Ecuadorian lamb stew {Seco de borrego}

This Ecuadorian lamb stew, also called seco de borrego or cordero, is cooked slowly in sauce of beer, wine, garlic, cumin, achiote, oregano, peppers, onions, cilantro, parsley, tomatoes, and other spices. Secos are a type of stew and are very popular in Ecuador and other South American countries; these yummy stews are usually made with beef, goat, lamb or chicken; the meat or poultry is slow cooked in a sauce made from a combination of liquid like beer, chicha, fruit juice, or wine; vegetables such as tomatoes, onions and/or peppers; and various different seasonings, spices and herbs –garlic, cumin, coriander, achiote, cinnamon, cilantro, parsley, oregano, among others. The exact ingredients and quantities vary from one type of seco to another, as well as from one region to another, but the goal is always the same: to obtain a delicious tender meat that falls off the bones (if the meat has bones) with barely touching it and melts in your mouth, all inside a very flavorful sauce that has slowly absorbed each distinct flavor to create one amazing taste. The preparation of these great stews is very easy and simple, the only thing you need is a little bit of time because they take several hours to cook.

En Español 

Seco de borrego, also known as seco de cordero, is very similar to seco de chivo or goat stew, in fact quite frequently the goat stew is made with lamb because lamb meat is much easier to find, but if you’ve tasted them both you know there is a difference; even if you use exactly the same vegetables, spices and liquids, the meat infuses its own flavor into the seco, resulting in a softer more subtle but very flavorful stew for the goat, and a much bolder flavor for the lamb. To further explain the difference in taste think of it in terms of the wine you would drink with it: a nice Oregon Pinot Noir would go perfect with the goat stew and a flavorful Washington Cabernet would go with the lamb stew. Of course I did not use exactly the same ingredients and spices for the lamb stew as I did for the last seco de chivo; this time I used a combination of beer, wine and naranjilla juice, while I used just chicha and naranjilla juice for the goat stew; there are also a few differences in the spices and herbs that were used, for example with the goat stew I used only cilantro, but for this lamb stew I added some parsley and oregano. For more details on the goat stew or seco de chivo, as well as some background information on some of the ingredients including panela, naranjilla and chicha you check out that post.

I really prefer to cook secos using meat that has bones in it, they give the stew a lot more flavor, but my husband doesn’t really like the bones, even though the meat is so soft that you can just peel it of the bones, and of course I think that one of the best parts of a seco is sucking the bones at the end, but I try to put in a few boneless pieces to keep him happy, you can ask your butcher for a combination of meat with bones and boneless based on your preferences. In Ecuador secos are almost always served with rice, which really helps soak up the delicious sauce, boiled or fried yucas, pickled red onions, avocado slices, a small salad and hot sauce.

Other recipes for secos

Seco de chivo or goat stew

Seco de pollo or chicken stew

Step by step preparation photos for Ecuadorian lamb stew or seco de borrego