Braised Lamb With Anchovies, Garlic and White Wine

Not the most well-written recipe, but once I got it to work, it was delicious. For starters, no oil is listed, yet the direction is to brown the lamb. I used 2 T olive oil. The 2 cups of liquid was quite a lot for the 2 lbs of lamb, and the dish looked like a soup (nothing like the photo). The lamb was grey. I poured off the liquid and reduced it by 2/3rds, and re-browned the lamb in olive oil, added the reduced stock, and finally I had an edible, eye-appealing dish that my husband loved.

Crowd pleaser! It easily doubles and is forgiving. Some notes: -cast iron or enamel dutch oven ideal -used beef stock -browning: used salt and pepper, very little oil on the meat, none in the pan. Let it caramelize, don’t futz with it -use 1 whole tin of anchovies and dump the oil from the tin into the pan with the shallots and garlic so they have something to cook in -the anchovies are flavor bombs and will dissolve into the stock/wine so i started using two tins, dont worry about bones or bits

Browned meat heavily, then doubled shallot, anchovies, and garlic. Threw in some lemon wedges, which made the broth delicious fragrant and a bit lighter. Served with green beans over whole wheat couscous. DELICIOUS.

I browned the lamb in batches and decided I didn’t really need any extra oil. Brown it well to help it keep its color. Just season with pepper when browning. Depending on your cooking liquid there might already be enough salt in the braise from the stock. You can adjust later. It is saucier than the picture but as others said, it’s good. If you don’t like the final color, adjust with a little kitchen browning. I’m serving over orecchiette pasta mixed with spinach.

easy on the salt

Made with just 1 lb of bone in lamb shoulder, but used full amount of sauce. Maybe my stove cooks hotter, but in my Staub Dutch oven at a fairly low simmer all of the sauce cooked off within 1 hour 15 mins. Longer may have made it more tender, but the flavors were fantastic. Added the bones for to deepen the flavor. The seared lamb stayed brown. Wish had had some sauce left to mop up with bread! Next time will use more than double the liquid per lb of lamb.

Loved this dish. Listened to reviewers and made more sauce. For two lbs shoulder used 1 cup beef stock, 2 cups wine and about 6 anchovies. . Cooked at the lowest simmer I could make happen. I did the whole 2-1/2 hours. At first was dubious as there was so much sauce, but it cooked down (reduced a bit at end of cooking) and was fabulous with good bread. Great flavor. Don’t expect your results to look the picture. I actually think the photo looks like pork with no sauce. Embrace the sauce!

I made this with the 2 lbs as requested, it didn’t need any oil to brown to perfection as lamb shoulder is very fatty or should be. Used an entire can of anchovies, white wine and NO salt. I think you could use any wine you have handy. Delicious!

I made this with lamb leg cut into cubes - doubled the recipe and used 4 cups white wine and 2 cups veal demi-glace and one tin of anchovies. 2.5 hours at 325F and it was perfect. Delicious!

I added twice the anchovies, shallot and garlic bc I had a bit more lamb than what the recipe called for. I also browned the meat in a bit of olive oil. I read about the lack of color & it making too much sauce, decided to braise it in the oven instead, which solved the problem. It soaked up all of the liquid, but the meat was so tender you could eat it with a spoon. Next time will braise again but check halfway and add more liquid for sauce. Served with pearled cous cous and kale salad.

I've used this recipe as a jumping-off point many, many times now. I usually use bone-in lamb shoulder chops or lamb neck, skip the stock and reduce the wine to a syrup before finishing for a couple hours in a low oven. Delicious.

I think the Bittman braised lamb with prunes is better, but I had anchovies and didn't have prunes. Halved recipe (cooking for two) but kept amounts of anchovy and garlic. Used homemade chicken stock. Cooked in oven @ about 325 for 2.5 hours--easier to maintain temperature than on stove-top. Had to add more stock toward end. Tender and tasty but not as unctuous as the lamb with prunes.

Preferably beef, but chicken or vegetable could also work.