Mechoui d'agneau — Marrakech, Morocco

In Marrakech, a whole alley near Jemaa el-Fna square is devoted to mechoui. The 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 and weighed in front of the customer. The recipe comes down to three words: lamb, smen, cumin. No complicated marinade, no sauce. The meat is rubbed with aged butter and salt, then cooked very slowly until the skin is golden and crisp and the flesh falls off the bone. It is eaten by hand, dipping each bite into a mixture of salt and cumin. At home, a shoulder or leg cooked slowly in the oven, basted regularly, gives the same spirit.