A winter roast is the ultimate comfort food. Moist and fragrant with all the trimmings, it’s an easy meal in a pan the whole family will love.


Take Harvey Beef’s branded rib eye in a red wine and garlic marinade that comes in 1-1.5kg portions and can be cooked to individual taste.

 
“It was six months in development and is designed for family meals, ” the company’s domestic sales manager Ben Martella said. “All our beef is sourced locally in WA — and we’ve been a member of Buy West Eat Best since inception.”

 
Rare, medium, well done: a roast is an easy meal because the only time you need is to put it in the oven at the start and take it out at the end.

 
“Even if you slow cook at 90C for 12 hours, it’s a cinch, ” Mondo’s butcher Vince Garreffa said. “It’s the meal with a minimum of fuss and there are so many cuts you can use.”

 
Blade, chuck and brisket work well. So does shoulder of pork but you have to remove the skin and bake it separately at a higher temperature to get the crackle, otherwise it will turn to leather. Try anything from 175C-250C, depending on your oven.

 
“Slow cooked, the meat, big or small, will be moist and luscious, ” Mr Garreffa said. “If you like lamb, cook it at 80C for 12 hours and it should melt in the mouth like butter and still be a little pink in the middle. Even meat done at 120C for six hours is beautiful if you’re tight for time.”

 
Tenderloin, sirloin, scotch fillet and rump are good eating medium-rare, so faster cooking at 180C works with these cuts because you’re aiming for a crisp, brown crust and juicy pink centre. Always use a meat thermometer for the best result.

 
“If you prefer your meat medium to well done, you should still start off at 180C for half the cooking time, then reduce it to 120C for the remainder till the meat reaches 70C, ” Mr Gareffa said. “Timing is critical here because 75C is well and truly done.”

 
Allow 1-2 hours for a 1.5-2kg piece, depending on thickness, which is always more important than weight. Sirloin will inevitably cook faster than rump.


Taste Harvey Beef’s new red wine and garlic rib eye and its marinated porterhouse at Jack’s Wholefoods and Groceries in Claremont on Saturday. The products are available from Farmer Jack’s stores and selected IGAs. 

 

Pronto Gourmet Butcher’s Carlos Florenca can’t go past pork belly, butterflied lamb and forequarter cuts, such as blade, oyster, chuck and shin for slow winter cooking and likes to make a marinade with red wine, tomato paste, onion and garlic to spread on the meat.


“Let it infuse for three-four hours and you can do that on the kitchen bench in this weather, ” he said. “Once it’s cooking, the aroma is pure comfort on a cold, winter’s day and you get a beautiful gravy with the juices from the meat.

 
“I always put a shallow baking tray of water at the bottom of the oven to create steam and keep the meat moist. Even dropping the temperature and cooking for longer will give you a better result.”

 

© The West Australian

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