Kuzu Tandır

Cooked on a rack above a tray for five hours so the fat drips away, and uncovered at the end so the skin crisps.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

• 1 lamb leg or shoulder, about 2.5 kg, on the bone
• 2 tablespoons coarse salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 6 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 500 ml water, for the tray
• flatbread and raw onion, to serve

Method

1. IT IS COOKED ON A RACK ABOVE A TRAY FOR FIVE HOURS SO THE FAT DRIPS AWAY, and uncovered at the end so the skin crisps. That arrangement is the opposite of the Mexican barbacoa on this site, where a pot of stock sits underneath precisely so the drip can be collected and served. Here the drip is the thing being got rid of: lamb leg carries a great deal of fat under the skin, and five hours of it rendering downward into a tray of water leaves meat that falls apart without being greasy, and skin that can go to crackling because there is no fat pooling around it. The water in the tray is there to stop the drippings burning and smoking, not to be used.
2. IT IS COVERED FOR FOUR HOURS AND UNCOVERED FOR THE LAST ONE. Foil tented over for the long slow stretch, so the meat steams in its own moisture and the collagen breaks down. Then the foil comes off and the heat goes up for forty-five minutes to an hour, which is the only part that crisps the skin. Uncovered throughout, the outside is dry and leathery long before the inside gives in; covered throughout, it falls apart beautifully and the skin is pale and flabby.
3. IT IS SEASONED WITH SALT, PEPPER AND BAY AND NOTHING ELSE. No marinade, no paste, no yoghurt, no oil. Five hours is long enough to carbonise anything sweet or wet on the surface, and the dish is about lamb and its own rendered fat. The bay leaves are tucked under the meat rather than on top, where they would scorch.
4. THE SALT GOES ON A DAY AHEAD AND THE JOINT IS LEFT UNCOVERED IN THE FRIDGE. Twenty-four hours, on a rack, nothing over it. The salt seasons deeply and the surface dehydrates to something tacky, which is what allows the skin to crisp at the end rather than steam. Salted an hour before, the skin is still damp when it goes in.
5. IT IS NOT BASTED AT ANY POINT. Basting is the enemy of the whole arrangement: it puts back on the surface exactly the fat the rack is there to take away, and it wets skin that has spent a day drying. The oven door stays shut.
6. The lamb rubbed all over with the coarse salt and pepper and set on a rack, UNCOVERED, in the fridge for 24 HOURS.
7. The oven heated to 150°C.
8. The 500 ml of water poured into a deep roasting tray and the bay leaves dropped in.
9. A rack set over the tray and the lamb laid on it, so it sits CLEAR of the water.
10. Tented loosely with foil and cooked 4 HOURS.
11. NOT basted and the door kept shut.
12. The FOIL REMOVED and the oven raised to 210°C.
13. Cooked a further 45 MINUTES to 1 HOUR, until the skin is dark and crisp.
14. TESTED: the meat should come away from the bone with a spoon, and the skin should crackle under a knife.
15. RESTED 20 MINUTES, loosely covered.
16. The tray contents DISCARDED -- they are rendered fat and water, not gravy.
17. The meat pulled apart in large pieces and served with flatbread, raw onion and oregano.

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 Turkey · All recipes