As Strong As Soup

This recipe produces a rich sauce with some very tender, intensely-flavoured, shredded lamb. It takes a while to cook, but doesn't demand much effort.  The crucial aspect of the sauce is the sweet and sour balance that comes mostly from the combination of Marsala and vinegar. My ideal combination of vinegars in this dish is balsamic (unless you're rich, a cheap version will do in this case), sherry vinegar and a soft style of white wine vinegar, such as one made from Riesling wine. But I'm being annoyingly fussy, so just use what you have that's interesting but not excessively acidic. As for the Marsala, I use a dry style but they can vary quite a bit in just how dry they turn out to be. So, in short, be prepared to taste and adjust the flavours to your liking if they don't seem perfectly balanced. Although this doesn't produce a large amount of sauce, it's intense enough to serve 2 or even 3 people. Of course, you don't have to serve it with pasta, that...

As part of this year's project to uncover the recipes and styles of cooking that I've left out of this blog for inexplicable reasons, I wanted to include more of the food from the small bistros in France (and sometimes England) that I've enjoyed over very many years. So here's a version of poulet au vinaigre based on the simple, cheap but delicious lunches that I've enjoyed at small French bistros, bars and cafés. Poulet au vinaigre is a great classic that you'll find all over France and in many cookery books of French cuisine. The books will usually contain a refined, classic version of the dish which starts with a whole chicken and uses different cooking times for the various parts of the bird. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that but that's not what this recipe is all about. I'm recreating the sort of lunch served to large, communal tables in happy, friendly places in the north of France 20 or 30 years ago. Such places are still around if yo...