Mechoui

Mechoui is a whole lamb, seasoned simply with cumin and salt, roasted slowly over an open pit or in a traditional underground oven until the meat falls off the bone. It's the centrepiece of Moroccan celebration feasts — weddings, religious holidays, large family gatherings — rather than an everyday dish, given the scale and time the cooking method demands.

What it really is

A whole lamb, sometimes basted lightly with butter partway through, roasts extremely slowly over hours, either turned on a spit above an open charcoal or wood fire or lowered whole into a traditional clay-lined underground pit oven called a ferrane. That long, slow, low-heat cooking is what breaks the meat down until it's tender enough to pull away from the bone by hand, with a well-rendered, crisped skin on the outside protecting the moist meat within. Seasoning stays deliberately minimal — cumin and salt, sometimes offered separately at the table for guests to add more to taste — letting the meat and the roasting method carry the dish.

The scale of the dish is inseparable from its role as a celebration centrepiece. A whole roasted lamb feeds a large gathering by design; mechoui isn't scaled down for a small household meal, and its preparation is genuinely tied to occasions large enough to justify the time and quantity involved.

How it's served

• Carved directly from the whole roasted lamb at the table or nearby.
• With cumin and salt offered on the side for additional seasoning.
• As the centrepiece of a large celebratory meal, rarely a standalone everyday order.

How to write it on the menu

• No major allergens are inherent to the base recipe.
• Say if it's prepared for a specific event or available as a standing menu item, since the scale and lead time involved vary considerably.
• Note that cumin and salt are the traditional table seasonings, offered for guests to adjust themselves.