Sunday 3rd August 2025

Sunday.

And with our plants laden with runner beans, I thought I had better cook a roast.

Like all good things, it requires planning: going to the butcher on Thursday, spend three hours making stock on Saturday, mixing the pudding batter the evening before, and soaking the potatoes for two hours to get rid of the starch so the potatoes will be extra crispy.

Jools had gone for an early morning walk, so I made a coffee and sat on the patio with Scully, watching the comings and goings, and was soon chasing one of nine Painted Lady butterflies seen during the day.

This first one returned to feed, and was happy with me getting fairly close.

Elsewhere, in Suffolk, the first confirmed Southern Small White was recorded. I am pretty sure the one I snapped was, and 99.99% one I saw last week, but it flew away, was one too. We shall never know.

Jools came back, so we had breakfast.

And then it was time to prepare everything: Jools stringed the beans, but I peeled the potatoes before soaking, the beef I took out of the fridge, seasoned and rubbed flour into the fat to make it crispy. I gave the batter some extra mixings with the whisk.

All done by eleven.

The potatoes were boiled, then left to cool to become soft and floury. The meat put into a hot oven to seal the outside, then broiled for just over an hour. The potatoes were put into hot duck fat, basted and set to broil also on a high heat.

Every half hour the potatoes were basted, and soon began to show colour. They took 90 minutes to be perfectly crisp, with soft insides.

The meat cooked for an hour on a medium heat, then left to rest while the vegetables and beans steamed, and the batter poured into hot goose fat and broiled at a high heat.

Gravy made, heated, thinned with the stock I made, so was perfect.

In fact it was all perfect, once carved and dished up.

Jen had arrived, wine poured, so we sat down just after two and ate like royalty.

They cleared up while I sat outside to cool down, and have one last glass of wine to unwind with.

Jen left soon after four, there was no footy to watch, but we busied ourselves online, before one last brew of the day.

Jools watched the Detectorists, and I hunted Scully to giver her her insulin, only to find an hour later she was on the sofa with Jools.