One of my dearest food memories of Spain was in May 2013, I was coming to the end of a ten-day road trip with my friend Shaw, and we knew we’d stop for lunch in the famous wine region of Ribera de Duero in Northern Central Spain, before arriving in Burgos city for the night. Duero is the plateau’s river and the red wines match the fame of Rioja region, both of Tempranillo grapes and certified as ‘Denominacións’ of origin.
The gloriously sunny day was getting on and I used my smartphone in the car to find a recommended restaurant, famous for roasted suckling lamb or lechazo, a renowned dish in the region. As I read the online reviews about the succulent slow-roasted milk lamb, cordero lechal I was suddenly very excited!
I called ahead to reserve a table and we’d arrive just in time before last lunch service, which given how late the Spaniards dine was pretty tardy!
I chose Restaurant Asador El Lagar de Isilla, meaning ‘the roasthouse of the winery of Isilla’, on the street of the same name, in the town of Aranda del Duero, smack in the centre of Ribera de Duero.
We parked nearby and then got lost trying to find the street on foot! Time was ticking, melt-in-your-mouth lamb and perfectly matched local red wine was calling! I had to phone again to get walking directions and we
We parked and got lost on foot and were so relieved to see the waiter waving from the front door. We walked into the pale stoned building into a long typically Spanish bar of dark timber and overhanging legs of cured ham.
It was full of antique wine-making memorabilia and old photos. The word ‘lagar’ in the Restaurant’s name also means winery meaning to press and is represented by the large long tree trunk hung over the main bar.
As we entered one of the two large dining rooms, in pride of place on the right, was the impressive dome-shaped wood-fired oven or horno de leña. On the wall proudly hung a painted tile declaring the Association of roasthouses of suckling lamb of Castille and Leon. We were in excellent hands. The anticipation was palatable.
A TRADITIONAL SPANISH FEAST
The 35 Euro menu ended up being three courses including half a bottle of house wine and coffee and a digestive liqueur to finish!
We were in for an amazing few hours and luckily we were famished. The red wine served was Crianza, oak barrel-aged for one year. The label described the wine as blackberry and currant with a background of dark chocolate with spices of vanilla and cinnamon. Bring it on. The large room was cozy and a few Spanish groups still filled the room. The walls had traditional decor that suited the Asador’s historical worth with old elaborately-framed oil paintings and green-glass bottles. Wooden floors and furniture with attractive white tablecloths. I was transported back a century or two.
Several classic Spanish dishes came out first, showcasing the asador with grilled pieces chorizo long as your thumb and twice as thick (pincho de chorizo), and grilled red capsicum strips with canned anchovies and tuna (ensalada de pimentos asados con anchoas y con bonito).
The star of the meal the lechazo lamb, a quarter of the animal with a side of simply dressed crunchy pale cos lettuce. It was an abundance of meat for the two of us even though the menu recommended the quarter be shared by two. Those Spanish servings are renowned for generosity. It really was the taste of a lifetime. Wood-fire roasted for almost two hours at 200 Celsius. The most tender lamb meat I’d ever tasted, as the leg bones fell away and the thin crispy skin seasoned only with salt was so special. The suckling lambs are usually a month old so you can see why the meat is such a local delicacy.
In true European tradition, only three kinds of meat sheep breeds are certified for this special dish. Churra is the preferred of the region. Lamb has been wood-fired for thousands of years in the Iberian peninsula, especially for spiritual events, and in more recent historical times even the Arabian Moors did so, which is why the haunches are roasted in unglazed red clay dishes or cazuelas.
We were totally stuffed by dessert course not wanting to leave any precious morsel. Two fluffy squares of puff pastry layered with 2 creams and crushed peanuts (tarta de Hojaldre con crema y nata) was too pretty not to taste. Gratefully washed down with a rich cafe cortado, espresso with a dash of milk which would help us feel less lethargic in our sublime food comas. Finally to complete the lunch menu a digestive spirit was in order, and the waiter brought over a round wooden stand straight from the freezer, icy and housing three flavoured liqueurs of white brandy of Northern Spain, aquardiente de orujo blanca. Drinking it cold in nip glasses reduces the burn of the strong alcohol content.
