On the heat. Hot

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg lamb flap / brisket pieces
• 2 lamb trotters, split
• 200 ml cassareep (or 150 ml molasses + 2 tbsp soy + 1 tbsp Worcestershire as a stand-in)
• 3 cinnamon sticks · 8 cloves
• 2 hot peppers, whole
• 1 strip orange peel
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp thyme · salt
• Plait bread or rice, to serve

Method

1. Brown the lamb hard in a heavy pot. Trotters in.
2. Cassareep, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and thyme in with water to just cover.
3. The whole peppers laid on top, unbroken.
4. Lid on, lowest heat, 3½ hours, until the flap is falling and the trotters are translucent.
5. Lid off for the last 30 minutes to reduce to a dark, thick, almost lacquered sauce.
6. Rest overnight if you can. Traditionally a pepperpot is kept, reboiled daily and added to for days — the cassareep is a natural preservative.

Cook's note. Cassareep is bitter cassava reduction and there is no true substitute. The molasses-and-soy stand-in gets you close enough on colour and depth to be worth making.

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