Time and Temperature for Roasting a Topside of Beef Joint from Flawless Food
We demonstrate how to roast a topside beef joint to perfection. A lot of flavor is added during cooking with beef stock to make a delicious beef gravy to serve with your tender roast beef slices and all the sides.
Cooking time calculations and tips for rare, medium, and well done beef joints of various sizes are provided.
Serve tender beef slices for Sunday roast dinner or as an alternative to turkey for Christmas.
Roasting topside beef in the oven is the best way to prepare it. For an example of how to roast, see the quick slideshow below.
If you want to roast a 1.2kg topside beef joint medium-rare, go straight to the recipe card.Continue reading if you want to see calculations for different sizes or if you want it cooked rare or well done.
Topside beef is a relatively inexpensive joint that works well for roasting. Fairly lean, with some fat left on top to keep it moist while cooking.
An extra layer of basting fat may be applied to your topside joint to keep it tender. The one we used in this blog post did not work. It is hit-or-miss.
Getting the beef roasting joint ready
Remove the roasting joint from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for about an hour before cooking. This prevents uneven cooking and results in more juicy roast beef.
We use onions and carrots as a trivet to sit the beef on top of to prevent too much heat from coming from the bottom of the roasting tin. We also add garlic, thyme, and water at the end.
The vegetables and herbs are not thrown away; they flavor the water, which also collects the beef juices during cooking.
This will be used to re-baste the topside roasting joint halfway through cooking and as the foundation for a homemade beef gravy.
Do you cook a beef joint with the netting attached?
If your beef roasting joint has netting or string wrapped around it, keep it on during cooking to keep the joint in shape and help it cook evenly.
To allow the fat to melt into the joint, the thin layer of fat should be facing up.
We like to make a paste to rub over the beef for added flavor and color. This straightforward paste is made from olive oil and a stock cube.
Apply this to the topside beef. It's easiest to rub it in with your hands. Finally, season with freshly ground pepper.
Should I cover the roast beef while it cooks?
Cook topside beef with foil to prevent the outside from cooking faster than the inside and to lock in moisture in the same way that pot roasting does during slow cooking.
The time will vary depending on two factors: the weight of the joint and whether you prefer it rare, medium, or well done.
Before roasting, preheat the oven to 160°C Fan / 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4. For more information, consult our Oven Conversion Table.
To help you figure it out, I've included the roasting time for a few common-sized beef joints.
Very bloody and pink
As seen on the blog, blushing pink
Only a tinge of pink
Brown, with no pinkness.
Mark 4 gas
minutes
minutes
minutes
8 minutes
minutes
minutes
5 minutes
20 minutes
minutes
minutes
15 minutes
32 minutes
minutes
10 minutes
30 minutes
50 minutes
10 minutes
30 minutes
55 minutes
20 minutes
Is your joint size not listed? To calculate the cooking time for a topside beef joint, multiply the weight of the joint by the cooking time for the desired doneness.
350°F / 4 Gas Mark
Basting
Halfway through cooking, bast the beef with the liquid from the bottom of the tray.
Browning
Remove the foil for the final 10-25 minutes (depending on doneness), baste again, and allow the topside beef joint to brown.
Beef Resting
Remove the netting and rest the beef for at least 30 minutes after removing from the oven, covered loosely with foil, for the best results.
The remaining heat will finish cooking the topside beef joint while allowing the juices to cool and redistribute. Eventually leading to juicy, tender slices of roast beef
One of the most common causes of dry, tough beef slices is carving too soon.
When the beef is carved too soon, the juice runs out, so let it rest before carving. During this resting period, I usually prepare my roast dinner side dishes. As a result, it has about 50 minutes to rest before carving and is still warm.
Carving
With no bones and little fat, topside beef is simple to carve into thick or thin slices with a large sharp knife.
The joint in these images is number one. We cooked 5kg Topside beef from Tesco's for 1 hour 15 minutes for a medium-rare result.
