Mechoui

Ingredients

Lamb

• 1whole young lamb, 12–14 kg dressed weight, skinned, gutted and washed clean
• 150 gcoarse salt
• 300 gsmen (aged salted butter) or clarified butter, melted
• 3 tbspground cumin
• 2 tbspfreshly ground black pepper
• 1whole head of garlic, crushed to a paste with 1 tbsp salt
• 2 litreswater, for the basting bucket

Fire

• About 30 kg hardwood or acacia charcoal, burned down to embers
• 1iron or hardwood spit long enough to run the length of the animal, plus wire for lashing

To serve

• 4 tbspground cumin mixed with 3 tbsp fine salt, in small bowls
• Flat khobz or Mauritanian bread
• Sweet mint tea, poured in three rounds

Directions

1. Dig a shallow trench a little longer than the lamb, or clear a bed of stones, and burn hardwood down for at least an hour until you have a deep bed of grey-white embers with no flame at all. Flame chars the fat and blackens the skin.
2. Rub the whole carcass inside and out with the salt, then with the garlic paste, cumin and pepper. Work the seasoning well into the belly cavity and the cuts around the shoulders and legs.
3. Run the spit from the tail through to the head, lash the backbone to it with wire at four points, tie the forelegs forward along the neck and the hind legs back along the spit, and sew or skewer the belly cavity closed so it does not gape and dry out.
4. Set the spit 40–50 cm above the embers, thick shoulder end over the hottest part. Turn it slowly and steadily; the whole method is patience and constant rotation.
5. Baste every 20 minutes with melted smen, using a bundle of clean cloth or a palm brush, and rake fresh embers under the thick parts as the heat drops.
6. After about 3 hours the skin should be dark amber and taut and starting to crackle. Raise the spit slightly if it is browning faster than the meat is cooking.
7. Cook 4 to 4 hours 30 minutes in all, until the meat at the thick part of the leg reads 75–80°C (165–175°F) and pulls away from the bone with finger pressure. The shoulder, closest to the fire, will be ready first.
8. Rest the whole animal off the fire for 20 minutes, still on the spit, so the juices settle and the crust firms.
9. Carve nothing. Lay the lamb on a mat or a great platter, and let guests tear the meat off by hand, starting with the shoulder and the crackling skin, dipping each piece into cumin salt and eating it with bread.
10. Follow with three rounds of mint tea, the first bitter, the second sweet, the third gentle.

Technique

• The point of mechoui is unhurried radiant heat, not grilling. Meat too close to the coals scorches outside while the inside stays raw; too far and the fat sets waxy instead of rendering. A hand held at spit height should be bearable for about six seconds.
• Smen, butter aged with salt until it turns cheesy and sharp, is the traditional baste and the flavour Mauritanians expect. Fresh butter tastes flat by comparison.
• There is no marinade time in the desert version. The seasoning is a dry rub applied at the fire, and the flavour comes from smoke, fat and cumin.
• Mechoui is hospitality food, cooked for guests, weddings and Eid, and the whole animal is presented uncarved as a mark of respect.

Substitutions

• Home scale: a 3 kg bone-in shoulder, rubbed the same way, wrapped loosely and roasted at 150°C (300°F) for 4 hours, then uncovered at 220°C (425°F) for 20 minutes, gives the same seasoning and much of the texture, without the smoke.
• No smen: clarified butter with 1 tbsp of finely crumbled sharp blue-veined cheese whisked in gets you surprisingly close to its aged tang.
• A kettle barbecue with the coals banked to the sides and the lid on will roast a whole shoulder or leg indirectly at around 160°C (325°F).

Variations

• The Moroccan version buries the lamb in a sealed pit oven, the tandia or forno, giving steamier, softer meat with no crackling.
• In Nouakchott, some cooks stuff the cavity with spiced rice and dates before sewing it shut, so the grain cooks in the dripping fat.

History

Desert hospitality calls for a whole animal to be roasted for guests; Mauritanian mechoui is cooked over a pit of coals and eaten by hand from one tray.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mechoui?

Mechoui is a main from Mauritania: whole lamb roasted over desert coals, carved by hand for guests. Desert hospitality calls for a whole animal to be roasted for guests; Mauritanian mechoui is cooked over a pit of coals and eaten by hand from one tray.

How long does Mechoui take to make?

Mechoui takes 1 hr of preparation and 4 hr 30 min over coals of cooking. The recipe makes 10–12 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Mechoui?

Yes, within limits. Home scale: a 3 kg bone-in shoulder, rubbed the same way, wrapped loosely and roasted at 150°C (300°F) for 4 hours, then uncovered at 220°C (425°F) for 20 minutes, gives the same seasoning and much of the texture, without the smoke. No smen: clarified butter with 1 tbsp of finely crumbled sharp blue-veined cheese whisked in gets you surprisingly close to its aged tang. A kettle barbecue with the coals banked to the sides and the lid on will roast a whole shoulder or leg indirectly at around 160°C (325°F).

What is the most important thing to get right in Mechoui?

Rub the whole carcass inside and out with the salt, then with the garlic paste, cumin and pepper. Work the seasoning well into the belly cavity and the cuts around the shoulders and legs.