🍖 Méchoui

Name: Méchoui
Total time: 240 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Maghreb · North Africa
Ingredients: 1 lamb shoulder or leg on the bone (about 2.5 kg), in place of a whole lamb; 60 g butter, softened; 6 cloves garlic, crushed; 2 tsp ground cumin, plus extra to serve; 2 tsp sweet paprika; salt

Origin: Maghreb · North Africa

538kcal

per serving · 250 g

215kcal

per 100 g

55 gProtein22 g / 100 g

35 gFat14 g / 100 g

1 gCarbs0.5 g / 100 g

Méchoui is a whole lamb rubbed with butter, garlic, cumin and paprika and roasted slowly on a spit or in a pit oven until the meat falls from the bone. The skin turns crisp and smoky while the meat inside stays tender and juicy. It is pulled apart by hand at the table and eaten with a pinch of cumin and salt, often for weddings and religious feasts.

Diets

✓

No porkfor halal, the meat must be halal-slaughtered

✓

Gluten-freeno wheat, barley or rye in a typical recipe

✓

Keto-friendly0.5 g carbs per 100 g

✓

High protein22 g protein per 100 g — 41% of the calories

Not vegetarianbecause of: whole lamb

Not veganbecause of: whole lamb, butter

Contains dairybecause of: butter

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Milk

What it is made of

whole lambcuminpaprikabuttergarlic

Recipe

8 servings240 min

Ingredients

1 lamb shoulder or leg on the bone (about 2.5 kg), in place of a whole lamb
60 g butter, softened
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp ground cumin, plus extra to serve
2 tsp sweet paprika
salt

Method

Mash the butter with garlic, cumin, paprika and salt.
Make small cuts in the lamb and rub the butter mixture all over and into the cuts.
Roast covered at 160 °C for about 3½ hours, basting every hour.
Uncover, raise the heat to 220 °C and roast 20 minutes more until the skin is crisp.
Pull the meat apart and serve with a small bowl of cumin and salt for dipping.

How to make it lighter

Choose lean leg meat over fatty shoulder and trim the visible fat cap.
Use half the butter and baste with the pan juices instead.
Serve the lamb with a large salad or grilled vegetables to round out the plate.

History

Méchoui, from the Arabic word for 'grilled' or 'roasted', is a festive dish of the Maghreb, especially Morocco and Algeria, and is closely linked to Eid al-Adha and large family celebrations. Roasting a whole animal over embers or in a clay pit is a long-standing tradition among rural and Berber communities. Today it is served at feasts and in specialist restaurants across North Africa.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →