Cooking the perfect roast dinner: The top tech to elevate Sunday munch, from air fryers to smart ovens

You’re at the pub. You're two pints in, the gastro kitchen aromas are making first contact with your tastebuds, and the conversation turns. “No limits — what’s your favourite meal?” Some would say something Italian, or something French. A Happy Meal, even.

For me, the answer is simple, and always has been: a Sunday roast.

I think, at least in part, this has to do with roasts being a key fixture in my family from a young age; heading over to Granny’s house at the weekend for a delicious roast cooked by her – anyone who dared to help would be shooed away – was a happy, warm time, often literally.

As I’ve grown into adulthood, roasts have remained a key part of autumn, winter, and spring — even the less climate-changed summers. The freedom to choose more varied meats, try new ways of cooking roast potatoes, and experiment with red wine gravies is heaven.

That’s the thing about a roast: there are endless possibilities and combinations, all of which yield something familiar and homely. Pork with crackling is, I think, everyone can agree, a very different meal from a homemade nut roast. Beef and chicken roasts? Also very different. And don't get me started on potato consistency.

But here’s the rub: cooking a roast is hard. Some people, like my Granny, have decades of experience, making the timings and intricacies second nature; the ability to juggle six pots and pans is innate after a certain length of time. For hungry mere mortals like myself, however, something else, something more is needed.

Want to take some of the guesswork out of cooking the perfect roast? Here's a few top techy-tips to bring that gastro pub experience to your home.

1. Splurge on an Air Fryer for perfect spuds

By now, everyone is familiar with the joys of an air fryer – having been preached to at every opportunity by Air Fryer Heads – just as most became familiar with the convenience and ease of a dishwasher in the 2000s.

Finding the right tech to help make a roast, a meal people have happily been making since at least the 15th century, is something of an art. You ideally want to retain the essence – standing over the hob, juggling a few things at once – to imbue the meal with a sense of satisfaction and achievement, but there are marginal gains to be had here.

The first gadget-based upgrade to your roast game has to be an air fryer. Yes, I was just slightly mean about evangelists of this appliance, but unfortunately, you do have to hand it to them: having a countertop oven is a game-changer, and your chips (fries to our American friends) will never be better.

Chips, of course, are not a part of any self-respecting roast, but the air fryer is a versatile beast and can help with all manner of roast food inputs, especially roast potatoes. My, do I love roast potatoes. In fact, is there anything tastier?

Without digressing into a whole essay on roast potatoes – suffice to say: use cornflower to make them extra crispy – an air fryer is very much capable of crisping your roasties to perfection. The Philips Air Fryer 5000 Series is the apex model right now, with asymmetrical draws, three cooking modes, and steam cleaning.

For those with a more conservative amount of counterspace, the Instant Vortex Digital is a single-drawer model with easy-touch controls. I’m looking at mine right now and thinking about how well it does roast potatoes; it’s that good.

Really, you can’t go wrong here: air fryer technology is such that roast potatoes can be made to your exact preference in moments (well, probably more like minutes), and you’ll have space in the oven for things like roasted veg, or Yorkshire puddings, or stuffing, all of which benefit from cooking at lower-than-roast-potato temperatures.

Smart Oven

Speaking of ovens, getting a smart oven could be 2025’s clutch move, and the Bosch Series 8 comes with fancy features like a digital control ring, an app, voice control, an Oven Assistant, and “4D Hotair”, to intelligently move the air around for better coverage. This is particularly important for cooking meats, taking the guesswork out of wether or not your pork's innermost juicy bits are primed culinary perfection, or a date with the bog.

Samsung is also in the smart oven game, and the Samsung Series 4 is one of the best budget models on the market (relatively, at least), offering “dual flex” temperature zones, SmartThings Cooking to recommend recipes, and a Pyrolytic Cleaning system to burn off grease, which could be useful after a particularly adventurous roast.

Must-have gadgets: Beef + Bluetooth = Bliss

Moving away from appliances, cooking gadgetry is at an all-time high, with an array of smart widgets to help make sure everything is the perfect temperature and the right weight.

The Thermapen RFX takes meat temperature monitoring to a professional level, and while it might be overkill for some, being able to monitor the temperature of your beef via Bluetooth is pretty nifty. Other cheaper options like the ThermoPro TP603 also do the job.

Getting the right quantities can make or break a roast, especially if you under-budgeted and portions are less than bulging. The OXO Good Grips is the best smart scale on the market right now and includes a nifty pull-out display, ideal for measuring food in large bowls.

Finally, and perhaps saving the most important until last: timing. A good roast and a great roast are separated by moments, and keeping track of everything can be a big job. To help, the OXO Good Grips Triple Timer Kitchen lets you set three timers at once and comes with a lanyard to keep it on you at all times.

The main thing to remember is to have fun and indulge; no one wants a half-hearted roast with low-fat ingredients. Practice makes perfect, and while tech can be helpful, getting a sense of what you like – crispy roasties, fluffy yorkshires, glazed carrots, roasted parsnips – is the most important and fulfilling aspect.

Tech will make your life easier, but there’s a reason people have sat and enjoyed a roast for over 600 years: community, family, harmony, and delicious food. Go and enjoy it!

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