HUNTER'S LAMB - Old recipe

Serves 6 people:

1 kg Lamb

1 tablespoon Lard

Salt & Pepper to taste

½ clove garlic

Pinch of rosemary

Sage leaf

½ tablespoon flour

½ small cup vinegar

Some water for cooking (if needed)

Three anchovies

Take 1kg of lamb, preferably the thighs and the kidney meat. Cut it into medium sized pieces, as you would for a veal stew or the like, each piece weighing about 40 – 45g. Then wash and dry the pieces of meat. 

Take a frying pan, add the lamb pieces together with a spoonful of lard, and brown the pieces over a hot flame. 

Season with salt and pepper and keep the pieces of lamb moving so that they all brown evenly. When the meat turns a lovely brown color, add the chopped garlic, a large pinch of rosemary (you can use it whole or chopped) and a chopped sage leaf. 

Leave to brown on a hot flame for a little while longer, then coat the lamb pieces in ½ a spoonful of flour. Mix with a wooden spoon, then add to the pan half a cup of vinegar, filled to the top with water. Stir it well, making sure it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. 

Cover the pan with a lid and let the mixture simmer for about 15 minutes. If the water level at any point gets too low, just add little more water a spoonful at a time. 

In the meantime, wash and fillet the fish and place in a pan with a spoonful of the lamb sauce, then mash into a pulp with a wooden spoon. Pour the anchovy pulp into the frying pan when the lamb is just about ready. Leave the flavors to diffuse for one minute, then pour the lamb in its sauce into a serving dish. 

The sauce should be quite thick and dark, not too runny and should envelope the pieces of meat. 

The dish

One could say that lamb plays a very important role in the Roman tradition. There is probably no other city that eats as much lamb as Rome does. One of the most famous, most tasty and most characteristic Roman food preparations is Hunter’s Lamb (Abbacchio alla Cacciatora). It is a succulent dish, full of flavor, a dish to which only a wine of equal distinction should be added. Its flavor is delicate but intense. Lambs meat does not contain much fat (about 2.7g per 100g).