WINE CAVES BELOW
After a euphoric and utterly sated dining experience we realised the restaurant had wine caves beneath! What a treat! Once we had rested post-feast and the restaurant was empty except for us. The bar man signalled us to go down and explore the dug out wine caves by ourselves which made it even more thrilling! We climbed down 59 steps of pale stone surrounded by curving low walls, smiling like mischievous children until we reached several cave rooms at 12 metres below ground. These caves were excavated over the 13th and 14th centuries by finding the veins of sandstone in the harder surrounding rock. In times gone past the wine would be fermented and bottled and aged in this cool, protecting environment. It was wondrously cool and quiet down in the rock caves, approximately 12 Celsius and I could see why the tradition came about in sunny Spain. Today we could just see a cellar and some old fixtures, the current winery is 18 kms out of town and also has a hotel. In 1903 this cave winery no longer used traditional wine-making methods. The wine wasn’t bottled in glass bottles until 1929. Before then, the wine was brought up manually for people at the street front.
As we climbed out we noticed a tiny miniature replica of how the wine used to be crushed above ground using the giant tree trunk as long as 10 men, now hanging over the bar, it crushed grapes that would go directly down a large hole. There was also a map on the wall showing not only this wine cave but many dug out all over town! I couldn’t help but think that in a future where the world may be inhospitable, the people of Aranda del Duero will live like kings in their caves with their wine, perhaps like Arab Sultans. I’d have liked to have camped out a while myself and sampled more Ribera de Duero wines, but we departed Burgos before the sun set in the Valley of the River Duero.
RECIPE - Castile and Leon style roasted young lamb leg
INGEDIENTS AND UTENSILS
The smallest leg of lamb or quarter lamb, you can find.
(1.5-2 kg leg of lamb is most common in Australia, the front quarter will be more tender)
ground sea salt
smoking hard wood chips such as hickory or ironbark
1 cup of water
clay or ceramic baking dish
aluminium foil or small aluminium tray to hold chips
closed gas barbeque
SOURCING MILK FED LAMB
This recipe is inspired by the suckling milk lamb of the famous roasthouses of Ribera de Duero, Castille and Leon, Spain. Their churra sheep is an ancient Iberian breed and the only other breed that is similar is American Navajo Churro. In Australia, it isn’t easy to find milk fed lamb meat as young as in Castile and Leon of 21 to 30 days old and has only been fed on its mother’s milk. By Australian standards, most lamb is approximately 4 months to one year old depending on the breed and cannot have permanent incisor teeth yet. In Australia, you can find young lamb meat of 2 and half months old but rarely smaller. It will likely have been put to pasture with its mother, whereas in Spain this is not the case, at least for the renowned suckling lamb lechazo dish. For sensitive palates, the meat will taste different from the pastures but will still be a juicy, tender and roasted triumph. Therefore, this recipe is using most common Australian lamb slow-roasted on a closed gas barbecue (such as a Weber Q) rather than in a wood-fired oven. This is so almost anyone can have a go. The use of smoking chips is to replicate the smoked wood-fired taste.
STEPS
Take the lamb leg out of the fridge to bring the chill off and light the closed gas barbecue to preheat to the lowest temperature which is about 250 Celsius. Ideally you want to roast at 160-200 degrees which is why the lid will be opened every 15 minutes over the cooking time.
To prepare the lamb on the bone, pat the skin dry, trim any large pieces of fat but leave a thin layer, and rub with ground sea salt. Lamb can be seasoned with many other flavourings, however, because the version in Castile and Leon only uses salt, I remain true to this.
Spread out half a cup of the wood chips in a small aluminium tray about 10 cm wide. Make your own from foil or a barbecue tray. The surface area of the chips on the base help the smoking amount.
Pour one cup of water in the lamb dish and place in the centre of the Weber grill. Place the smoking tray beside it over the flames. When you close the lid the barbecue temperature will show a drop in temperature to about 160 degrees, set your timer for 15 minutes.
Every 15 minutes for 3 hours, open the Weber lid to bring the heat down. You may not see much smoke from the chips but this is fine. Add more water to the lamb tray as needed to keep the meat moist.
At the two hour mark you can remove any pieces that are not thick with meat like the shin. Check the shin meat’s smokiness and leave the chips in or out of the closed barbecue depending on your taste. I leave them in. As long as the meat doesn’t dry out you can’t really overcook it.
The goal is the bone pulls away easily. You can use a utensil to scrape the meat to see if it pulls away. Then remove and rest under a loosely fitted layer of baking paper and aluminium foil. The paper stops the foil touching the salty skin which will change its taste. The pieces near the bone will be pale pink and most closely resemble suckling lamb of Spain.
Serve with your favourite salad or vegetables. In the Castile and Leon region, I was served a simple, pale and crunchy cos lettuce (also called romaine) salad dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. Match with a young Tempranillo red wine such as Ribera del Duero Crianza.