Kid Gambellara Style, or Cavreto de Gambellara: According to Amedeo Sandri, Gambellara is known for two things: Its wines, and stewed kid, which is marinated, shaped into a ring, put whole in a large copper pot, slowly cooked atop a wood-fired stove. The result is nicely browned, but also extraordinarily tender. Mr. Sandri instead prefers to spit roast his kid, burning hardwood to obtain the coals that supply the heat. To serve 8:
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Ingredients:
- A milk-fed kid, not more than 50 days old (one could also use lamb)
- Olive oil
- Three large, juicy lemons
- Black peppercorns
- Bay leaves
- Sage
- Rosemary
- Garlic
- Salt
Preparation:
The kid must be whole, with head and feet, and should still have both heart and liver in the cavity. Wash the animal inside and out with cold water and dry it well. Finely mince a handful of sage leaves with two large cloves of garlic, the leaves from a sprig of rosemary, and a 3-inch (7.5 cm) strip of lemon zest (yellow part only). Add a teaspoon of salt to the mixture, mix well, rub the mixture into the kid, both inside and out.
Put the kid in a container just large enough to hold it, and pour three cups of olive oil over it. Squeeze the lemons, filter their juice, and add it to the kid, together with 3 bay leaves and six to eight peppercorns. Cover the container with a fine cloth and marinate the meat in a cool place (not the refrigerator) for two days, turning the meat twice daily.
Come cooking time, remove the kid from the marinade, drain it well, and spit it. Set the spit in front of the flames, with a leccarda (drippings pan) under it to catch the drippings, and cook it until it is golden brown outside, and perfectly tender inside. While the meat is cooking, baste it with the drippings from the pan or the marinade as you prefer, and when it is almost done drop several coals into the drippings; they'll produce puffs of smoke that will confer a smoky taste to the meat.
Serve it immediately upon removing it from the spit, on a bed of lettuce, and with cut lemons as garnish.
A note: Mr. Sandri doesn't give a cooking time. It will be on the order of several hours, and exactly how far to put the meat from the coals is something you will learn with experience. You may want to start with a quick burst of heat to crisp the skin and then spread the coals to reduce the intensity of the heat, though I have also seen people start with the animal further from the coals and gradually move it towards them. Keep in mind that overly intense prolonged heat will cook and dry out, or even burn the outside before the inside is done. Also, do not set the spit over the coals, but rather before them, and over a drippings pan that will catch the drippings you can then use to baste the meat.
A wine? Red, Merlot dei Berici
Put the kid in a container just large enough to hold it, and pour three cups of olive oil over it. Squeeze the lemons, filter their juice, and add it to the kid, together with 3 bay leaves and six to eight peppercorns. Cover the container with a fine cloth and marinate the meat in a cool place (not the refrigerator) for two days, turning the meat twice daily.
Come cooking time, remove the kid from the marinade, drain it well, and spit it. Set the spit in front of the flames, with a leccarda (drippings pan) under it to catch the drippings, and cook it until it is golden brown outside, and perfectly tender inside. While the meat is cooking, baste it with the drippings from the pan or the marinade as you prefer, and when it is almost done drop several coals into the drippings; they'll produce puffs of smoke that will confer a smoky taste to the meat.
Serve it immediately upon removing it from the spit, on a bed of lettuce, and with cut lemons as garnish.
A note: Mr. Sandri doesn't give a cooking time. It will be on the order of several hours, and exactly how far to put the meat from the coals is something you will learn with experience. You may want to start with a quick burst of heat to crisp the skin and then spread the coals to reduce the intensity of the heat, though I have also seen people start with the animal further from the coals and gradually move it towards them. Keep in mind that overly intense prolonged heat will cook and dry out, or even burn the outside before the inside is done. Also, do not set the spit over the coals, but rather before them, and over a drippings pan that will catch the drippings you can then use to baste the meat.
A wine? Red, Merlot dei Berici
