Construction site style sheep pastrami
... around this time of year, sheep should be frightened!
The imminent, mass consumption of the new production of wine, drives almost the whole of Romania to a lust for meat. In centuries over centuries of nomadic life on the pastures, the average Romanian shepherd discovered that the salty, sheep meat he has been keeping outside in order to "get some wind" (drying the meat) goes very well with the very young, red wine. We call it "tulburel" and it means "the one that is not yet clear". So when referring to wine this attribute would mean that the wine is so young that it still is unclear and still holds particles in suspension. It barely aged enough so that it gets to be an alcoholic drink that we already drink it and in the process, we take some sheep with us too.
Setup
On a construction site, the day can be hard. Especially if things are at the level of heavy lifting, concrete pouring, bricklaying. I don't work on the site but I happened to be there at the end of the working shift, right as the guys were finishing up the last touches of the day and because the opportunity of a sheep pastrami has risen there was no way they would let it go. Or me who had to stay and taste it.
There's enough wood on the construction site of a house. These small pieces of wood that can't be recycled from the sheathing of concrete when it's being poured make for a great source of a fire.
Iron in order to make a simple frame and hang the cauldron? Nothing easier. Bend some iron bars that are left from the reinforcing of the foundation and insert them in the ground at about 20 centimetres. Light it up and watch it burn while also heating the cauldron at the level that the fat from the pastrami is going to boil.
The occasional shed, constructed in order to have the site organisation there, can at times serve as a great outdoor kitchen for preparation of everything needed in order to have some sort of a picnic. If there's somebody around that can be the cook, lunch is going to be interesting and sometimes even dinner, in the long, summer evenings.
It's a handmade cooking appliance heaven here if you are looking from the "chef's" point of view. There's always something improvised and something that you wouldn't normally treat it as a kitchen tool but hey! we are on a building site and a guy has to make out with what it has.
"Sheeping"
You usually take the pastrami semi-prepared. It is usually already dry, spiced up and salted just enough. That's if everything's right with the product you bought. There's always the harder way: sacrifice the sheep, chop up the right piece of meat, spice it up and dry it (mature it). But unless you are a passionate guy when it comes to cooking, that part is really on the butcher's territory so finding a good source for your pastrami here in Romania, is more or less gold.
The pastrami is chopped up in about 2 centimetres cubicles and thrown in the pot together with some water, thyme and some bay leaves. As it starts to boil, you also start to stir. There's also a very important aspect that is taken into account: the heat. It has to be enough to make it boil but not enough to make it boil too fast. Can't really tell you where one ends and the other starts. It may take even 2 hours to cook this baby, adding water up to the final boils when you will replace water with wine. Red wine that is.
That wine is going to get into those exterior layers of the meat and is going to form a nice, shallow, soft crust that is going to both take away the nasty sheep smell (if there is any) and bring a wine aroma on it. Not a light meat, that's a sure thing but in this combination of cooking the result can be very tender and flavoured. If everything is cooked also in the atmosphere of a construction site, our "sheep pastrami" is one of the best local things we cook when we have two hours to spare, stirring in the pot.
You should have it with some pickles. I recommend the small cucumbers, pickled in salty water, with spices and everything else. Much better combination than the ones in vinegar. Of course, if some polenta is around then it shouldn't be turned down.
We had none, only some grilled peppers in vinegar, a small side dish that the guys had already prepared since around the noon so it soaks up the juices.
Taking pictures of this "feast" came in as a natural thing. There are portraits too but you know me already... I don't share very often faces of people around me. I keep things impersonal most of the times but I like to capture the centre of the gathering.
This time it was the cauldron.
Posted also on my blog www.ddma.ro, a place on the world wide web where I'm trying to promote Steemit, my writings and my country. In that order. I post through the @steempress-io plugin and I make my life easier (writing and formatting in Wordpress is much easier than on steemit.com or busy.org)
i'm getting hungry! :) hehehh