There is no better known British meal than Roast Beef and Yorkshire Puddings, it is the national dish and loved by everyone. I am often asked how to cook perfect roast beef, and making the perfect roast is easy with these handy tips.

Choosing the Beef
Ideally beef should be:

• Dark in colour - meaning it has been hung well and mature.

• A thick covering of fat which adds flavor and prevents the joint from drying out during cooking (sometimes referred to as a “crown”).

• Marbled. Marbling is small slivers of fat running through the flesh. Again this adds flavor and prevents drying out during cooking.

• Modern packaging processes mean that it is harder to come by hung meat but a reasonable amount of fat and marbling is worth looking for.

How Much to Buy

• 3 lb/1.5kg boned will feed six

Don't worry about buying too much. Cold roast beef makes great sandwiches or can be added to a plate of cold meat for Shabbat.

Cooking Temperature
There are varying opinions about the perfect temperature to cook a roast beef but in my experience start the beef in a very hot oven 425°F/220°C/Gas 7 for the first 30 minutes then lower the temperature to 375°F/190°C/Gas5 for the remaining cooking time.

How Long
How long to cook beef depends on your preference for how 'pink' or not you like to eat beef.

Calculate
Rare 11 minutes per lb/450g
Medium 14 minutes per lb/450g
Well done 16 minutes per lb/450g

Another way to work out the cooking time is to use a meat thermometer pushed into the thickest part of the beef.

60°C/140°F - rare
70°C/160°F - medium
80°C/175°F - well done

How to Cook
Your beef should be at room temperature before cooking – this does make a massive difference when the fibers of the meat start to tighten – which stops the juices from coming out.

So many recipes and great cooks say you that you should not salt the meat, add any oil to it or play with your food (sorry that was my mum!). In reality – and especially if there is a nice “crown” of fat – you should rub your meat with a course sea salt and freshly ground pepper and then drizzle some good olive oil on the top. I also sometimes marinade the joint in some soy sauce rather than using the salt (they have similar salt content) and this gives a rich gravy base. Slice up some onions and then make a foil dish (sometimes referred to as a boat) that the whole lot sits in. Keep the joint covered for 2/3 of the cooking time and then for the last 1/3 uncover it to give your “crown” some crunch. Then all you need to do is wait…

Rest, Rest, Rest
An important part of cooking any meat is once it is removed from the oven the meat must rest. Wrap the meat loosely in aluminum foil and put to one side. The fibers in meat tighten up during cooking and resting allows the fibers to relax, release some of the meat juices (great for the gravy) and results in a soft tender piece of meat. 20 minutes should be long enough but up to an hour won't do any harm. The joint is then ready to carve.