Ah! You catch us all at sixes and sevens today. Lord Braybrooke is hosting a meeting of his
university colleagues and Lady Braybrooke remains in town, so I'm cooking one of Lord
Braybrooke's favourites: roast beef and plum pudding. For this recipe, you will need...
Flour Salt
A sirloin of beef and plum pudding
Roast beef and plum pudding is on of the most patriotic dishes I can think of.
It really is the national dish, served at all significant celebrations: coronations,
weddings, births. Lord Braybrooke served it to all the tennants when Lady Augusta and Mr
Strutt got married. There was a big party with long tables out on the front lawn.
It will certainly be eaten by everyone across the land when our Queen celebrates
her golden jubilee in six years time and most definitely when her son succeeds her,
though that won't be for a few years yet.
It really is one of Lord Braybrooke's favourites and he likes to eat it when he's entertaining with
his male friends. This is sirloin. It is the top of the loin and that's where it gets its name.
There's lots of nonsense talked about kings knighting bits of beef.
Beef is very prized here in Britain although most people can barely afford meat, let alone beef.
The French call us 'le roast beef'. They even send their cooks here to learn how to roast.
Roasting is one of the most prestigious ways of cooking meat. And when I say roasting
I mean cooking in front of an open fire, not putting it into an oven and baking it.
If you work for a middle class family then you will have to learn to roast in
a cast-iron roasting range where hopefully the heat will come from the top and not the bottom.
I am told you can get quite a good result from a gas oven although you must remember to keep
the door open and turn your joint. But then you must always remember to turn things that are in
your oven. Our baking ovens have turntables inside them. Our roasting is done in front
of an open quick fire, mostly using coal although wood does give it a nice flavour.
It's important to make sure that you string up your joint nice and tightly.
You don't want the beef flapping around on the spit.
We're now going to put this on the spit. Mary-Ann?
And I'm going to dredge it with flour and salt...
so the juices will flow and it will form a good but slight crust on the top.
Mary-Ann is now going to put this in front of a quick fire for about two hours and then she will
be able to make a gravy as she collects all the fat that comes off it in the pan below.
[music]
Now I call this plum pudding but I suppose you might call it Christmas pudding. It is served at
Christmas, with beef of course, but many families eat it throughout the winter months. Like beef,
plum pudding is a symbol of Englishness. When I make this for a more general dinner
I usually make it in a mould, but today I'm using an old method and boiling it directly in a cloth.
I'm going to put the mixture in this wet cloth which is floured and then tied up with string.
Many modern recipes for this always assume you're going to make it in either a mould or a basin
and are therefore too wet. Some are too dry in which case the pudding will crack.
I like to get the maids to make it and practice until they've got it right.
There. This will now be boiled for about two hours
and so will be ready about the same time as the beef.
[music]
My beef is cooked to perfection, as is my pudding. Cooked this way you don't need
to rest the joint so it can be served straight away. Just don't forget to take off the string!
And there we are: roast beef and plum pudding, perfect for any celebratory dinner.