Stokes Sauces: The Great British Roast - the classics making Britain Great.

Looking forward to Sundays

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/traditional-condiments

The Sunday Roast is a truly British foundation with roots going back to the late 15th Century. Current meat based favourites (there are some lovely vegetarian alternatives these days) feature Chicken, Lamb, Pork and Beef.

Beef is considered the 'authentic originator'. King Henry VII's Royal Guards chose and were given roast beef each Sunday for lunch after church. Their association with beef reflected in the name of Beefeaters which they proudly adopted and keep to this day.

Beefeaters went on to have Prawn Cocktails for starters and Black Forest Gateau to finish!

Whilst the meat on the plate is crucial, much work goes into creating the finest of roast potatoes.

White and fluffy on the inside, golden and crunchy outside. Parboiling, cooling, shaking to fluff them up, goose fat and patience.

And the pièce de résistance - the Yorkshire Pudding. Once it was only associated with roast beef but now, most Brits enjoy it with every form of roast.

As a Yorkshireman, our family always had a Yorkshire Pudding as a starter. The size of a large side plate, the roasting tins were revered, wiped with kitchen roll (never washed) and kept in a special drawer.

The supreme tick in the taste box is the gravy - quality and quantity. Covering the soft bottom to be mopped up with the crisp pudding sides - wow - is it Sunday Mother?

What are your Sunday Roast essentials?

Please - we are asking you to share your favourite roast dinner components; your family secrets; amazing recipe ideas; how to make the perfect roast potatoes; anything that our readers might think - 'of course', what a wonderful idea.

Let us know on Facebook or Twitter and we'll send something tasty to the 'family favourite' we most want to try.

Roast Chicken

It's difficult to beat a juicy roast chuck. We all have our favourite ways of preparing, cooking and serving our bird.

We like moist white flesh, delicious brown meat and a crisp brown skin.

Here's our tip:

The combination of steaming the bird as she roasts gives us the juiciest results as well as a perfect stock gravy.

Make a vegetable trivet in the roasting tin by criss-crossing celery sticks, fennel wedges, onion slices, a lemon (quartered) and a red pepper (thickly sliced).

Add a few sprigs of thyme and pop the chuck on the top. Pour boiling water into the trivet just below the bird.

Cover tightly with foil for the first three quarters of the roasting time and remove it for the last. Pour off the ample cooking juices to use as the stock for a gravy.

To a roux, add 2 tbsp of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard and 175 ml of good dry west country cider. Use your cooking liquor and a chicken stock bouillon to make the gravy - lots of it.

Roast Beef

"Super succulent every time" is what Jamie Oliver likes from his roast beef and this is how he does it.

Jamie's method:

Drizzle the beef (1.5k topside) with olive oil and season it well with salt and pepper then place it on a bed of assorted root vegetables in a roasting tray.

Put the tray in a pre-heated oven at 200°C/Gas mark 6. 1 hour will give you a medium finish so if you prefer medium-rare, take it out 5 or 10 minutes earlier.

Yorkshire Puddings:

There's only one chap for Yorkshire pud reference and that's James 'all butter' Martin. He puts 200g of plain seasoned flour in a large bowl, stirs in 3 eggs (one at a time) then slowly whisks in 300ml of milk to make a smooth batter.

Chill it for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. Put 4 tbsp of vegetable oil in the holes of a 12 hole muffin tin and get it really hot in the oven, pre-heated to 220°C/Gas mark 7 for 5 minutes.

Carefully ladle the batter mix into the the holes and bake for 30 minutes until they have browned and risen.

Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce:

We get our horseradish from a lovely chap called Robbie in Essex. He mixes half wild root with half cultivated root, shredded and washed.

The cultivated root gives it consistency and the wild root builds the perfect flavour.

We add cream to smooth the texture and harsher flavour, leaving a warming beef-friendly sauce.

Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce - it's a delight for discerning palates. We love it.

Coca Cola Gammon Joint

If you haven't tried this you really should. The coke cooking makes this sweet joint sweeter still. Then, when finished in the oven with a honey and mustard glaze, it is pure joy on a Sunday, Monday and Tuesday too.

Here's how:

Put a 2 kg gammon joint in a deep pan, cover it with water and bring it to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes then drain off the water. This removes any excess salt.

Cover the joint with coke (about 2 ltrs) and chop an onion into the pot with it. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Then let it sit in the hot liquor for a further 20 minutes.

When you're ready to roast it, pre-heat the oven to 240°C/Gas mark 9. Cut the skin off, leaving a layer of fat which you score, criss and cross to create diamonds across the joint.

Put the traditional cloves in each diamond and brush with 2 tbsp of black treacle and 2 tbsp of Stokes Classic English Mustard. Put the joint into a roasting tin then into the oven for 15 minutes to brown the bubbling glaze.

Hot or Cold ~ just add Stokes