A Sunday Carvery is a traditional British and Irish meal that is usually served on Sundays, consisting of roast meat, roast potatoes and accompaniments such as Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, gravy and condiments such as gravy with apples, mint sauce, or currant jelly. A wide range of vegetables can be served as part of a roast dinner, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, parsnips or peas, which can be boiled, steamed or roasted with the meat and potatoes.
Such is the importance of the Sunday Carvery in British culture that in a 2012 UK poll it was ranked second in a list of things people love about Britain. Other names for this meal include Sunday noon, Sunday evening, dinner roast, and full roast. The meal is often comparable to a less grand version of a traditional Christmas dinner.
In addition to being served in its native lands, the tradition of a Sunday roast London lunch or dinner has had a major influence on the culinary cultures of the English- speaking world, particularly in Australia, Canada, Africa South, United States and New Zealand. A South African Sunday Carvery Normally includes roast pork, beef, lamb or chicken, roast potatoes, pumpkin fritters, Yorkshire pudding and various vegetables like cauliflower-broccoli cheese, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes or roasted butternut squash, green beans, carrots, peas, fresh corn, beetroot and sweet potato. It is also quite common to serve rice and gravy in South Africa instead of Yorkshire pudding.
Origin
The Sunday Carvery originated in the British Isles as a meal to eat after church on Sundays. Eating a large meal after church services is common in most of Europe, but the Sunday roast London variant developed only in the British Isles. On Sundays, all types of meat and dairy products can be eaten; it is different from Friday, where many Roman Catholics and Anglicans traditionally abstain from eating meat, and therefore eat fish instead. Similarly, it is traditional for Anglicans and English Catholics to fast before Sunday services, with a larger meal to break the fast afterwards. These religious rules have created several traditional dishes in the UK.
Eating only fish on Fridays has given rise to a British tradition of “Fish Fridays”, which is still common in fish and chip shops and restaurants across the UK on Fridays, particularly during Lent.
To mark the end of not being able to eat meat, the Sunday Carvery was created as a mark of celebration.
There are two historical points about the origins of the modern Sunday Carvery. In the late 1700s, during the Industrial Revolution in Britain, families would put a piece of meat in the oven as they prepared for church. They would then add vegetables such as potatoes, turnips and parsnips before going to church on a Sunday morning. When they returned from church, dinner was almost ready. Meat and vegetable juices were used to make a broth or sauce to pour over dinner. The second opinion holds that the Sunday Roast London dates back to medieval times, when village serfs served the squire six days a week. Then on Sundays, after the morning church service, the serfs would gather in a field and practice their fighting skills and be rewarded with a feast of spit-roasted oxen.
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Typical elements
Meat
Typical meats used for a Sunday Carvery are chicken, lamb, pork or roast beef, although duck, goose, ham, turkey or (rarely) other game birds may be used seasonally.
Vegetables
Sunday Carvery can be served with a range of boiled, steamed and/or roasted vegetables. Vegetables served vary seasonally and regionally, but usually include roast potatoes, grilled in dripping meat or vegetable oil, as well as gravy made from juices released by cooking the meat, may – be supplemented with one or more bouillon cubes, browning sauce/thickening, roux or corn flour.
The potatoes can be cooked around the meat itself, soaking up the juices and fat directly (as in a traditional Cornish under-roast). However, many cooks prefer to bake the potatoes and Yorkshire pudding in a hotter oven than that used for the joint and thus remove the meat beforehand to rest and “settle” in a warm place.
Other vegetable dishes served with a roast dinner may include mashed rutabaga or turnips, roasted parsnips, boiled or steamed cabbage, broccoli, green beans, carrots, and boiled peas. It is also not uncommon for leftover mixed vegetable dishes, such as cauliflower cheese and cooked red cabbage, to be served with the more usual assortment of simply cooked seasonal vegetables.
Accompaniments
Common traditional accompaniments include:
beef: Yorkshire pudding, tallow pudding; English mustard or horseradish sauce. Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding with “Roast Potatoes, Vegetables and Horseradish Sauce” is considered by National Geographic to be England’s national dish.
pork: crackling and stuffing with sage and onion; applesauce or English mustard.
lamb: mint sauce or jelly or currant jelly.
chicken: pigs in blankets, sausages or sausage meat, stuffing, bread sauce, applesauce, cranberry sauce or currant jelly.
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Leftovers
Leftover Sunday Carvery food has traditionally formed the basis of meals served on other days of the week. For example, meats can be used as sandwich fillings, roast beef can be chopped with leftover roast potatoes and a little extra onion, then fried in a pan with oil and desired seasonings until tender. Except that it is a bit crispy to make hash of roast beef, the lamb can be used in the filling of a shepherd’s pie, and the vegetables could form the base of bubbles and squeak and in Scotland for traditional stovies.
Sunday Carvery Near Me: In pubs and restaurants
In the UK, many pubs serving food have a Sunday Roast London menu which includes a Sunday Carvery, usually with a variety of meats.
