How to Make Butter-Shaped Lamb for Easter Dinner

Easter, considered the most important religious holiday among Polish communities throughout the world, is celebrated with many traditional dishes and customs. As often happens within a country's borders, the list of traditional foods served on Easter varies from region to region.

For Chef Ron Bulas, owner of Cap'n Ron in Charleston, South Carolina, a traditional Polish Easter would be incomplete without having horseradish and beets, kielbasy, kielbasy soup, Easter ham, baranek wielkanocny, slices of babka, Easter cheese and intricately decorated hard-boiled eggs known as pisanki.

Most, if not all, of the ingredients used to prepare the dishes eaten on Easter are placed into a basket, which is lined with white or lace, and taken to the church on Holy Saturday to be blessed. The blessing of the basket, which is called Swiecone in Polish, dates back to the 14th century.

Initially, only a baked lamb made of bread was carried to the church to be blessed. The number of items gradually grew from one to seven as church leaders set out to reconcile pagan and Christian beliefs so that more Poles would join the Christian faith.

The baranek wielkanocny, or butter that has been shaped into a lamb, signifies Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. Although this is a Polish tradition there is no reason why other Christian cultures can't incorporate it into their Easter menu as well.

According to Chef Bulas, better known as Cap'n Ron, the method for making baranek wielkanocny in the traditional way without modern day molds is not as complicated as you might think. Give Cap'n Ron's a recipe a try and see what you think, at the very least you will have quite a pretty conversation starter when you and your guests sit down to eat.

Ingredients:

1 or 2 pounds salted butter that has been well chilled.

4 Whole Cloves

Method:

1. Unwrap butter and place on serving plate. Sculpt butter, using a thin pointed knife and your hands if necessary, into a lamb, reserving any unused butter for the fur you will be making in the following steps.

2. To make the fur, working with the butter you've shaved off the block or if necessary a second block of butter, push chilled through a small metal sieve. Be careful of the temperature. It should be quite cold and a little hard. While you're working with it, you will probably have to put it in the freezer for a couple of minutes every once in a while. If this butter gets too warm, it will come through the mesh and not be separated. So you will probably need to chill the butter in the freezer for a few minutes while you clean the sieve in between making the fur shavings.

3. Using a knife carefully lift the sieved butter from the backside of the sieve and place it carefully around the neck and base of your lamb. Repeating the sieving and layering of the chilled shavings until your lamb is fully dressed.

4. Finally, place the cloves where the eyes, nose, and one rear hoof would be located.

Source:

Recipe provided personally by Chef Ron Bulas