Cooking a roast Beef for my first dinner party! Please help

At the grand old age of 36 I'm cooking for my first "proper" dinner party

I've bought two beef joints one is 1104g and the other 1177g

I have a double oven so will cook the meat in one conventional oven, while I put the yorkshires and pots in the other.

Please help on how long should I cook each joint with the other one to follow, for one to turn out medium and the second to be welldone?

Argh Help

Hi Mustard, it should say on the packet how many mintues to the amount of KG, i think ours was 1 hour per KG. so put first one in for 2 hours for well done, and the other in for 1 hour then keep checking.

Make sure it is hot in the middle but still a nice pinky colour. Sorry if its not much help but it should say on the packet somewhere.

Thanks, that is a great help as I want to write a timetable of "oven ins and outs" for everything and although there are instructions on the punnet thingy they are on the inside so I'd have to unseal it to read them and I don't want to do that until the last min.

I've got the starter and all the trimmings at the ready, but oh my god! I can't believe people put dinner partys on for FUN

Still hopefully I'll get everything right, everyone will enjoy their meals and will feel I've achieved something!

If not I'll just get them pissed

Here you are..this is the method I use

1. Preheat the oven to its highest setting.
2. Rub the beef with olive oil, salt and pepper all over.
3. Put a heavy-based roasting tray on the hob and when hot, add the beef.
4. Sear the beef quickly on all sides to colour and crisp the outside.
5. Transfer the beef immediately to the oven and leave the oven on its highest setting (about 240C/460F/Gas for 20 minutes.
6. Reduce the heat to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and roast for half an hour per kilo for rare, adding another ten minutes per kilo for medium rare, 20 minutes per kilo for medium, and 30 minutes per kilo for well done.
7. Remove from the oven and place on a board or tray for resting.
8. Loosely cover with foil and rest the meat for a minimum of 40 minutes before carving, letting the precious juices that have bubbled up to the surface seep back into the flesh. Also, as the meat relaxes it becomes easier to carve.

As soon as the beef is out of the oven..THEN you start to cook your roast potatoes..and then about half an hour before start to cook your yorkies (if you are making them yourself..if not then refer to packet)

If you are making yorkies, here is a fool proof recipe that I use and have done for as long as I've been a Chef (and thats a looooooooooong time )

1 pint of flour
1 pint of milk
1 pint of eggs
salt and pepper

whisk all ingredients together until smooth and rest in a cool place for at least 20 mins.

really hot oven and heat the oil in the tins until REALLY hot!
pour mixture in and close the door DO NOT keep opening the oven (if you do, just a crack and really slowly) they take about 20 mins and they are HUGE!!!!! very impressive

Good luck..if you need any more advice just ask

What you are starting early when you think its ready take a very thin sharp knife push it in the joint no blood should be OK hope so for you

A pint????? of eggs?
really?

Thank you so very much for your post! I'm going to give the yorkshires a practice go tonight.

and thanks Fred, I was wondering how to test it without cutting the joint in half!!!

Mand's right about the beef, put in a very hot oven to seal it, then turn it down to 180 or so and cook for couple of hours. The yorkies, if I were you I would nip down to the local supermarket and get some frozen ones, they're always a good idea for a dinner party, coz you won't have the room to have the oven up high enough to cook them, or you'll burn all the roast potatoes in there in the process! I know you have 2 ovens but it's gonna be a bit of a nightmare to cook them. You could always cook them first when the oven is on nice and high with the beef in (top shelf for yorkies). Take them out when cooked and shove them back in for the last 5 mins before you're dishing up.

yes, sorry I went into chef mode then lol
you can cut it down, half a pint would make about 8 huge yorkies and it really is foolproof I promise