during the reign of Henry VII that historians have estimated the birth of the British attraction to beef. The king's guards, then nicknamed “The beefeaters” (editor's note) were particularly renowned for their love of this type of meat. But it was in the era of the industrial revolution that the tradition of the Sunday Roast would find its true origin, mixing these premises in a much more popular way. Indeed, families in the north of England would have gotten into the habit of letting their meat cook in the oven while they went to traditional Sunday morning mass, in order to be able to eat it on their return, thus requiring cooking. slow and sure to result in a first-rate feast. A feast yes, because the beef is not the only star of the plate. In fact, we find in the traditional dish: roast meat, a reduced sauce, a “Yorkshire pudding” (a choux pastry cooked in the oven), potatoes and vegetables.
It was during our visit to Cowley Manor Experimental that we met English chef Jackson Boxer, also at the helm of London restaurants Brunswick House and Orasay. Its version of the Sunday Roast takes pride of place on the establishment's menu and takes the essential steps of the traditional recipe while adding its touch of modernity. Cooking lesson, on video.
Recipe: Jackson Boxer's Sunday Roast (Yorshire pudding and roast potatoes)
The prime rib
1 rolled beef rib, 5 bones
The essential part of this step lies in the choice of the piece of meat which must be of the best possible quality.
Pre-cook at 120°C for 3 to 4 hours.
Remove the beef from the oven, brush it with the melted fat and season with salt.
Brown in the oven at 260°C for 12 minutes until you obtain a nice brown crust.
Remove then leave to rest for 30 minutes before cutting.
Potatoes
1kg of potatoes
500g duck fat
Peel the potatoes, cut them into large pieces.
Simmer in cold seasoned water for 5 minutes.
Drain and let dry in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, before serving, heat the duck fat to 180°C in a heavy-based frying pan then brown and crisp the potatoes on all sides.
Yorkshire pudding
4 eggs
20cl of whole milk
200g flour
10g of salt
Beat together the eggs and milk, add the flour and salt. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 220°C.
Fill the muffin tins ¼ full with cooking oil.
Leave to heat for 20 minutes.
Carefully pour the batter into the molds then return to the hot oven.
Leave to cook for 20 minutes.
The sauce
500g ground beef trimmings
20g cooking oil
20g whole, crushed garlic cloves
40g chopped shallots
150g chopped carrots
10cl of red wine
75cl of beef broth
3 grains of black pepper
20g dried porcini mushrooms
3 bay leaves
5 sprigs of thyme
Brown the beef trimming in the cooking oil until it is nicely browned.
Add the garlic, shallots, carrots.
Continue cooking until everything is colored and softened.
Add the red wine, reduce until you obtain a syrupy consistency.
Add the beef broth, bay leaf, peppercorns, dried mushrooms.
Simmer gently until viscosity and flavor concentration are achieved.
Pass through a fine sieve.
Arrange everything, serve hot.
