Shawarma

Pressed into a loaf tin and roasted as a block, then shaved — which is the honest way to do it without a vertical spit.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

the meat

• 1.2 kg lamb shoulder, sliced thinly
• 300 g lamb fat or fatty belly, sliced thinly
• 3 tablespoons baharat
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt

to serve

• flatbread
• tahini sauce
• pickled turnips and cucumbers
• sliced onion with sumac and parsley

Method

1. IT IS PRESSED INTO A LOAF TIN AND ROASTED AS A BLOCK, THEN SHAVED. Nobody has a vertical rotisserie at home, and this is said plainly rather than printing a method that needs one. The marinated slices are stacked and pressed hard into a loaf tin, interleaving lean and fat, until the tin is a solid compacted brick; it is roasted slowly, rested, chilled firm, turned out, and then shaved across the grain with a long sharp knife into thin ragged slices whose edges are browned. Those shavings are then crisped for a minute in a hot dry pan, which stands in for the outer surface a turning spit would have charred.
2. LEAN AND FAT ARE LAYERED ALTERNATELY AND THE FAT IS NOT OPTIONAL. Three hundred grams of it to one point two kilos of shoulder. On a real spit, fat renders downward and bastes everything below it; in a tin it does the same thing internally, and a block made of lean meat alone comes out dry and crumbling however carefully it is cooked.
3. IT IS PRESSED HARD AND WEIGHTED WHILE IT ROASTS. Packed down with the heel of the hand as each layer goes in, covered with foil, and a weight set on top. The slices have to fuse into a single mass or it will not shave -- it will fall apart into separate pieces of meat.
4. THE VINEGAR IS THE POINT OF THE MARINADE. Four tablespoons. It tenderises the shoulder over the overnight rest and gives the sharp background that makes shawarma taste like itself rather than like roast lamb with spices on. Lemon juice is not the same; vinegar is sharper and does not go bitter over twelve hours.
5. IT IS CHILLED COMPLETELY BEFORE SHAVING. Roasted, then refrigerated under its weight for at least four hours and ideally overnight. Warm, the block tears; cold and firm, it shaves into thin sheets.
6. THE SHAVINGS ARE CRISPED IN A DRY PAN TO ORDER. A minute over a high heat, no oil, until the edges catch. This is the step that makes it taste cooked-to-order rather than reheated, and it is done in small batches as each sandwich is built.
7. The lamb shoulder and the fat sliced THINLY and separately.
8. Both tossed with the baharat, cumin, turmeric, garlic, VINEGAR, oil and salt.
9. Covered and refrigerated OVERNIGHT.
10. The slices STACKED into a loaf tin, ALTERNATING lean and fat, and PRESSED HARD with the heel of the hand as each layer goes in.
11. Covered with foil and WEIGHTED.
12. Roasted at 160°C for 2 HOURS 30 MINUTES.
13. Rested, then REFRIGERATED UNDER THE WEIGHT at least 4 HOURS.
14. Turned out and SHAVED across the grain with a long sharp knife into thin ragged slices.
15. The shavings CRISPED in a HOT DRY pan, 1 MINUTE, in small batches to order.
16. TESTED: the cold block should shave into sheets rather than crumbling. Crumbling means it was not pressed hard enough or had too little fat.
17. Built into flatbread with tahini sauce, pickles and sumac onion.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Lebanon · All recipes