More sheep

Just over a week ago, it felt that it was time for a Sunday roast again, after something of a gap. As far as I can tell from the record, the last one was roast chicken, back to the second half of August, noticed at reference 4. A long time ago - although there were at least two roast oxtails and one go at Spanish pig since then. Not exactly Sunday roasts, but tendencies in that direction. And if we disqualify the second half of August on account of the absence of proper photographic record, we have to go back to pork at the end of July, noticed in the first half of August at reference 1.

Shoulder of lamb on the present occasion, which weighed in at almost exactly 5lbs, so rather smaller than they have been of late, that is to say around 6lbs. After some palaver we decided on 2 hours 30 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 180°C, including resting.

Taken with mash, cabbage, roast parsnip and gravy. The gravy made with the stock from the oxtail noticed at reference 2. Despite all these attractions, BH had to make a bit of an effort to wean one of the party off her carrot sticks.

The gravy was made by frying up a bit of flour in cooking oil, then adding the jelly and mashed potato from the oxtail event, plus a little water. Plus a little more water which had been stirred into the bottom of the roasting pan to pick up some of the goodies there. All simmered up together to produce a mid brown, reasonably thick gravy. Some sieving. Very good it was too.

The scene at forks down. The meat was a little damp and a little cool to my taste and I think I would have liked it better had it been rested in the oven, rather than under a cloth on the kitchen table. But the others seemed to think it was fine.

Washed down with one of the bottles of Chardonnay taken from Nicolas on the occasion noticed at reference 3. I can't find the producer, but there are plenty of dinky wine shops which sell it: 'The Chardonnay grapes for this floral, juicy and well rounded wine come from the actual village of Chardonnay, where the monks of Cluny started making wine in the 16th century'. We rather liked it.

In fact, it is one of those wines about which there seems to be a conspiracy of silence. The place on the bottle, La Chapelle-de-Guinchay, certainly exists and it is in the right part of France, a little to the south of Mâcon, snapped above. But it is not that near Chardonnay, about the same distance to the north of Mâcon. And neither Bing nor Google admit to a suitable producer. Is it just a brand name used by the local co-op of small producers?

For dessert what I think was a blackberry and apple sponge pudding, slightly damaged due a topping out event in the top oven, to where it had been displaced on account of the shoulder below. While top right was more interested in yellow pot custard with sprinkles and was not inclined to wait.

Most of what remained of the lamb well down well, with much the same accompaniments, a day or so following. All complaints about needing a bit more cooking having faded away. And what remained of the gravy did very well too. Odds and ends of meat snacked a few hours later. Odds and ends of fat put out for the birds. I can't remember whether the crows or magpies got there first - while the cats don't seem to bother. Even to chase the crows and magpies.

PS: returned to the charge Tuesday morning. No trace of either 'enracines' or 'enracinés' in any of the blogs or the blog archive. Never being very sure about the what has happened in the past or happens now about accents. Further search online turns up reference 5 which appears to be a Canadian farm shop with extra services - based at a place called Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon maybe 50km north of Montreal. Then asking Google for 'enracinés vin' hits the jackpot with reference 6, an association of nine domains spanning both the Bordeaux and Burgundy wine growing areas, with 'Les Enracinés' being one of them. Presumably the association offers the member domains various central facilities and services. One of which looks to be selling the wine of their members into Japan. Next time I am in that branch of Nicolas I shall have to ask about them: the sort of counter hands who might actually know.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/08/a-festival-of-pork.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/11/second-oxtail-of-2021-2022-season.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/11/turk-out-of-czech.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/09/camera-free-chicken.html.

Reference 5: https://enracines.ca/.

Reference 6: https://www.terroirs-et-talents.fr/en/domaines/les-enracines/.

Reference 7: https://www.terroirs-et-talents.fr/.