SC - Recipe: Sweet and Sour Lamb

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

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