Preparation Tips:

When within three-quarters of an hour of roast being done, have the batter for the pudding made. You could wait until meat is almost done and use roasting pan to prepare the pudding or use another pan to prepare it.

If you are going to use another pan or muffin pan, use some of the roast beef drippings, heat it up and pour in the pudding mixture.

Makes 12 to 14 servings.

How to Prepare Meat for Roasting

Wipe the meat with a wet towel. Dredge on all sides with salt, pepper (or your choice of spices for beef roasting) and flour; Putting salt on fresh meat draws out the juices, but by using flour a paste is formed, which, keeps in all the juices and also enriches and browns the piece.
Have a rack that will fit loosely into the baking-pan. Cover the bottom of the pan rather lightly with flour, put in rack, and then meat. Never roast meat without having a rack in the pan. If meat is put into the water or wine in the pan it becomes soggy and looses its flavor.
Place uncovered in a very hot oven for a few minutes, to brown the flour in the pan, and then add hot water enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Close the oven; and in about ten minutes, open, and baste the meat with the gravy. Dredge with spices and flour mixture. Do this every fifteen minutes; and as soon as one side of the meat is brown, turn, and brown the other.
When all meat is browned reduce the heat, add 1/2 cup of wine and 1/2 cup of water and continue roasting uncovered until desired roasting time.
When your roast is removed from the oven, it will need to rest for about 15 to 20 minutes. While the meat rests, it will continue to cook and its internal tempetature will rise 5 to 10 degrees more. Giving your meat time to rest allows the meat juices to settle and to be reabsorbed into the meat, which makes it tastier and easier to carve.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The heat for roasting must be very high at first, to harden the albumen, and thus keep in the juices. After the meat is crusted over it is not necessary to keep up with so high heat, but for rare meats the heat must, of course, be greater than for those that are to be well done.

Roasting Time

To roast a piece of beef (for rib roasts and sirloin) weighing 8 pounds you will need about fourty minutes, if to be rare (meat thermometer 135 to 140 degrees F). If you want it to be medium, roast about one hour (meat thermometer 150 to 155 degrees F). For well done, your meat thermometer should read 160 to 165 degrees F. If your roast is weighing more than eight pounds, add about ten more minutes for each additional pound.

The time given for roasting a piece of beef is for rib roasts and sirloin. For example, the same weight in the face or the back of the rump will require twenty minutes longer, as the meat on these cuts is in a very compact form.

If a saddle or loin of mutton is to be roasted, cook the same time as beef if the weight is the same; but if a leg is to be roasted, one hour and a quarter is the aproximate time.

Lamb should be cooked an hour and a half; veal, two hours and three-quarters; pork, three hours and a quarter. Check with meat thermometer to determine time needed.

The best way to determine roasting time is to use regular or an instant meat thermometer when you roast, because they are the only reliable means of gauging when meat is done. Insert regular thermometer in center of the roast, making sure it does not touch bone.

NOTE: If you have instant thermometer, do not live it in the roast during cooking. For best result, pull meat out of the oven and insert the thermometer into the thickest part of meat. Make sure thermometer is not touching the bone. It will take about 15 seconds to register the temperature.

Roasting Pan Gravy

Fifteen minutes before dishing the dinner turn the beef drippings into a medium size skillet, skim off all the fat, add in 1 cup of beef stock and set on the stove.

Mix together 2 tablespoons of flour, 1 tablespoon of corn starch and 2/3 cup of cold water until smooth. Let beef drippings come to a boil, then gradually whisk in flour mixture.

Cook, constantly whisking until mixture boils and thickens. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for two more minutes. Strain gravy through a sieve and transfer to a hot gravy boat.