And a richly flavoured ragout is often more interesting made with cubes of meat rather than the more usual mince.
Lamb specials include lamb rogan josh, cubes of meat stewed in aromatic spices and herbs, and lamb vindaloo, cubes marinated and cooked in a hot sauce.
Shish kebabs that combine well-trimmed cubes of meat, chicken cutlets, firm fish or shrimp with lots of skewered vegetables are excellent choices.
Otherwise, if you are using a home meat grinder, you will need to hand chop about one-fourth of the meat, so that the mixture is dotted with little cubes of meat and fat.
Two ducky starters -- a satiny foie gras terrine for Betsey, with naught but a few grains of gros sel for company (what became of those once-universal amber-colored cubes of meat jelly?), a macaronade for me.
My Singaporean friend insisted that we try another beef dish, beef randang, made of braised cubes of meat rich with the flavors of lemongrass, ginger, curry and coconut milk.
Adventurous eaters should take notice of the char goat ($10), cubes of meat in a pickle blend; chicken xaccuti ($10), a scorching coconut and fowl specialty of Goa; the quail and vegetarian nightly specials; and fish-a-Punjab ($12).
In addition to the pork gyro, the restaurant's souvlaki (lamb, pork, chicken, beef, octopus) are also fantastic -- the cubes of meat manage to be highly seasoned and grilled properly without getting dried out.
When one cooks, say, a stew, it is quite easy to understand how the cubes of meat, the carrots and the leeks, the wine and stock, turn into the finished article.