How to Make Beef Juice Gravy
After removing the beef, you will have a delicious stock made from the water, beef juices, vegetables, garlic, and herbs.
Pour the cooking juices into a saucepan after passing them through a sieve. If desired, skim some fat from the top.
To thicken the beef stock, whisk together cornflour and water before adding it to the liquid. After that, add a beef stock cube and bring to a boil.
Brown the gravy to give it a richer, deeper color. This is optional, and the gravy will still taste delicious without it.
If it still looks runny after boiling, reduce to a simmer and stir occasionally until thickened.
Depending on how thick you want it, you may need to add more cornstarch.
You can also add 100ml of red wine to the gravy for extra richness.
How to Serve Roast Topside Beef
You should also make our Yorkshire puddings, honey roast parsnips and roast potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and mustard or horseradish sauce when serving beef for your Sunday roast dinner.
Serve with our red cabbage and roasted brussels sprouts, carrots and parsnips as a Christmas alternative to turkey.
Storage
Leftover beef can be safely stored in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container, foil, or cling film.
Leftover beef slices are ideal for sandwiches or a cold meat platter the following day.
Reheating
When reheating beef, I recommend slicing it first and heating it long enough to heat through.
To keep the beef slices moist when reheating in the microwave, reheat them in the gravy. Avoid overheating them as this will cause the meat to dry out.
- 1 large Onion Halved
- 1 Large Carrot Divided into three
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 4 Sprigs Thyme de Provence
- 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Stock cube Knorr or Oxo?
- 1.5 kg Beef Topside
- 500 ml Water
- The roasting tray juices
- 3 tablespoon Cornflour
- 3 tablespoon Water
- 1 Stock cube Knorr or Oxo?
- 6 drops Optional browning
- 1 hour before roasting, remove the beef from the refrigerator. Remove the packaging after 1 hour; netting or string should be left on during cooking. Using a few pieces of kitchen roll, pat the beef dry. Preheat the oven to 160°C Fan/180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
- Place the vegetables and herbs in the roasting pan.1 medium onion, 1 medium carrot, 4 garlic cloves 4 fresh thyme sprigs
- Crumble the stock cube into the oil and combine to make a paste.1 cube of stock, 2 teaspoon Olive Oil
- Apply the stock paste to the beef joint.
- Rub the stock and oil all over the roasting joint with your hands. Sides, top, and bottom Place the beef on top of the vegetables, fat side up. So that it does not come into contact with the roasting tin's base. Season with black pepper to taste.
- Do not pour 500ml of cold water over the beef in the roasting tin.
- Wrap the entire tray in aluminum foil. Preheat the oven to 160°C Fan / 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 1 hour and 10 minutes The cooking time given here is for one person. 5 kg medium-rare cooked See this blog post for cooking times for smaller or larger beef joints, as well as roasting times for rare, medium, or well-done meat.
- Baste the joint halfway through cooking time with tray juices.The roasting tray juices
- Remove the foil and baste once more before roasting uncovered for the final 10 minutes. (Times may vary depending on how well done you want your beef.) )The roasting tray juices
- Remove the beef from the tray and discard any netting or string.
- Wrap the beef loosely in foil. Allow the beef to rest for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer.
- Cook all of the other side dishes and gravy while the meat is resting.
- Pour the liquid from the baking tray into a saucepan through a sieve.The roasting tray juices
- Combine the cornflour and water, then whisk the liquid into the saucepan.3 tbsp Cornflour, 3 teaspoons water
- Browning is optional for a richer color.Browning 6 drops (optional)
- Bring to a boil while whisking, then reduce to a low heat and leave to thicken.
I hope you've learned everything there is to know about roasting a topside of beef. Please leave a comment below if you have any questions or to tell us how delicious and tender the beef was.
Other Recipes for Roast Dinner
Other roast dinner recipes you might enjoy include our Boneless Rolled Rib of Beef, Slow Roast Lamb Leg, or Lamb Shoulder. We also have recipes for Roast Gammon and Small Roast Turkey, which aren't just for Christmas.
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