This guide explains how to use the Meaty Times roast calculator and serve-at planner.
Getting started
- Open the Meaty Times web app.
- On the main Roast details form, choose your meat type and enter the weight in kilograms.
- If Doneness appears, select how you would like the joint cooked.
- Tap Calculate to see roasting instructions.
- Optionally, use Serve at below the results to plan clock times around a target serving time.
No account or sign-in is required.
Selecting meat types
Meaty Times supports five common UK home-roast joints:
| Meat | Doneness selector | Typical weight range (kg) |
|---|---|---|
| Beef | Yes — Rare, Medium, Well done | 0.5 – 15 |
| Lamb | Yes — Rare, Medium, Well done | 0.5 – 10 |
| Pork | No — cooked through | 0.5 – 12 |
| Chicken | No — cooked through | 0.8 – 8 |
| Gammon | No — cooked through | 0.5 – 10 |
Weight must fall within the allowed range for the selected meat. If your joint is outside the range, the app shows a validation message — try the nearest supported weight or split very large joints.
Why is doneness hidden for some meats? Poultry, pork, and gammon must be cooked through for food safety. Meaty Times does not offer underdone options for those meats.
Cooking temperature guidance
Results are shown as numbered steps. Depending on the meat, you may see:
- Single-temperature roast — one oven setting for the full cooking time (for example pork, chicken, and gammon at 180°C).
- Two-phase roast — start at a higher temperature, then reduce the oven for the remaining time (beef and lamb).
Each step states the oven temperature in degrees Celsius and how long that phase lasts.
Food safety
- Always use a meat thermometer to confirm safe internal temperatures, especially for poultry and pork.
- Meaty Times provides home-cooking guidance based on published sources; it cannot account for every oven, joint shape, or starting temperature.
- When in doubt, cook a little longer and verify with a thermometer.
Timing calculations
Timings are calculated from the weight you enter:
- Per-kilogram rules — each meat type uses a minutes-per-kg rate appropriate to that joint.
- Doneness adjustments — for beef and lamb, Rare cooks for less time than Well done; Medium is the baseline.
- Resting time — shown separately and included in Total preparation time (cooking plus resting).
- Limits — very short or very long calculated times are capped to sensible minimums and maximums for home roasting.
Reading the results
After you calculate, you will see:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Roasting instructions | Ordered steps with temperature and duration for each phase |
| Total cooking | Time the joint spends in the oven |
| Resting time | Time to rest after removing from the oven before carving |
| Total preparation | Cooking plus resting — useful for planning the whole process |
Serve at planner
Once you have results, the Serve at section lets you work backwards from when you want to eat:
- Choose a date and time for serving.
- Tap Plan.
- Review the schedule milestones:
- Start cooking
- Reduce temperature (only when a two-phase roast applies)
- Remove from oven
- Resting begins
If the serving time is too soon — for example, you would need to have started already — the app warns you and may show the earliest possible serving time instead.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an account?
No. Meaty Times does not require registration or login.
Is my data saved?
The calculator does not store your roast details or personal information. Each calculation is handled for that session only.
What units does Meaty Times use?
The current version uses kilograms for weight and degrees Celsius for oven temperatures. Imperial units may be added in a future release.
Can I use Meaty Times offline?
The app is a web application and may need a network connection depending on how it is hosted. This documentation site is fully static and works offline once loaded.
Are the times guaranteed to be perfect?
No calculator can guarantee exact results for every oven and joint. Treat the output as reliable starting guidance, verify with a thermometer, and adjust based on experience.
Why does my serve-at time show a warning?
The total preparation time may be longer than the time remaining until your chosen serving time. Pick a later serving time or start cooking earlier.
Where do the cooking rules come from?
Rules are based on publicly available home-cooking guidance (for example BBC Good Food and NHS food-safety recommendations). Sources are documented in the open-source project for contributors who wish to review or improve them.
Something looks wrong — what should I do?
Please open an issue on GitHub with the meat type, weight, doneness (if used), and what you expected versus what you saw. See Support for more options.