Beyran Çorbası

Ingredients

• 800 g bone-in lamb neck
• 1 whole head of garlic, plus 6 cloves
• 150 g short-grain baldo rice
• 100 g butter
• 2 tbsp Turkish red pepper paste (biber salçası)
• 2 tsp Aleppo pepper flakes (pul biber)
• 2.5 litres cold water
• 1½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 2 lemons, cut into wedges

Before you cook

• Rinse the lamb neck under cold water and pat it dry.
• Slice the whole head of garlic in half across the middle, leaving the skins on.
• Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then drain it.
• Peel the six extra garlic cloves and crush them to a paste with a good pinch of salt.

Steps

1. Put the lamb neck in a large pot with the halved head of garlic and cover it with the cold water.
2. Bring the pot to the boil and skim off the grey foam that rises to the surface.
3. Turn the heat right down, part-cover the pot, and simmer for two and a half to three hours, until the meat slides off the bone.
4. Lift the lamb out onto a board and strain the broth into a clean pan, discarding the spent garlic.
5. Pull the meat off the bones in shreds, discarding fat and gristle.
6. Simmer the rice in 500 ml of the strained broth for twelve minutes, until just tender, then drain it.
7. Set four small metal saucepans over a high heat and divide the butter between them.
8. Add a spoonful of pepper paste, a pinch of Aleppo pepper and a share of the crushed garlic to each pan, and stir for thirty seconds until it sizzles.
9. Divide the shredded lamb and the cooked rice between the pans, then ladle in enough hot broth to cover generously.
10. Boil each portion hard for two minutes so the butter and paste emulsify into the broth and turn it glossy red.
11. Season with salt and black pepper, then pour each pan into a deep bowl.
12. Serve at once with lemon wedges and extra pepper flakes on the side.