The nation’s beloved Sunday Roast is a cause for controversy among different households as we all have our own secret methods and techniques.
In typical Art School fashion, Chef Askew goes with the seasons, and this is lambing season.
“Like the philosophy of all the food at The Art School and the way I think of food, it’s all ingredient-led… We’re very lucky in Merseyside at the moment in that we have an incredible supply chain for probably some of the best lamb in the country.”
The Art School’s butcher of choice? Edge and Sons, which is also where Chef Askew sourced the hogget for “Summer Memories with Marjorie,” the course that saw him win a perfect 10 from 2x Michelin Star Daniel Clifford on Great British Menu back in 2017.
But back to the Sunday Roast…
“The [lamb] I use is from Calum Edge and it’s called black-faced Suffolk… What happens with these guys is that they’re born in St Asaph in North Wales, about 25 or 30 miles away from here. And they’re brought up to the Wirral on Burton Marsh where the Dee Estuary touches the Wirral Peninsula and they’re finished out on the Marsh there. They have a sort of salt marsh flavour to them because they’re nibbling away on samphire and beach grass which is quite salty.”
Once you’ve chosen your perfect meat cut, lamb or otherwise, the next step is preparation. Chef Askew suggests using a sharp knife to pierce the skin of the lamb around 12 times and inserting a clove of garlic and a tuft of rosemary into each opening.
“In French classical cookery, you’d also put a fillet of anchovy in each one as well because the saltiness and the slight saline fishy flavour goes really well with salt marsh in particular… You have to think of the anchovy as a seasoning rather than just a piece of little fish that you see when you have some tapas.”
Not forgetting the olive oil and cracked white pepper on the surface and your lamb is ready to place in the oven.
If you want to take your Sunday Roast to the next level, which Chef Askew recommends a “trivet”. Before you put the meat in the roasting tin, place a selection of root vegetables as a bed for the meat to sit on. Carrots, celery, leek, onion and potentially some garlic all serve as the perfect base. You can add rosemary if you’re cooking lamb, thyme if you’re roasting a joint of beef and sage with rosemary for chicken.
“What happens is as you’re roasting in the oven, the juices and the fats that come out of the joint of meat and the flavours go into the root vegetables.”
After removing the meat from the oven, you leave it to rest about 30 or 40 minutes so the juices are retained within the meat. “Then you put the roasting tin back on the heat, you pour some wine, so if it was a chicken, you’d use a white wine, for lamb, I’d probably go with something like rioja, a little bit spicy, and you pour that into the root vegetables.”
After heating it up, you strain the juice into the pan and skim off any fat with a ladle to create a jus for the gravy.
“Because you’ve got all those flavours from the roasting process, plus the flavours of the vegetables, and the herbs and the wine, the sauce that comes off is absolutely fantastic and that’s your perfect sauce for the Sunday Roast.”
To find your ideal wine accompaniment for your Sunday roast, head over to our online wine shop.
We’ve also partnered with Berkmann Wines and Gusbourne to bring you a great selection to enjoy during lockdown.
Berkmann Wines are making available wines that are usually only available to commercial account holders, so now is the time to take advantage. Use the checkout code H4H345 for your Art School discount.
Gusbourne Wines are a British producer of sparkling wine fit for any special occasion – Use checkout code LIVARTS to access the Art School offer.