This has become fashionable way and I’m not sure why. Maybe it has something to do with a lack of time in an age when both partners tend to work for a living.

What I am certain about is that this is not best way to treat a prime roast. Nor does it ‘seal’ it. Let’s put this myth to bed once and for all.

Cooking meat at high temperature, whether in oven, on barbecue or in a pan does not seal it!

It burns it. That’s why it goes brown. And it introduces extra flavor, because outside of meat generally has a covering of fat. Fat is what gives meat it’s unique flavor.

However adding this crust to outside of meat will also speed up cooking of rest of joint, and reduce amount that remains rare.

It will not produce even finish you see in hotel and restaurant carveries.

To achieve that you need slow, low temperature cooking plus regular basting.

Basting is simply taking juices from bottom of pan and pouring them back over cooking meat from time to time. By doing this, and cooking at right temperature, you will produce far more succulent results. Browning will still take place, but gently, as part of a process.

Let’s look at basic method.

Do you use a roasting tin? Well don't.

It’s not a good idea to cook meat inside a roasting tin, because bottom of it tends to be sitting in liquid, much of which is water.

A much better way is to place joint directly on rungs of oven with roasting tin underneath it. In this way, you can pack vegetables in roasting tin and they will cook nicely in juices from meat.

A cork is essential, as it keeps oxygen out of wine bottle. If a bottle of wine is not airtight then it may become oxidized and undrinkable

Traditionally, only corks worth considering were those actually made of cork. Recently, however, many wine experts have recognized that cork may actually cause more problems than it solves.

Cork, due to its malleable nature may have imperfections; these can result in seal of bottle not being as airtight as it could be and wine being spoilt. In an attempt to avoid this problem, modern cork manufacturers may treat cork with a chemical called TVA. Unfortunately, this chemical can cause wine to taste and smell a little damp and musty.

Having said this, cork is able to expand to fully fill neck of bottle, which therefore, still makes it preferred option for special wines that need to be stored, over a long period of time.

Plastic corks are becoming increasing popular, of late. One of main problems associated with traditional corks is that wine becomes 'corked'. Plastic corks prevent this occurring. Great! I hear you say. However, there can be minor irritations with plastic corks. A plastic cork can sometimes be difficult to extract from bottle and virtually impossible to fit back into a half drunk bottle.