SC - duck / pig
Seton1355@aol.com
Seton1355 at aol.com
Fri Feb 25 18:52:40 PST 2000
Tonight's dinner was from _Libro de Guisados_. It was pretty good, though I
can see several things I'd do differently next time.
Source: Ruperto de Nola, _Libro de Guisados_ (Spanish, 1529)
Translation: Lady Brighid ni Chiarain (Robin Carroll-Mann)
ADOBADO DE CARNERO -- Pickled Mutton
You must take breasts of mutton; and cook them in a pot with your salt ; and
when it is almost half cooked, remove it from the pot, and cut them to pieces
the size of two fingers; and then gently fry it with bacon fat; and then take
honey and all spices, and put it in a little pot, and take hard bread grated and
cast it inside of that honey and the spices; and let there be a greater quantity
of cinnamon than the other spices; and the take the best broth of the pot and
cast it inside; and then the fat which shall be necessary, according to the
quantity of the bread and the meat; then cast in a good cup of white vinegar
because the sauce of this pottage is desired to be sweet and sour; and cook
all this: and while it boils cast in the meat with a little saffron, because this
sauce is desired to be deep in color; then prepare dishes of the said pottage,
and upon them cinnamon, however you should cast in pears; and quinces
which should be cut and have first been brought to a boil; and set them on the
meat.
Redaction comments:
I'm not going to post a formal recipe, because this is still a work in progress.
The only lamb breast I could find in my local supermarket was a 1-1/2 pound
package with the rib bones still attached. Looking at the recipe, it seems to
expect 1-inch cubes of boneless meat. Would getting boneless leg work for
next time? I can get that at a reasonable price.
I put the lamb in salted water that just covered it, and simmered until half-
cooked, about 20 minutes. I assume thicker meat would require a longer time.
Meanwhile, I rendered the fat from a strip of bacon in a frying pan. I removed
the lamb from the pot, reserving the liquid, and cut the ribs apart. I fried the
meat in the bacon fat over medium-low heat until well-cooked (half an hour?).
In a separate pot, I heated the sauce. I kept adjusting the quantities, but what
I ended with was:
3 cups lamb broth
1/4 cup honey
2 TBS white vinegar
6 TBS dried plain breadcrumbs
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
salt and pepper to taste
I brought the sauce to a simmer, then added the lamb ribs and a pinch of
saffron. For reasons of personal health and aesthetics, I did not add more fat
to the sauce. I let it cook while I fixed the side dishes (plain white rice and
asparagus), until the saffron had released its color, the sauce was thick, and
the meat tender. I cheated and garnished the meat with canned pears (juice-
packed, drained, and rinsed). Verdict: easy and tasty.
Because I wound up diluting the sauce with more broth to get the flavor
balance right, I had much more sauce than I needed for such a small amount of
meat. That quantity of sauce would be enough to accompany 2 pounds of
meat cubes.
Although bacon fat is the traditional fat used for meat-days, it does not lend a
noticeable taste to this dish, and on other occasions I might use lard or oil if it
seemed convenient.
Next time I would definitely prefer boneless meat with less fat attached. Will
substituting leg of lamb for the breast meat work? I believe I have used
boneless leg for stew-type dishes in the past.
Also, does anyone know if crumb-thickened sauces can be successfully
refrigerated and reheated? If so, this strikes me as a good candidate for a
cook-in-advance dish.
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
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