Cooking Tips

Welsh meat lends itself to every known cooking method and can be served with practically every vegetable or fruit. A little skill in the combination of ingredients can produce an endless variety of tempting dishes.

Oven Roasting, Barbecuing, Spit Roasting, Frying, Grilling - whichever way you prefer to cook, here are a few hints and tips for you to get the best out of Welsh Lamb and Welsh Beef.

Meat is cooked to add distinctive flavour, make it more palatable and to generally make it more appetising.

In roasting, grilling and frying, heat is applied directly, without the protection of any liquid. Very lean meat will require a light brushing of oil to prevent drying out during cooking. During cooking the meat contracts and exudes some of their juices, these form a brown, savoury coating on the surface of the meat, which results in added flavour and accounts for the popularity of roasted, grilled and fried meats.

Oven Roasting

Oven roasting, as most people know it, is in fact baking. The meat is put into into a shallow tin, preferably on a trivet and placed in a pre-heated oven.

Stewing, Braising and Pot-Roasting

This is the cooking of pieces of meat in liquid, such as water, stock, wine or cider, with added flavourings or vegetables, herbs or spices. The meat should be cooked in no more than 250ml (1/2 pint) of liquid to each 500grms of meat and allowed to simmer only.

Stewing is done in a slow oven at gas 3, electric setting 160° (325°F), in an ovenproof casserole with a tight fitting lid, or on top of the cooker in a covered saucepan or flameproof casserole. Stews cooked on the hob will require occasional stirring. The success of this method depends on:

• Use adequate flavourings
• Using just enough liquid to cover the meat and vegetables
• Simmering - not boiling

Braising can be done in the oven or on the hob. After browning in hot fat, the meat is placed on a bed of lightly fried root vegetables with just enough liquid to cover the vegetables. The meat then cooks in the steam and requires occasional basting with the hot liquid. The pan must have a tight fitting lid to prevent the liquid from evaporating. Allow 50mins per 500grm of meat, at gas mark 4 electric setting 180°C (350°F).

Pot roasting is roasting in a pot, such as a thick-based saucepan for top heat, or an ovenproof casserole. The pan should hold the joint comfortably without the meat touching the sides, and it should have a tightly fitting lid. This method is a combination of frying and steaming.

The meat is browned in hot fat, either in the cooking pan or separately. The meat should then be allowed to cook slowly in it's own fat in the combination of fat and steam and be turned around every thirty minutes. In order to retain the steam, the lid should only be removed when the meat is turned.

Weigh the meat and then allow 50 minutes per 500grms to calculate the cooking time. The oven should be set at gas mark 3, electric setting 160°C (325°F).

Cooking Times and Temperatures

Pre-set the oven at gas 4-5, electric setting 180° (350°F). Weigh the raw joint and calculate cooking time as in the following chart:

 A good way of indicating if your meat is cooked is to use and electronic food probe and insert it into the middle of the joint -

Rare: Internal temperature approximately 63 - 65°C

Medium: Internal temperature approximately 70-75°C

Well done:  Internal temperature approximately 75-80°C

After cooking, rest the joint for a good 5-10 minutes. This allows the meat fibres to relax and the natural meat juices to disperse evenly throughout the joint maintaining moistness, and makes the joint easier to carve. For the best result always check the level of cooking towards the end of the cooking time by inserting a meat thermometer to the centre of the joint.