Sunday Lunch Roast

It was only really in the nineteenth century that taking a meal in the middle of the day – a luncheon – became the norm. And it is probably since then that the Sunday lunch has turned into a Great British institution. Presumably it developed because Sunday was generally a day of rest, when the family could go to church together and then come home and eat together. And in the country renowned for its meat, what better for that lunch than a roast joint of meat?

Originally, roasting meant cooking meat over a fire. This would have been what primitive man did, spearing pieces of his kill with twigs and holding them to or over fire. Roasting was also the most logical process in the days of huge open fires when food was held and revolved at or above the fire by means of a spit. As the meat revolved, the fat in it melted and the meat basted itself. However, this all changed in about the nineteenth century when the enclosed fire – or the domestic oven – was developed. Meat cooked in this way is sometimes said to be baked, rather than roasted, but I don’t entirely agree. The meat is exposed to all-round heat but, with good roasting, is always basted during its cooking time. ‘Baking’ indicates an almost dry form of cooking – and I certainly am not too keen on a dry roast. Whatever the truth, traditionalists and perfectionists have been arguing ever since, but the two terms – roasted and baked – have become virtually interchangeable in relation to oven-cooked meat.