Agnello alla Cacciatore Abruzzese

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg young lamb (abbacchio preferred), jointed: shoulder into 5–6 pieces, ribs cut singly
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 40 ml white wine vinegar
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 3 cloves garlic, left whole or lightly crushed
• 4 peperoni cruschi (dried sweet bell peppers), rehydrated in warm water, drained
• 1 tsp dried hot chilli flakes, or 1 small dried peperoncino, crumbled
• to taste fine sea salt

Method

1. 1
   Place the jointed lamb pieces — shoulder and single-cut ribs together — in a wide, heavy-based pot or terracotta casserole over a medium-high flame. Add no oil. Allow the lamb to render its own fat and brown on all surfaces, turning frequently. The pieces are ready to proceed when they are deeply coloured on every side and the fat beneath each piece is visibly liquid and fragrant.
2. 2
   Pour in the white wine. Allow it to reduce almost entirely, stirring and scraping any residue from the base of the pot, before adding the vinegar. This sequence — wine first, vinegar after its near-evaporation — prevents a harsh raw-vinegar note from dominating the sauce. Continue over a medium flame until the vinegar's sharpness softens and the liquid reduces to a few tablespoons. The smell shifts from sour-sharp to mellow and wine-sweet.
3. 3
   Reduce the heat to low. Add the rosemary sprigs and chilli. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and braise the lamb in its own rendered fat and reduced juices, turning every 10 minutes to ensure even contact with the hot pot surface. Use minimum additional liquid — none unless the pot threatens to scorch. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies: the braise must remain dry and concentrated, never stewing in pooled liquid; the lamb must be turned on schedule so no surface burns while others steam.
4. 4
   At 15 minutes before the estimated end of cooking, add the whole or lightly crushed garlic cloves. Late addition preserves their aromatic freshness; garlic added at the outset would become acrid over the length of this cook. The pot should smell of roasted lamb, rosemary, and sweet raw garlic beginning to soften.
5. 5
   In the final 10 minutes, add the rehydrated peperoni cruschi, torn into large pieces. Extended cooking renders them bitter; 10 minutes is sufficient to warm them through and allow their sweet dried-pepper depth to enter the sauce. The dish is done when the lamb yields readily to the pressure of a finger — no resistance at the joint, connective tissue fully relaxed — and the remaining liquid in the pot is a thick, almost syrupy reduction of lamb fat, wine, and vinegar.
6. 6
   Taste and correct for salt. Serve directly from the pot with sliced grilled bread to mop the concentrated juices.