How to Cheat At Sunday Roast

English Sunday Roast is a favorite of mine and something I'm not that bad at cooking (when I make the effort). Here's respected Masterchef presenter and owner of Smiths of Smithfield restaurant, John Torode's guide to How to cheat at Sunday roast.

1. Simple roast beef
Get a good quality, big four-bone rib of beef, score the fat and salt it. Put it in the oven at 180C for two and a half hours, take it out and let it rest, covered, for half an hour. Delicious every time.

2. Perfect Yorkshires
While the meat is resting, use its fat for your Yorkshires. Pop a splash of fat into each of the moulds in a muffin tray and get it hot in the oven. You can use powdered mix, it works just as well, or you can make your own batter, but make it the night before. Make double the quantity, keep half back, clean the tray and put a little butter in each mould. After the main course, make another round, but this time, serve them sprinkled with icing sugar and some damson jam and ice cream.

3. Quick and easy gravy
Scrape the bottom of your roasting tin, getting up all the stuck-on meat, and pan juices. Put it on the heat and add half a handful of flour and some water. Then stir and stir and stir. At first the flour will go lumpy and look like wet breadcrumbs, but as you keep stirring it will turn into perfect gravy. Do not add red wine. Firstly, wine is for drinking. Secondly, wine stops the flour working properly.

4. Keep the oven door shut
Don't keep opening the oven door. Put the meat in. Keep the door shut until you put in your potatoes (an hour before you serve the meat). Take the meat out, turn the oven up to 210C to finish off the potatoes and don't open the door again until you put in the Yorkshires (about 10 minutes before you serve the meat). Get the fat for the potatoes hot before they go in the oven, and turn them in it thoroughly, then you won't need to keep basting them.

5. Steamed roast chicken
Season the outside of your bird and pour half a cup of water into the cavity. The chicken will steam from inside, so you should be able to cook it in 75 minutes at 200C, and it won't dry out. Lovely.

6. One-pot roast lamb
Thinly slice your potatoes, and half as much onion - enough to almost fill your roasting tin. Layer them in the tin with some butter. Stick a cake rack on top and put a seasoned leg of lamb on it. Rub a little olive oil on it. Pour half a mug of water over the potatoes. As the whole thing cooks, the potatoes will cook in the fat and juices from the lamb, making them very tasty.

7. Keep your veg hot
If your green vegetables are ready before everything else is, put them into a warm bowl with a knob of butter, covered, and they will hold hot for as long as 20 minutes.

8. Minted
However, who on earth hand-makes mint sauce? Buy it!