Beef, Roasted
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fire
Prepare a strong fire before placing the meat on the spit.
Roast
Position the roaster away from the fire and baste frequently with salted water.
Ensure the meat is heated through before it begins to brown.
If the beef is very fatty, empty the dripping pan as needed but retain enough for gravy.
Sift a little flour over the meat as it browns, ensuring it stays long enough to brown properly.
Roast a sirloin for about 4 hours; ribs will take about 3.5 hours.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Sirloin or rib pieces
- Provide the main meat, which becomes tender and browned during slow roasting.
- Water
- Salted water used for basting adds seasoning and moisture to the surface.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the meat and the basting liquid.
- Flour
- Sifted over the browning meat to help form a golden crust and thicken the drippings for gravy.
The step that matters
Heat the meat through before it browns. If the surface browns before the interior warms, the crust darkens too early and the centre stays underdone. Gentle heating first lets the inside come up to temperature so the browning happens on a properly cooked piece.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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