Persian Meatballs

I used to have a cigarette case exquisitely enameled with Persian riders pursuing a deer across an open plain. I have long since drunk it away but the image remains. If you don’t have access to sumac or white mulberries, use dried cherries, or at a pinch, raisins soaked in a little lemon juice. For antelope, use leg meat and roast the saddle, but for other deer meat, use whatever you have. I have used beef fat in deference to Persia’s Muslim state, but bacon fat will do.