Mechoui d'agneau — Marrakech, Morocco

In Marrakech, a whole lane near the Jemaa el-Fna square is given over to mechoui. Lambs are lowered early in the morning into ovens dug into the ground, cooked for several hours over wood heat, then brought back up and cut to weight in front of the customer. The dish itself is built from very few elements: lamb, smen (aged, salted butter), and cumin. There is no elaborate marinade and no sauce. The meat is rubbed with the fat and salt, then cooked slowly and steadily until the skin turns deep gold and crisp and the flesh comes away from the bone with almost no resistance. At the table it is eaten with the hands, each piece dipped into a small mound of salt mixed with ground cumin rather than into any liquid seasoning. This dry dip is what carries most of the flavour, since the meat itself is seasoned lightly before cooking. At home, a whole lamb and a buried oven are rarely practical, so a shoulder or a leg roasted slowly in a covered dish, basted every so often, is used to get close to the same result. Some cooks add a little paprika or extra garlic to the rub, though the cumin and salt served alongside stay constant across households.