How to Cook an English Beef Roast

Things You'll Need

4-pound roast beef (boneless prime rib, topside, eye round)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. sea salt
2 tbsp. pepper
Roasting rack
Roast pan
Basting brush
Carving knife

Yorkshire pudding, a pop-over pastry is commonly served with an English beef roast.

Whether you're exploring British cuisine or looking to impress dinner guests visiting from the U.K., it doesn't get more traditional than an English roast beef dinner. This tradition is still a large part of British culture, and is fairly popular in the U.S. and other countries. While the roast can be other types of meat such as lamb, and chicken, beef is the most common and most traditional roast to serve. This simply prepared roast beef only uses a minimum amount of spices, putting an emphasis on the flavor of the beef.

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.

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Step 2

Rub the vegetable oil onto the roast beef and season with salt and pepper.

Step 3

Place the roast beef on a rack in a roasting pan with the fat side up. Insert an instant-read thermometer if possible to keep an eye on the temperature of the beef.

Step 4

Place the roast beef in the oven and reduce the heat to 400 degrees F.

Step 5

Baste the roast every 15 to 20 minutes with the juices at the bottom of the pan.

Step 6

Cook the roast to your desired level. For medium-rare roast beef, the internal temperature of the meat needs to reach 130 to 140 degrees F. The temperature must read 145 to 150 degrees F for medium, and 150 degrees F or higher for well done.

Step 7

Remove the roast from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes. Then slice thinly and serve with a gravy made from the beef juices.

Tip

Remove the roast when the roast is 10 degrees F from where you want it to be. The heat will continue to cook the roast internally when you take it out of the oven.

A traditional English roast beef is often accompanied with a gravy. Combining the roast drippings with red wine, salt, pepper, and butter, and heating it to a boil over the stove.

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