GASTRONOMIC ROUTES

LAMB ROUTE

One can almost travel the route accompanying the Master of the Order of St. James as he travelled the countryside to visit the Order’s many enclaves and interests in the south of the province of Badajoz.

These were lands in which the Romans, Arabs and old Christians wove a network of uses and customs that are as intertwined and combined as they are difficult to define. The same occurred with the smells and flavours of the cooking pots boiling in the country kitchens, so full of nuances that guessing their origins would be impossible within the combination of the different cuisines. The cuisine is fundamentally lamb, born on the slow route of the herds of sheep that grazed in the infinite, harsh lands of the district.

The cuisine of shepherds who roamed from place to place, seeking herbs or stubble fields under the sun or in the cold.

Cuisine of long silences or communal cauldrons, yet simple, honest and authentic. It would be difficult to find a cuisine to have worked lamb with so much variety and skill, in both roasts and stews.

Of course, the countryside has its caldereta (casserole) that requires fatty lamb that is cut into small pieces, salted and fried with whole garlic, onion and bay. Once browned, it is generously doused with dry white wine, adding a tablespoon of paprika and another of flour, allowing it all to cook slowly and lovingly, without any hurry. When the meat is tender yet whole, a "machao" with a few grains of black pepper, fried garlic, morrón pepper, fried liver and plenty of olive oil is added, allowing it all to cook for around fifteen minutes.

Following this ritual should give an excellent caldereta, like almost all those on offer in the local restaurants. This master recipe does include nuances, however, and it can be said that every village and almost each home has its own magical touch for this lamb stew, which might range from almonds to mint or choricero peppers.

As well as lamb, the route offers many other gastronomic possibilities, particularly in terms of large game and pork.

Llerena is one of the enclaves of traditional Extremadura cuisine, with its famous golden soups or miller’s soups with cumin and chilli, stewed hare, partridge with sage, Inquisition-style rabbit and the sweets from the Convent of Las Clarisas.
Usagre is home to excellent mushroom casseroles and Campillo de Llerena is famous for its rabbit gazpacho that they call "galopeao".

A watercress soup can be tasted for starters in Azuaga, followed by cochofro and finally almond soup. Berlanga has a great lamb cochifrito.

To be tried in Usagre is the shepherd’s gazpacho and in Casas de Reina the jerimoje matancero, salad with stew and pork livers. Finally, in Valverde de Llerena you can taste an unbeatable stuffed partridge that is then preserved in oil.

Since the recent creation of the Specific Designation "Cordero de Extremadura" (Corderex), the quality control of these meats for consumption and, therefore, the consumer guarantee is ensured.