Leg of lamb w/ a crown of garlic from perigord

8 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
5 pounds Leg of lamb
Salted water
1½ ounce Goose fat; or
1½ ounce Butter
50 Garlic cloves; peeled
3 tablespoons Armagnac; or
3 tablespoons Brandy
55929 7. Typed by Heiko Ebeling.
1 cup Sauternes; or
1 cup Montbazillac; or
1 cup Other sweet wine
Salt
Black pepper; freshly ground

Directions

Blanch the lamb by putting it in boiling, salted water for 15 minutes.

Drain the leg and dry it well with absorbent paper or a clean cloth.

Melt the fat in a large, deep casserole. Add the lamb and brown it all over. Put the garlic cloves around the lamb. Pour over the Armagnac or brandy and set it alight. When the flames die down, add the wine and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover the casserole tightly, using foil to make a perfect seal. Cook over very low heat for 5 or 6 hours, turning the meat over every 2 hours. Serve the lamb on a large dish with its cooking juices and place the garlic around it in a circle. This dish is traditionally served with pureed haricot or broad beans or a dandelion salad.

French name: Gigot Perigourdin a la Couronne d'Ail. This wonderful dish appears in various parts of France under different names. The long slow cooking removes any slight bitterness from the garlic and it becomes a vegetable - tender, golden brown nuts of delicate flavour. It is a dish for midsummer, when the young garlic is still tender and juicy, its fat stalks coloured with green and purple streaks, its skin silky.

Source: Jane Grigson (ed.): The World Atlas of Food. A Gourmet's Guide to the Great Regional Dishes of the World. Mitchell Beazley Publishers 1974. This edition: Spring Books, London 1988. ISBN 0 600 Submitted By HEIKO EBELING On 05-14-95

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