If you had to name one meal that truly encapsulates what it means to be British, it would be the Sunday roast. Forget bangers and mash or fish and chips – as a nation, if you cut us open, we’d bleed Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Our love of roast beef is such that the French even refer to us as ‘Le Rosbif’. That’s why we take them very seriously indeed at Cubitt House – to us, a Sunday roast is more than just a meal, it’s a Great British institution, and one it is our duty to uphold.
Everyone’s got an opinion on who makes the best Sunday roast (usually, the answer is our mum) and obviously, what that should constitute (there’s a whole north vs south divide re: if Yorkshire pudding goes with just beef or not). But the one thing that everyone in dining rooms up and down the country can agree on is the ethos of the Sunday roast. So just like the true meaning of Christmas is good will to all men, the true meaning of a Sunday roast is togetherness.
In fact, it’s in the very DNA of the Sunday roast in the first place, when it was invented in the Tudor period. Back then, families would gather for a meal together after church on a Sunday morning, putting the meat in the oven for a few hours to soften and cook while they were out. Naturally, this became a moment to catch up on the events of the week, taking time to share news with each other. Despite many people no longer going to church, the tradition of having a roast dinner together has continued, whether it’s at home or down at the local pub.
In the 15th century, meat was an expensive meal, so there was a certain social cachet to being able to enjoy a roast in the first place too, with the Lords of the manor roasting huge whole animals for everyone to enjoy. The Victorians saw roast beef in particular as ‘posh’, with society hostesses having bragging rights over the regularity and extent of their Sunday roast tradition. As us Brits are completely and utterly obsessed with class, it’s really no surprise that a dish that highlights how well off you are became the nation’s favourite.
Over the intervening centuries, new regional variations of the Sunday roast have popped up (sometimes with different preferences on the same street), and different things have gone in and out of fashion too (honey roasted carrots and parsnips are so 21st century). It’s remarkable really that for a dish which is relatively simple in its premise: a roasted joint of meat accompanied by potatoes and seasonal vegetables – that so many different versions have arisen. It just goes to show how seriously we take it. People are willing to take to the picket lines for everything from how bloody your beef should be to whether or not the crispy skin stays on the chicken or not. Again, this is another reason the roast is so quintessentially British – how we choose to eat it is something we define ourselves with.
At Cubitt House, we put our own spin on the national dish, respecting all the original components while also throwing in some of our own magic. That means the roast chicken is a succulent cut from a Cotswolds farm, served with bread sauce, and the Angus rump beef is paired with horseradish sauce. Because we don’t take sides – and because we love them so much – every roast comes with a golden Yorkshire pudding. Then there are the duck fat roast potatoes, seasonal greens and of course, a jug of Ben Tish’s signature gravy. And the most important ingredient? Creating a convivial, warm atmosphere where everyone can come together at the end of the week to enjoy a meal together. We truly pride ourselves on that.
So why not book in for a Sunday roast with us at one of the pubs soon? You can use it as an opportunity to compare whose roast potatoes are better, ours or your mums…
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