Chanfana da Lousã

Ingredients

• 2 kg goat or mature lamb, shoulder and leg, cut across the bone into large pieces
• 1.2 litres full-bodied red wine (Bairrada or Dão)
• 2 whole heads of garlic
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika (colorau)
• 100 g pork lard
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 2 tbsp coarse salt
• 1 dried red chilli
• 800 g boiled potatoes, to serve

Before you cook

• Ask the butcher to cut the goat across the bone into pieces about 6 cm across.
• Rinse the meat and pat it dry with kitchen paper.
• Slice each head of garlic in half across the middle, leaving all the skins on.
• Crack the peppercorns roughly in a mortar.
• Rub the meat all over with the coarse salt, paprika and cracked pepper.
• Pack the seasoned meat into a deep clay pot or heavy casserole, bones and all.
• Tuck the halved garlic heads, bay leaves and chilli in among the meat.
• Dot the lard over the top and pour in enough red wine to cover the meat completely.
• Cover the pot and leave it in the fridge for at least four hours, or overnight if you can.

Steps

1. Take the pot out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for one hour.
2. Heat the oven to 160C.
3. Cover the pot tightly with its lid, or seal it with a double layer of foil.
4. Bake it for three hours without opening the oven door.
5. Uncover the pot and check the meat; it should be falling away from the bone at a nudge.
6. Return the pot to the oven uncovered and bake for another forty-five minutes, until the surface darkens and the wine reduces to a glossy, almost black sauce.
7. Tilt the pot and spoon some of that sauce back over the pieces on top.
8. Taste the sauce and add salt only if it needs it, since it has concentrated a great deal.
9. Let the chanfana stand out of the oven for twenty minutes before serving.
10. Serve it straight from the pot with boiled potatoes and plenty of bread for the sauce.