Mastelo of Sifnos

The mastelo is traditional food of Sifnos and has taken its name from homonymous clay utensil "Mastelo", one of the special ceramic utensils for which the Sifnos. It is a conical utensil without a lid, with a narrow bottom and a wide opening, which looks like a flowerpot.

In this particular recipe, which is Traditional dish of Lambri, vines are laid on the bottom and play the role of grill - since the meat rests on them - but also to give it their special aroma.

They used to put a lot of meat, now they share it.

The taste of meat primarily due to the animals, the lambs that live freely and eat the wild grasses and shrubs of the island! The meat is marinated in a bowl in local wine - some people prefer white wine, because red claims to blacken the meat. Vines at the base and then a layer of dill, a layer of meat, a dose of dill, etc. etc. At the end we pour a glass of wine.

The meat used to be baked in the wood oven, in the mastella, they took it on Holy Saturday and received it on Sunday noon. Now in modern kitchens it is baked for close to six hours, so much so that the meat melts and falls off the bone. If we use a hull, clay or not, we cover it with its lid and seal its lips with dough (which we make with flour and water), so that the delicious water vapors do not escape and it functions as a sous vide (the old people knew something), otherwise the traditional mastelo that did not have a lid was covered with a couple of sheets of oil glue, which were tied to the rim of the utensil with a strong, wet string (we wet it so that it does not dry and burn during baking).

The mastelo of Sifnos, due to raw material, utensil, cooking and natural landscape is perhaps the most delicious and most lustful meat dish in Greece!