Chef Isabel
Baifo Asado Canario
Baifo Asado Canario is kid goat barrado, rubbed with garlic, pimentón, vinegar, cumin, and oregano, then roasted gently before a sharp red mojo browns the edges and wakes the pan juices.
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Frite Extremeño
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Frite Extremeño is Extremadura's lamb or kid, fried hard enough to brown, then brought down slowly with garlic, bay, wine and pimentón de la Vera until the sauce turns red and clings.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Comfort Food
Easter
Weeknight
20 min
Active Time
1 hr 15 min cook•1 hr 35 min total
Yield4 servings
Frite Extremeño is Extremadura's lamb or kid, cut small, fried in olive oil, and then settled down with garlic, bay, wine, and pimentón de la Vera until the red oil clings to the meat. That is what makes it frite and not just another lamb stew: the frying comes first, and the sauce is short, dark, and forceful. No onion, no tomato, no pile of vegetables to make a blanket for it. The lamb has to speak.
The method that decides it is the pimentón. Brown the meat first, take the pan down, and let the paprika wake in the oil for only a few seconds before the wine goes in. Burn it and the whole pot turns bitter. Treat it gently and it gives that smoky red depth Extremadura is proud of, especially when the label says pimentón de la Vera.
If you're far from Extremadura, use bone-in lamb shoulder, neck, or rib chops cut through the bone; kid is lovely, but good lamb is the honest substitute. If the butcher can give you a small piece of liver, fry it and pound it into the majado, the mortar paste, for the old darker sauce. If not, use a slice of fried bread with the garlic and keep going. No hace falta haber pisado España. Pésalo, no lo adivines, and keep the simmer low. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Frite belongs to Extremadura, especially the sheep and goat country of Cáceres and Badajoz, where spring lamb or cabrito was cut small for a pan dish served around Holy Week and family feasts. It sits close to caldereta extremeña, but the character is drier and more direct: meat fried first, then finished with garlic, bay, wine and pimentón until fat and sauce meet. The pimentón de la Vera is the regional mark, made from peppers dried over oak smoke in the La Vera comarca and used because it keeps the taste of pepper long after the fresh season has passed.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
bone-in young lamb or kid, shoulder, neck, or rib
Quantity
1.2kg
cut into 4cm pieces
fine sea salt
Quantity
12g, plus more to taste
lamb or kid liver (optional)
Quantity
100g
trimmed
rustic bread (optional)
Quantity
25g
torn, only if omitting the liver
olive oil
Quantity
80ml
garlic
Quantity
1 head
cloves separated, lightly crushed, skins left on
bay leaves
Quantity
2
sweet pimentón de la Vera
Quantity
8g
hot pimentón de la Vera (optional)
Quantity
1g
dry white wine or vino de pitarra
Quantity
150ml
water
Quantity
200ml, plus more as needed
flat-leaf parsley leaves
Quantity
10g
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| bone-in young lamb or kid, shoulder, neck, or ribcut into 4cm pieces | 1.2kg |
| fine sea salt | 12g, plus more to taste |
| lamb or kid liver (optional)trimmed | 100g |
| rustic bread (optional)torn, only if omitting the liver | 25g |
| olive oil | 80ml |
| garliccloves separated, lightly crushed, skins left on | 1 head |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| sweet pimentón de la Vera | 8g |
| hot pimentón de la Vera (optional) | 1g |
| dry white wine or vino de pitarra | 150ml |
| water | 200ml, plus more as needed |
| flat-leaf parsley leaveschopped | 10g |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy cazuela or Dutch oven, 28-30cm
- •Mortar and pestle
- •Tongs or a slotted spoon
Instructions
- 1
Salt the lamb
Pat the lamb dry and season it all over with the 12g salt. Let it stand while you prepare the garlic and the majado ingredients. Pésalo, no lo adivines: that measured salt seasons the meat properly without leaving you chasing the pot at the end.
Bone-in pieces give the sauce body. If your butcher only has boned shoulder, use it, but cut it larger, about 5cm, so it doesn't dry out before the sauce is ready. - 2
Fry garlic and liver
Heat the olive oil in a wide heavy cazuela or casserole over medium heat. Add the crushed garlic cloves and fry them gently for 3 to 4 minutes, until golden in patches but not black. If using liver, add it and brown it for about 1 minute per side; if using bread instead, fry the bread until golden. Lift the garlic and the liver or bread to a plate and leave the flavored oil in the pan.
- 3
Brown the meat
Raise the heat to medium-high and add the lamb in a single layer, working in batches if the pan is crowded. Let the pieces fry until browned on several sides, 10 to 15 minutes in all. Do not rush this into a wet stew. The meat needs contact with the oil and the pan first, or the frite loses the thing that gives it its name.
- 4
Wake the pimentón
Return all the lamb to the pan and add the bay leaves. Take the pan off the heat, sprinkle in the sweet pimentón and the hot pimentón if using, and stir through the red oil for 15 seconds. The pimentón must perfume the fat, not burn; if it scorches, the sauce goes bitter. Pour in the wine at once, return the pan to medium heat, and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom.
Keep the wine measured and ready before the pimentón goes in. This is not a moment for searching the cupboard. - 5
Pound the majado
Squeeze 6 of the fried garlic cloves from their skins and put them in a mortar with the liver or fried bread, the parsley, and a pinch of salt. Pound to a rough paste, the majado, then loosen it with a spoonful of liquid from the pan. Stir this back into the lamb. Add the 200ml water, just enough to come about one third of the way up the meat.
- 6
Braise it short
Partly cover the pan, lower the heat, and cook at a quiet bubble for 45 to 60 minutes, turning the pieces now and then. Add a small splash of water only if the bottom threatens to catch. The lamb is ready when it gives under a fork, the sauce is short and brick red, and a rim of pimentón-stained oil shows around the edge.
- 7
Rest and serve
Take the pan off the heat and let the frite rest for 10 minutes. Taste for salt. Serve it from the cazuela with bread for the red oil, or with potatoes fried separately if you want a fuller table. The sauce should cling to the lamb, not flood the plate. Tal como se hace allí.
Chef Tips
- •Buy young lamb or kid if you can, with bone. Shoulder, neck, and rib are the useful cuts here; lean leg cubes cook dry and polite, and this dish is not polite.
- •Use pimentón de la Vera if you can possibly get it. If you must use another sweet smoked paprika, use a little less, about 5g, and know the sauce will be flatter. Do not use chili powder.
- •The liver is traditional in many Extremaduran kitchens because it thickens the sauce and makes it darker. If you can't get it, fried bread in the majado is the real home substitute, not flour.
- •This is better after it rests, and it reheats well the next day. Warm it gently with a spoonful of water if the sauce has tightened, then let the red oil come back to the surface.
- •Serve with torn country bread or potatoes fried apart from the meat. A young red from Ribera del Guadiana fits it well, but water and bread have carried plenty of frite in their time.
Advance Preparation
- •The lamb can be salted up to 12 hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Bring it out 30 minutes before cooking so it fries evenly.
- •The finished frite keeps for 2 days in the refrigerator. Reheat slowly, covered, with a small splash of water, then uncover for a few minutes so the sauce tightens again.
- •Do not add the pimentón early or make the majado days ahead. Both are best done in the pan, while the oil still tastes of garlic and lamb.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 245g)
Calories
560 calories
Total Fat
37 g
Saturated Fat
10 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
24 g
Cholesterol
210 mg
Sodium
1260 mg
Total Carbohydrates
5 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
46 g
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