There are a few things that make a Sunday feel properly complete.
A lie-in. A walk that was supposed to be short. The gradual realisation that tomorrow is Monday. And, ideally, a roast dinner that requires very little effort on your part.
If you are looking for the best roast in Hitchin, our answer is Smokehouse Sundays at Craft and Cleaver.
It is a Sunday roast, but not quite as you know it. Our pitmasters take the traditional roast dinner and give it the smokehouse treatment, with carefully prepared meats, proper trimmings, triple-cooked roast potatoes and ofc, a big ole jug of gravy.
A Sunday roast with a smokehouse twist
The classic Sunday roast is difficult to improve upon. We are not here to argue with tradition.
We are here to add brisket.
Our Smokehouse Sundays menu features a choice of pitmaster-prepared meats, including:
- 12-hour smoked beef brisket
- Dingley Dell pork belly with cracklings
- Sweet-tea turkey crown
The brisket is served with horseradish ranch, the pork belly comes with cracklings and bacon-bourbon-apple butter, while the turkey crown is brined, smoked and basted with Louisiana butter.
So, yes, it is still a roast dinner. It just has a little more personality than the average plate of beef, potatoes and gravy.
Proper trimmings are not optional
A roast dinner is only as good as its trimmings.
You can have the finest meat in the country, but if the roast potatoes are disappointing, the whole thing starts to unravel. Nobody wants to spend Sunday afternoon quietly judging a potato.
Our Smokehouse Roasts are served with:
- Triple-cooked roast potatoes
- Yorkshire pudding
- Maple-roasted carrots
- Brussels sprouts with Louisiana butter, hot honey and pistachio crumb
- Fire Pit Gravy
There is also the option to add cauliflower cheese because some decisions are best made without hesitation.
And if you feel the roast needs a little more meat, a perfectly reasonable request, you can stuff your Yorkshire with smoked beef short rib. As is tradition, eh?
The Smokehouse Sunday Feast
If choosing one roast feels like an unnecessarily difficult decision, there is another option.
The Smokehouse Sunday Feast includes all of our Sunday meats, all the trimmings, a beef rib-stuffed Yorkshire pudding, cauliflower cheese and bottomless Fire Pit Gravy.
It is designed for a minimum of two people, which makes it a good choice for a proper Sunday lunch with family, friends or someone you trust not to steal the best bits.
The beef rib-stuffed Yorkshire pudding is exactly the sort of thing that makes a normal roast dinner feel slightly underdressed for the occasion.
Prepared by our pitmasters
The difference between a standard roast and a Craft and Cleaver roast starts with the meat.
Our Smokehouse Sundays dishes are prepared by our pitmasters, with the meats smoked fresh every weekend over cherry, maple and hickory wood.
The beef brisket is smoked for up to 12 hours, giving it the time it needs to develop its flavour and tenderness. The pork belly is served with crisp cracklings and a rich bacon-bourbon-apple butter, while the turkey crown is brined, smoked and basted with Louisiana butter.
It is still recognisably a Sunday roast. We have simply taken it somewhere a little smokier.
Something for everyone at the table
Not everyone wants the same thing from a roast dinner.
One person wants beef. Another wants pork. Someone else insists turkey is underrated. And someone just ‘isn’t in the mood for a roast’.
Alongside our Sunday roasts, the menu includes other smokehouse plates and vegetarian and vegan options, so the whole table does not need to agree on one particular meat before booking.
There are also half-size kids’ roasts available, making Smokehouse Sundays an option for family lunches as well as meals with friends.
Save room for dessert
A roast dinner tends to create a false sense of confidence.
You finish the main course, insist you could not possibly eat another thing and then immediately become interested when someone mentions dessert.
At Craft and Cleaver, the options include Burnt Basque Cheesecake with Guinness caramel, brownie and hot fudge sundae, brown butter pecan pie with vanilla gelato, affogato and house gelato or sorbet.
The pecan pie is particularly well suited to a Sunday afternoon. Rich, buttery and served with gelato, it is the sort of dessert that makes you consider whether going home is really necessary.
More than just a Sunday lunch
Smokehouse Sundays is not designed to be rushed.
It is for the sort of Sunday where lunch becomes an afternoon, where the table orders another drink and where nobody is particularly interested in checking the time.
You can come for the brisket, stay for the gravy and finish with a game of shuffleboard. Or simply enjoy the roast and head home feeling that Sunday has been handled properly.
Either way, it is a much better use of the day than spending several hours deciding what to cook.
Book your Sunday roast in Hitchin
If you are searching for the best roast dinner in Hitchin, come and try Smokehouse Sundays at Craft and Cleaver.
Our Sunday roasts are available from midday, subject to availability, and are prepared by our pitmasters every weekend. The current menu and availability can be checked through our Smokehouse Sundays menu.
You can also book a table at Craft and Cleaver Hitchin and get your Sunday plans sorted before someone suggests cooking at home.
