Loading... Please wait...

Our Newsletter


Cooking Tips and Recipes

At The Free Range Butcher we understand the pleasure of gathering family or a group of friends together for a great meal. On these pages we will share with you some of our cooking tips and favourite recipe ideas.

Preparing your meat

Before cooking red meat, it's best to remove it from the fridge about half an hour before you use it and bring it to room temperature. This way the meat will cook evenly rather than burning on the outside and still being cool or uncooked on the inside. At the same time, remove the Cryovac packaging and allow the meat to breathe. By doing this you will reduce the cooking time and decrease the required cooking temperature.

Cooking the perfect roast

Roasting really is one of the easiest ways to cook. Put it in the oven, set the timer and forget about it.

  1. Preheat the oven according to the type of meat you’re roasting, and it’s weight.
  2. Place the roast on a rack in a roasting dish (if you have one). Raising the roast allows the heat to circulate, browning it evenly all over.
  3. Different meats require different cooking times per fixed weight. For ease and accuracy you can use a meat thermometer.
    4. Remove roast when cooked to your liking. Transfer to a plate and cover loosely with foil for 10-15 minutes before carving. Carve across the grain to ensure tenderness.

Guide to oven roasting times
(All ovens are different, so the below times and temperatures maybe be different for your oven)

BEEF

Temp

Rare

Medium

Well done

Rib eye/scotch fillet, rump, sirloin, fillet, tenderloin

180°C

15-20 mins

20-25 mins per 500g

25-30 mins per 500g

Silverside, blade, round, topside, eye round, oyster blade

160°C

20-25 mins

25-30 mins 

30-35 mins

LAMB

Temp

Rare

Medium 

Well done

Eye of shortloin/backstrap, lamb round or topside mini roast, lamb rump

200°C

15-20mins

20-25 mins per 500g

25-30 mins per 500g

Rack of lamb, four rib roast, crown roast

180°C 

20-25 mins total (regardless of weight)

30-35 mins total (regardless of weight)

40-45 mins total (regardless of weight)

Loin (boned and rolled), leg or shoulder (bone-in), easy carve leg or shoulder

180°C

Slow cooking tips

  1. Pre-warming your slow cooker is a good idea. It's like pre-heating your oven; having the food go in to a warmed slow cooker assists the cooking process. Pre-warm on low for 15 minutes without anything inside your slow cooker.
  2. Meat should be trimmed of any excessive fat before going in to the slow cooker. The fat won't 'cook off' as it would in an oven or pan and may make the dish taste greasy.
  3. Meat dishes using tougher or lesser cuts of meat will have nicer flavour and texture if they are simmered and not boiled. Cooking on low allows more time for the flavours to develop.
  4. Frozen vegetables do not require pre-cooking. Simply add them to your slow cooked meal 10 minutes before the end.
  5. If you wish to thicken any sauces or gravvies, add a little flour mixed to a smooth paste with a little water, stirred in at the end of cooking. Cook, covered on high for an additional 30 minutes.
  6. Ideal temperatures for meat cooked in a slow cooker are:
    • Pork - 71 degrees celsius
    • Lamb & beef (medium rare) - 55-60 degrees celsius
    • Lamb & beef (medium) - 60-65 degrees celsius
    • Lamb & beef (well done) - 70-75 degrees celsius

Tips for resting meat

Resting meat before you carve and serve is crucial. If you cut your meat straight out of the oven, you’ll find all the juices will run out and it won’t be as moist and succulent. Opinions differ on the best way to rest meat. You can take it out of the oven and leave it resting in the tray or pan covered with a tea towel or foil, or you can do what chef Neil Perry recommends and rest your meat in the oven. To rest your meat in the oven, turn your oven down as low as it will go and leave the door slightly ajar (a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius is optimum for resting meat).

As a rule of thumb, you should leave your meat to rest for half the time that you cooked it for; eg. if you cooked the piece of meat for 30 minutes, you should rest it for 15 minutes. Remember, your meat will continue to cook while it’s resting due to the residual heat inside, so always remove it from the oven before it’s cooked to your liking.

Recipe ideas

In each edition of The Free Range Butcher newsletter we include one or two of our favourite recipes. Click on the recipe links below to see more.