Pilaw de Mouton à la Turque

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 5-quart (4.7-liter) cocotte or Dutch oven
• •3-quart (2.8-liter) saucepan with a tight lid
• •Wide 12-inch (30 cm) shallow serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose the spice

   If using saffron, crush the threads between your fingers and steep them in ¼ cup of the measured braising stock while you brown the meat. If using ginger, keep it dry for the sauce. Pat the mutton thoroughly dry, then season it with 1¼ teaspoons of the salt and all the pepper. A wet surface gives you grey meat and a weak fond; dryness comes first.

2. 2

   Build the brown fond

   Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a heavy pot over medium-high heat until its foam subsides. Brown the mutton in three uncrowded batches, turning each piece only after its first side has formed a deep bronze crust, then transfer it to a bowl. If the fond begins turning black, pull the pot off the heat, wait twenty seconds, and carefully add 2 tablespoons of the measured braising stock. Scrape that brown liquid into the meat bowl, wipe away any black specks, add a little of the remaining butter, and continue. Ça se rattrape. Black fond is bitter; brown fond is the foundation.

   Mutton releases more moisture than lamb. If liquid gathers in the pot, let it evaporate completely before expecting the meat to brown.
3. 3

   Make the tomato navarin

   Lower the heat to medium. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and three-quarters of the chopped onion, then cook for 6 to 8 minutes until soft and pale gold. Add the garlic and, if chosen, the ground ginger; stir for thirty seconds. Cook the tomato paste for 2 minutes until brick red, sprinkle in the flour, and stir for another minute. Whisk in the braising stock a little at a time, scraping up every trace of fond. If the flour clumps, stop before returning the meat and whisk firmly; stubborn lumps can be strained out and the sauce returned to the pot. Add the crushed tomatoes, any saffron infusion, the bouquet garni, the browned meat, and its collected juices.

4. 4

   Braise at a tremble

   Bring the sauce just to a simmer, then lower the heat and cover the pot with the lid slightly ajar. Hold it at a bare tremble until the meat is tender enough for a fork to enter with little resistance, about 75 to 90 minutes for lamb or 1½ to 2 hours for mutton. Stir from the bottom every twenty minutes. If the sauce is reducing before the meat softens, add hot stock a few tablespoons at a time; patience, not a hard boil, makes the shoulder tender.

5. 5

   Cook the pilaff

   Begin the rice when the meat is nearly tender and needs about thirty minutes more. Warm the pilaff stock in a separate pan or jug. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a lidded saucepan, add the remaining onion, and soften it without browning. Add the well-drained rice and nacrer it, stirring until every grain is butter-coated and looks faintly pearly. Pour in the hot stock, add ½ teaspoon salt, and stir once. Bring to a gentle boil, cover tightly, and cook over the lowest heat for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat without lifting the lid and rest for 10 minutes. If the rice is wet, uncover and set it over low heat for 2 minutes; if the centre of a grain is still hard, sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of hot stock, cover, and rest 5 minutes. Ça se rattrape.

   Once the stock enters, one stir is enough. Repeated stirring releases starch and turns a pilaff into something soft and clinging.
6. 6

   Correct the sauce

   Discard the bouquet garni and lift the tender meat into a warm bowl. Skim away only any clear excess fat, leaving the sauce's honest butter sheen, then boil the sauce for 5 to 10 minutes until it is nappant, thick enough to coat the back of a spoon while still flowing freely. If it becomes too tight, loosen it with a spoonful of stock; if it remains thin, keep reducing it without the meat. Return the mutton, warm it through gently, and taste for the remaining salt.

7. 7

   Build the border

   Fluff the pilaff gently with a fork. On a warm, wide serving platter, spoon the rice into a generous raised border, pressing it lightly against the platter's rim and leaving a broad well in the centre. Set the mutton inside and spoon over enough tomato sauce to pool around the meat without flooding the rice. Bring the platter straight to the table while the grains remain distinct and the sauce keeps its gloss. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Mutton is the source ingredient and gives the sauce a deeper, more savory character. Lamb shoulder is the honest home-market equivalent, but it is sweeter and tender sooner, so begin testing it after an hour.
• •Tomato must lead. Good canned whole tomatoes are preferable to pale fresh ones, and crushing them by hand leaves enough texture without turning the sauce into a smooth purée.
• •Choose ginger or saffron, never both. Ginger makes the sauce warmer and sharper; saffron gives it a floral, honeyed depth. The source treats them as alternatives according to circumstance.
• •A special ring mould is unnecessary. Shape the border with a broad serving spoon on a warm platter; the rice needs to frame the meat, not perform architecture.
• •A firm Cahors or a peppery southern Rhône red has enough structure for mutton and enough fruit for the tomato. Pour generously. La gourmandise n'est pas un péché.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomato-braised mutton can be made up to 3 days ahead. Cool it promptly, refrigerate it in its sauce, then lift away any hardened excess fat and reheat at a bare simmer. Add a spoonful of stock if the sauce has tightened.
• •Cook the pilaff close to serving. It may rest, covered and off the heat, for about 30 minutes, but do not assemble the border early because the rice will drink the tomato sauce and lose its distinct grains.
• •If the rice must be prepared earlier, cool it promptly and refrigerate it. Reheat it covered with 2 tablespoons of stock and a small piece of butter, then fluff before shaping.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 580g)