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Great British Sunday Lunch - The Sunday Roast

Recipes for Sunday Lunch

By , About.com Guide

British Sunday lunch is also known as a Sunday Roast and is the very heart of British food and cooking. It is the time for families or friends to get together and share good food. For the cook in the house the Sunday roast with all those Sunday lunch recipes, takes some putting together but the effort is worth it.
A traditional British Sunday lunch is a roast meat with roast beef top of the list - pork, lamb or chicken are also popular - Yorkshire Puddings, gravy, vegetables and a pudding in the cold months and a dessert in the summer.

the difference between a pudding and a dessert.

Sunday Lunch Starters

Yorkshire PuddingsPhoto © RFB photography
Starters at Sunday lunch are rarely offered in the home though many restaurants will offer them because with a traditional Sunday lunch the food is generally so filling that starters would simply be too much. If you feel you must offer a starter then make it light like a Pea and Mint Soup , or a Carrot and Ginger Soup. A Salad is always popular or Prawn Cocktail is a particular favorite.

In some parts of the UK, particularly Yorkshire, it is common to serve Yorkshire Puddings and Onion Gravy as a starter rather than with the main dish. The origins of this stem from when meat was very expensive and eating Yorkshire Puddings as a starter filled everyone up and they ate less meat.

Sunday Lunch Main Courses

Roast beefPhoto © istock.com
There is no better main course for a traditional Sunday lunch than a roast. Roast Beef is the number one favorite but pork and lamb work well. If Yorkshire Puds aren't served as a starter they will be served with the main course beside the meat, roast potatoes, seasonal vegetables and lashings of gravy made from the meat juices.

In winter, a good change would be something warm and filling like Beef Stew and Dumplings a hearty Beef and Ale Pie or a Lancashire Hotpot . Serving Yorkshire puddings as well though is a little too heavy on the carbs and on the stomach.

In warmer weather a traditional Sunday lunch is usually too much, so lighten up with dishes like Lemon Chicken or Pan Fried Beef with Asparagus.

Sunday Lunch Puddings

British Bread and Butter PuddingPhoto © RFB photography
The crowning glory of any Sunday lunch is the pudding or dessert. Puddings belong with colder weather calls as they are heavier, warming and filling. A Bread and Butter Pudding, Spotted Dick a Treacle or Bakewell Tart , and Rhubarb Crumble or a classic Apple Pie work so well.

Warmer weather needs lighter puddings or desserts so think Summer Pudding, a Strawberry Jelly, a Quick Sherry Trifle or Eton Mess - perfect. If you want something slightly more substantial then a Queen of Puddings and if sweet, sticky and sugary is order of the day then it must be Sticky Toffee Pudding.

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