Sunday roast

Origin

The Sunday Roast originated in England as a meal to be eaten after church on Sunday. Eating a large meal following church services is common to all of the continent of Europe as with other Christian countries, but the Sunday Roast variant of this meal is uniquely British. On Sundays, all types of meat and dairy produce are allowed to be eaten, unlike on Fridays where many Roman Catholics and Anglicans traditionally abstain from eating meats, so ate fish instead. Likewise, it is traditional for Anglicans and English Catholics to fast before Sunday services, with a larger meal to break the fast afterwards. These religious rules created several traditional dishes in the United Kingdom.

There are two historical points on the origins of the modern Sunday roast. In the late 1700s during the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom, families would place a cut of meat into the oven as they got ready for church. They would then add in vegetables such as potatoes, turnips and parsnips before going to church on a Sunday morning. When they returned from the church the dinner was all but ready. The juices from the meat and vegetables were used to make a stock or gravy to pour on top of the dinner. The second opinion holds that the Sunday roast dates back to medieval times, when the village serfs served the squire for six days a week. Then, on the Sunday, after the morning church service, serfs would assemble in a field and practise their battle techniques and were rewarded with a feast of oxen roasted on a spit.

Meat

Typical meats used for a Sunday roast are roast beef, chicken, lamb or pork, although seasonally duck, goose, gammon, turkey or (rarely) other game birds may be used.

Vegetables

Sunday roasts can be served with a range of boiled, steamed and/or roasted vegetables. The vegetables served vary seasonally and regionally, but will usually include roast potatoes, roasted in meat dripping or vegetable oil, and also gravy made from juices released by the roasting meat, perhaps supplemented by one or more stock cubes, gravy browning/thickening, roux or corn flour.

The potatoes can be cooked around the meat itself, absorbing the juices and fat directly (as in a traditional Cornish under-roast). However, many cooks prefer to cook the potatoes and the Yorkshire pudding in a hotter oven than that used for the joint and so remove the meat beforehand to rest and "settle" in a warm place.

Other vegetable dishes served with roast dinner can include mashed swede or turnip, roast parsnip, boiled or steamed cabbage, broccoli, green beans and boiled carrots and peas. It is also not uncommon for leftover composite vegetable dishes – such as cauliflower cheese and stewed red cabbage — to be served alongside the more usual assortment of plainly cooked seasonal vegetables.

Accompaniments

Common traditional accompaniments include:

Left-overs

Left-over food from the Sunday roast has traditionally formed the basis of meals served on other days of the week. For example, meats might be used as sandwich fillings, roast beef may be chopped up with leftover roasted potatoes and some additional onion and then fried in a pan with a bit of oil and desired seasonings until somewhat crispy to make roast beef hash, lamb might be used in the filling for a shepherd's pie, and vegetables might form the basis for bubble and squeak.

In pubs and restaurants

In the UK, many pubs serving food have a Sunday menu that features a Sunday roast, usually with a variety of meats and often a vegetarian option, such as a nut roast. This is often cheaper than the normal menu, which may or may not be available on Sundays.