Ternasco de Aragón Asado

Ternasco de Aragón Asado is Aragón's roast lamb, made with recental lamb: older and meatier than lechal, still young enough to be tender, with the fine fat that keeps it juicy in a hot oven. It belongs to Aragón by the lamb itself, not by a sprinkle of herbs. Potatoes underneath, garlic, white wine, olive oil or a little manteca, and the lamb's own juices. That's the dish.

The method that decides it is the liquid in the pan. You give the potatoes enough wine and water to soften and catch the fat, but not enough to boil the lamb. The top must roast, the bottom must baste. If the pan is dry, the potatoes scorch before the meat is done; if it is flooded, you get boiled lamb with a guilty tan. Keep the liquid shallow and baste now and then. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.

If you can't find IGP ternasco, choose a young bone-in lamb shoulder, not old lamb with a strong smell and not milk-fed lamb so tiny it cooks like another dish. It will taste a little deeper and may need another quarter hour, but the method holds. No hace falta haber pisado España. In my Margin beside this one I wrote only: "poco líquido," little liquid. It saved more roasts than any clever trick.