A traditional roast beef recipe is the heart of a classic English Sunday dinner. Juicy, tender, and full of rich flavor, roast beef has been a staple of family meals and festive gatherings for centuries. When cooked to perfection, it delivers a beautifully browned crust on the outside with succulent, flavorful meat inside.

Often served with Yorkshire pudding, roasted vegetables, and gravy, classic roast beef is more than just a meal, it’s a tradition that brings people together. Whether for Sunday lunch or a holiday feast, this authentic roast beef recipe captures the timeless taste of English cooking at its very best.

One of the advantages of roast beef is that you need very few ingredients other than the beef, having said that you need a decent piece of beef.

It you are going to go to the trouble of roasting a beef joint for a Sunday lunch etc then you probably need at least a 4 lb. joint, better would be 5-8 lb. When choosing a joint of beef for roasting it's best to try and pick one which is somewhat square, that's so it will roast more evenly. If the joint is thin, irregular shaped or has pointy ends etc then parts will either be over cooked or burnt!.

I usually give the joint a quick rinse in cold water and pat dry.

• Make sure that the joint is fully defrosted and given enough time to get to room temperature, this is especically importantant if it came out of the freezer.
• Using butchers string tie up the joint, this is an important step not to be skipped. Tying up the joint prevents the risk of it splitting open  and then over roasting. This can happen depending on the internal structure of the joint which is sometimes hard to determine.
• Season all over with salt, pepper and herbs of your choice.
• Rub all over with some oil of your choice ( I usually use high temp olive oil).
• Place on a roasting rack (fat side up, if there is a fat side) over a roasting tin, with NO lid. In the roasting tin add about 1-2 inch of water with a little roughtly cut up veg, whatever you have, such as carrots, onion and celery. The dripings from the joint and roasted veg juice make the base for a great gravy.

So here is the most important part:

This is the formula for perfect medium rare roast beef, with a nicely browned exterior.

• Preheat the over to 475 F
• 20 minutes at 475 F
• Turn over down to 375 F
• then 20 minutes per pound

So if your joint is for example 5 lb it will take 20 minutes at 475 F plus 5 x 20 minutes at 375 F for a total roasting time of 120 minutes or 2 hours.

About half way through the 375 F roasting period I usually remove the roast from the over and turn it over so that it borowns all over, this is also a good time to bast the joing with some of the liquid in the roast tin to keep it moist.

I did not make this all up, it comes from Delia's Smith famous cooking book, I done this many times and it never fails.

After the roasting is done, remove from oven, tent with foil and leave to rest for at least 15 minutes or all the juice will run out when you carve it.