RECIPE - Leg of Lamb, Paraíba-style (Pernil de Cordeiro)

After yesterday's recipe for a shrimp cocktail first course, our three-recipe homage to Chico César continues with this substantial main course from the semi-arid interior of the state of Paraíba.

In the harsh scrub-and-cactus landscape called the sertão, only men, plants and animals that can adapt themselves to hot, dusty and dry conditions can survive. The people of this region are known for their toughness of character and for their stoicism in the face of conditions that would drive more sensitive souls to flee to more benign conditions along the coast. And the animals have to share the same conditions as their owners, so they too share their masters' characteristics.

One domestic animal that is perfectly at home in the sertão is the goat, and the original of this recipe probably was for a goat. However, as goat is not always easy to come by, and because some people don't like the strong gamy taste of goat, here the recipe is adapted for a leg of lamb.

Tomorrow we'll wrap up our three-recipe collection with a dessert from Paraíba.
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RECIPE - Leg of Lamb, Paraíba-style (Pernil de Cordeiro)
Serves 6

1 bone-in leg of lamb, about 3 lbs (1.5 kg)
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
3 bay leaves
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic,, crushed
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
2 Tbsp canned tomato pulp
1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp honey
8 medium boiling potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup unsalted butter,melted
chopped Italian parsley (for garnish)
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Season the lamb with salt and pepper to taste. In a small bowl, combine the wine, bay leaves, onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato pulp and mustard and mix well. Spread this paste over the entire surface of the lamb, then marinade the lamb, refrigerated, for 24 hours.

Preheat the oven tp 350F (180C). Remove the lamb from the refrigerator 30 minutes before beginning cooking. Put the lamb in a large roasting pan, and cover loosely with a tent of aluminum foil. Cook the lamb for 60 minutes, then remove from the oven, and baste with melted butter. Return to the oven, uncovered and let brown for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush with honey. Return to the oven, then again after 10 minutes, remove from oven and brush a final time with honey. Cover the roast with tin foil and let rest for at least 20 minutes.

Put the potatoes in rapidly boiling water and cook while the roast rests until they are just tender. Remove from the heat, drain thoroughly and reserve keeping warm.

Remove the lamb from the roaster and place on a large serving platter. Put the potatoes in the roasting pan and toss them in the roast's juices and sauce. Place them around the lamb on the platte,r, then pour the remaining sauce over all. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately, carving at the table.

Sorting out the Caprinae - Sheeps, Lambs, Goats and Kids

A few weeks ago, a group of friends, Brazilians and non-Brazilians alike, dined together at a well-regarded restaurant in Fortaleza by the name of Carneiro do Ordones. It's famous for the quality and number of its dishes featuring members of the Caprinae family of animals - that's to say in plain English, sheep and goats in all their varieties. Their menu claims more than 60 different dishes including one or another of these meats.

At the table, when presented with the multi-page menu featuring these 60+ dishes there was confusion among the diners as to the terminology used. No one, Brazilian or otherwise, seemed able to decipher exactly what the restaurant meant when one dish was described as including carneiro, another cordeiro, a third borrego, and others including bode, cabrito or capra. Clearly a bit of linguistic and gastronomic research was in order for Flavors of Brazil. (Incidentally, the group ordered a wide variety of dishes, notwithstanding not being sure exactly what the meat was in any particular dish, and the results were more than satisfactory. Carneiro do Ordones clearly knows its way around the Caprinae family and how its members are best served to hungry diners).

Zoologically, the Caprinae family of animals is divided into two sub-families, sheep (Ovis) and goats (Capra). Cularinarily, the same distinction between sheep and goats is maintained, although there are many similarities between the meat from both sub-families. They share a distinctive, strongly-aromatic flavor that people tend to either love or hate (most people aren't neutral about eating goats and sheep), and also share a similar nutritional profile - less fat, and hence fewer calories, than beef or pork, and a lower quantity of cholesterol as well. The strong flavor of their meat increases with age, and consequently, most people prefer to eat meat slaughtered at a young age than more mature and more strongly-flavored meat from older animals.

In English culinary terminology, meat from younger sheep is called lamb and from older animals is referred to as mutton. When goats are slaughtered at an early age, their meat is called kid, leaving the name goat for meat from older animals. After doing some research in Portuguese dictionaries and culinary guides, Flavors of Brazil discovered that Portuguese makes the same age distinction, though the terms tend to be more flexible and interchangeable.

Ovis aries

Carneiro is the proper name for meat from older sheep - mutton in English. It is also the Portuguese equivalent of ram, that is, the male of the sheep family. Carneiro comes generally from animals that were more than one year old at the time they were slaughtered and processed. When the animal is younger than one year, its meat is most commomly called cordeiro, although depending on the region of Brazil the terms borrego or anho might alternatively be used.

Capra aegagrus hircus

On the goat side of the family, the name of the meat depends on the age of the animal when it's slaughtered, just as with cordeiro and carneiro. When the animal is more than a year old, its meat is called bode and when it's younger, optimally around six months, it's cabrito or capra. In some areas of Brazil, particularly the northeast, the term bode is used for all goat meat, whether from a young animal or an older one.

RECIPE - Lamb Loin with Tamarind Sauce (Lombo de Cordeiro ao Molho de Tamarindo)

This recipe for rare-cooked loin of lamb with a sweet-and-sour tamarind sauce is the creation of chef Jeff Colas from Maison do Bomfim restaurant in the charming baroque city of Olinda in the state of Pernambuco. With a marvelously-preserved architectural heritage and brightly painted houses that line the steep cobblestone streets of the town, Olinda has long been an artists' colony and in recent years has become a favorite vacation spot for tourists whose interests go beyond beach, sun and sand. Many of the historic homes of Olinda have been turned into art galleries, artisan shops, inns or restaurants.

Olinda

Lamb isn't often seen on restaurant menus in Brazil - in fact in traditional Brazilian cooking goat sits in the place that lamb occupies in many cultures' culinary pantheon. But when you find it, it can be very good indeed. This dish pairs the meat with a sauce made from tamarind juice. The sharp acidity of the juice cuts the  fattiness of the meat, and the sugar softens its bite. Because the sauce is very rich (it uses dark beer as its primary liquid) and the lamb is too, it's best to serve this in relatively small portions and to accompany it with steamed vegetables rather than a starch.

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RECIPE - Lamb Loin with Tamarind Sauce (Lombo de Cordeiro ao Molho de Tamarindo)
4 portions

For the lamb:
3 Tbsp butter
2 invidual lamb loins, boneless
coarse salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste

For the sauce:
1/2 cup (100 gr) granulated white sugar
3/4 cup (200 ml) tamarind juice
3/4 cup (200 ml) dark beer
2 cups (500 ml) water
3 basil leaves
3 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 whole small chili pepper (jalapeno or serrano)
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In a medium sauce pan combine all the sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer the sauce for 40 minutes, or until it has reduced in volume by half. Remove from heat, discard all the solid ingredients, and reserve.

Season the lamb loins with the salt and pepper to taste. In a non-stick frying pan melt the butter and when it's hot and bubbling but not smoking add the lamb loins. Sear them on all sides over high heat, working quickly to turn them in the melted butter. Do not overcook - the lamb should be rare inside. When seared, remove from the heat, and reserve the loins, keeping them warm.

Bring the reserved sauce quickly to a boil. While heating the sauce, cut each lamb loin into thick slices. Plate the slices decoratively, then drizzle the sauce over them and serve immediately. Pass the remaining sauce in a gravy boat for those who wish more sauce.