Sunday roast
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The Sunday roast is a traditional British and Irish main meal served on Sundays (usually in the early afternoon), and consisting of roasted meat together with accompaniments. Other names for this meal are Sunday dinner, Sunday lunch, and Sunday joint. The tradition arose because the meat could be left in the oven to cook before church on a Sunday morning, and it would be ready when the family arrived home at lunchtime.
Sunday roasts are also common (though less so in recent times) in other Commonwealth countries such as Australia.
Typical elements
Typical meats used for a Sunday roast are beef, pork, lamb or chicken, or more rarely duck, goose, gammon, turkey or game. Commonly, roasts are served with traditional accompaniments which vary according to the type of meat; these are:
- roast beef – served with Yorkshire pudding; and horseradish sauce or English mustard as relishes.
- roast pork – served with crackling and sage and onion stuffing; apple sauce and English mustard as relishes
- roast lamb – served with sage and onion stuffing and mint sauce as a relish
- roast chicken – served with pigs in blankets, chipolata sausages and stuffing, and bread sauce or cranberry sauce or redcurrant jelly
Sunday roasts are served with a range of boiled and roast vegetables. Boiled vegetables were commonly a part of almost all British main meals, but since the advent of more international cuisine this tradition has declined. The Sunday Roast is perhaps one of the last meals where this tradition survives.
The vegetables served vary seasonally and regionally, but almost invariably this will include roast potatoes, which have been roasted in the roast meat drippings, and also a gravy made from the meat juices. Other vegetable dishes served with roast dinner can include mashed swede, turnips, boiled cabbage, roast parsnips, sliced boiled carrots and peas.
Sunday Roast in pubs and restaurants
Many pubs in Britain serving food have a special "Sunday menu" that features a Sunday Roast, usually with a variety of meats available, and this is often cheaper than the normal menu.
In recent years, the appearance of news programmes in the Sunday lunchtime slot in British television schedules has resulted in the term Sunday Roast being used to describe a searching – and sometimes abrasive – interview of a leading politician.