Steak, Beef, Lamb, Chicken thermometer joint

1.Take the meat out of the fridge for at least 1 hour before. Remember, the fridge temperature is about 4C, the kitchen is probably about 20C, so you don’t need to cook it for as long.

2.Preheat the oven to 220C – that’s hot!

3.Put the joint in for a 30 minute blast– I don’t bother covering it with foil, I want it to crisp and caramelise on the edge.

4.After 30 minutes, it will probably look like it’s cooked, but if you take the temperature with your newly purchased probe, you will no doubt find it is a long way from where you want it to be – of course this depends on the size of the joint, the shape, the initial temp and so on!!

5.Turn the oven temperature down to 160C, leave the door open for a minute to shed that heat, and then carry on cooking until the desired heat is in the joint. Remove the meat, put it on a wooden carving board, cover it with foil, put a towel over it, and let it rest whilst you finish everything else off. There’s no rush, big joints can stay under there for over an hour without problem.

6.Make the gravy, put the Yorkshire puddings in, mash the potatoes etc. There’s plenty of time to do this.

7.And that’s it. The more you do it, the better you will get, and you will realise that it’s not daunting, in fact it’s quite relaxing and therapeutic.