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The Fire 50 · cook it at home

Mechoui-style slow-roasted lamb shoulder with cumin salt

5 hr, 20 min hands-on · 6 people

Marrakech's mechoui is a whole lamb roasted in a wood-fired pit until it falls apart, eaten with your hands and dipped in cumin and salt. A bone-in shoulder in a low oven gives the same tender meat and crisp edges.

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The real one

You need

• 1 bone-in lamb shoulder, 2 to 2.5 kg (4 1/2 to 5 1/2 lb)
• 60 g (4 tbsp) soft butter
• 4 garlic cloves, grated
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp salt
• 250 ml (1 cup) water
• For cumin salt: 2 tbsp ground cumin mixed with 1 tbsp flaky salt
• To serve: flatbread (khobz), sliced tomatoes and onions

How to make it

1. Season (10 min): Heat the oven to 160°C (325°F). Mash the butter with the garlic, spices and salt. Cut shallow slashes into the lamb and rub the butter all over.
2. Roast covered (3 1/2 hr): Put the lamb in a roasting pan with the water, cover tightly with foil, and roast 3 1/2 hours.
3. Roast uncovered (45 min to 1 hr): Uncover, baste with the pan juices, raise the oven to 200°C (400°F), and roast until deeply browned and the meat pulls away from the bone with a fork, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
4. Rest and serve (15 min): Rest 15 minutes. Pull the meat apart at the table with your hands or two forks, and dip each piece in cumin salt. Serve with bread, tomatoes and onions.

Tips

• Pull the meat; don't slice it.
• On a covered charcoal grill, cook at 160°C with a few chunks of wood for a smoky version.
• Baste every 15 minutes in the final stage for a crisp, glazed outside.

Chef Amazing's own home version of slow-roasted lamb shoulder, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.