Hot golden nuggets of roast potato make a roast dinner extra-special but it's essential to use the right variety. Maris Pipers are ideal but King Edwards are good too. Peel your potatoes and then cut into equal, fairly large pieces.

Put them in a bowl and leave under cold running water for a few minutes. Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add your washed potatoes. Cook until the potatoes are soft but not falling apart, then drain into a colander and leave to steam for a few minutes to remove as much moisture as possible.

Pour olive oil or goose fat into a roasting tray large enough to hold all the potatoes in one layer and put it in the oven (190°C). Give your potatoes a bit of a shake to roughen the edges up a bit and put them into the roasting tray, making sure that all sides are coated in oil. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour, turning every 20 minutes, until crisp and golden brown.

Crisp Yorkshire puddings erupting magnificently hot from the pan fully deserve their place on your plate. In days gone by, one large pud laced with gravy was served as a starter in the North, but smaller ones accompanying a roast dinner are more commonplace these days. The better your batter, the better your puds will turn out, but the real secret is the heat. Hot oil or preferably beef dripping is essential. Your batter should sizzle as soon as it touches the oil.

So, here goes: in a bowl, sift 250g of plain flour and add a pinch of salt. In a jug combine 150ml of milk and 150ml of water. Make a well in the flour and add 4 beaten eggs. Start adding the milk and water mixture to the flour and whisk until your batter has the consistency of single cream. Leave to rest for about 20 minutes. Grease your roasting tin with dripping or pour in a little oil and put into a very hot oven.

When the oil or dripping is hot, remove from the oven and pour your batter into the individual holes. If the batter doesn't sizzle, your oil isn't hot enough. Cook for twenty minutes until risen and golden brown. Try to resist opening the door during cooking, as your puddings will sink faster than a stone.

You can't have a traditional Sunday roast without proper gravy. It's like Morecambe without Wise. What's left in your roasting pan after you have removed your meat is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Pour off any excess fat, put the pan on the hob and turn up the heat.

Pour half a glass of red wine into the juices and start scraping all the stuck on caramelized loveliness off the bottom. Keeping the heat high and the juices bubbling, reduce to a sticky glaze, then add 500ml of stock and give it a good stir. Strain through a sieve into a saucepan and reduce by a third. Finally, add a tablespoon of ice-cold butter, stir it through and pour into a gravy jug.

If you prefer thicker gravy, you could add a tablespoon of flour to your pan juices before adding your red wine.

If you don't fancy beef, there are lots of alternatives. A leg of lamb roasted with garlic and rosemary is a real crowd-pleaser. Bash up some garlic, rosemary and sea salt in a pestle and mortar and rub it all over your lamb.

Chop up some carrots and an onion and put into a roasting tray with your lamb on top. Place into a 200°C oven and cook for about an hour and ten minutes (based on a 2kg joint), basting with the juices every twenty minutes or so. Rest meat for twenty minutes before serving with roast potatoes, steamed veg and mint sauce or redcurrant jelly.