maghreb · lunch
Moroccan mechoui
The desert pit-roast of the Maghreb, adapted to a home oven: lamb shoulder slow-roasted four hours under a saffron-thyme butter rub until the flesh shreds at a touch. Bedouin festive cuisine.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 240 min
- Servings
- 6
- Difficulty
- intermediate
Steps
- 01
Score the meat
5 minPat the lamb shoulder dry with paper. Score the fat cap in a deep diamond pattern at one centimetre intervals so the rub penetrates and the surface crisps.
- 02
Mix the spice butter
5 minSoften the butter, mash with saffron threads, dried thyme and salt until you have a uniform pale-gold paste with a deep herb-saffron aroma.
- 03
Rub the lamb
10 minMassage the spice butter into every crevice and across the entire surface. Push some inside the score lines. Leave at room temperature ten minutes for the butter to set lightly.
- 04
Slow-roast
210 minPlace fat-cap up on a rack over a roasting tin. Pour two hundred millilitres of water in the tin. Roast at one hundred fifty degrees for three and a half hours, basting every forty minutes.
- 05
Crisp and rest
20 minRaise oven to two hundred twenty degrees, brush with melted ghee, roast ten minutes for a crisp mahogany crust. Tent with foil, rest ten minutes for the juices to redistribute.
- 06
Pull and serve
5 minPull the lamb apart with two forks straight on the platter. Serve with a small bowl of thyme-salt for dipping, the desert tradition: pinch with the fingers, dip, eat.
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This article relays the public teachings of Dr. Diaa Al-Awadi for educational and informative purposes. It is not medical advice. Consult your physician before any dietary change. Legal notice.