We know what you’re thinking; we’ve been through this before. Turkey can be a tad dry, to put it mildly. Chicken doesn’t feel festive enough. Ditto a cracking cut of pork, regardless of how crackly that crackling is….
A joint of beef, then, blushing pink in the middle and with the requisite char on the outside, is the perfect alternative, bringing a tender touch and a festive flourish to the Christmas dinner table.
Here, we’ve spoken to the revered butchers to some of the UK’s best restaurants, Swaledale, whose Christmas Boxes this year include a 2kg, 28 day dry-aged rolled sirloin alongside pigs in blankets and a dry-cured ham rump, on how to cook your beef perfectly for a very special festive lunch.
Beef? For Christmas? Really?
Just as prized cattle were held back for Christmas in times gone by, we also hold back our Dexter, Highland and Lowline cattle, ensuring optimal flavour following long summer and autumn months grazing on the lush, green pastures of the Yorkshire Dales.
Recently we have seen a resurgence in beef being served at Christmas, with Jorge Thomas (Director of Swaledale) noting a 15% increase in beef orders from previous years. The rolled Sirloin, which we’re cooking today, is proving particularly popular this year – King James would approve!
The Christmas Box
The Christmas box will happily feed 8 people. If you’ve got a smaller group coming for Christmas, then the leftovers are going to be pretty special!
- A very special 2kg 28-day dry-aged rolled Sirloin
- A dry-cured York-style Ham Rump
- 1 kg of Pigs in Blankets
How To Cook A Joint Of Rolled Sirloin Perfectly
- Heat the oven to 170°C fan.
- Chop the juniper, thyme and salt together until all is very fine and then mix in the pepper.
- Season the whole joint generously with herb salt.
- Pour a little sunflower oil into a large saucepan and, over a medium heat, carefully and evenly brown the fat side of the joint.
- Remove and put on a trivet in a roasting tray fat side up.
- Roast the beef until a thermometer reads 49°C, then remove from the oven and rest for at least 20 minutes. Pour any resting juices into the sauce at the end.
This cut of beef is so simple to cook to a blushing medium rare, and is super easy to carve, too! What better way to celebrate Christmas than that?
About Swaledale Butchers
Swaledale are a specialist butchery team with a whole-carcass, nose-to-tail philosophy for heritage and native breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs, slow grown and free to roam on small farms and smallholdings dotted around the wildly beautiful Yorkshire Dales.
All of their grass-fed beef is dry-aged on the bone for a minimum of 28 days to maximise flavour. The Himalayan salt chamber is stacked full of prime steaks and roasting joints where, as if by magic, the salt wall creates the perfect environment to tenderise the meat for heightened succulence and depth of flavour.
Swaledale’s meat is Always Fresh Never Frozen®, butchered to order, vacuum packed, and shipped in recyclable packaging to arrive safely insulated and ready to enjoy. And most importantly of all, it tastes bloody delicious!
