Making the most of Meat

When I was young, my mother would start to cook our favorite Sunday dish—lamb or veal and potatoes in lemon sauce—on Saturday afternoons. She used to brown the meat and fry the potatoes on Saturday and then, on Sunday, she finished the dish by simmering the meat and potatoes together. To this day, the smell and taste of this dish brings back the best of my childhood memories, which are linked to leisurely Sundays, days of repose and recreation.

In traditional Greek cooking, meat is not everyday fare. Up until the late 1950s, most families ate meat no more than twice a week—but almost always on Sunday. Greece is a mountainous country, without large plains where cattle can be raised. The few cows that were kept in the villages were used to draw plows. People ate mostly lamb, kid, or pork.