Moroccan mechoui: what it is, how it's made
Moroccan mechoui: what it is, where it comes from, how the lamb is slow-roasted and eaten, how it differs from tanjia, and where to eat it in Marrakech.
Mechoui is lamb roasted whole and very slowly over embers, until the meat comes away from the bone at a touch. It is one of the great celebration dishes of Morocco and the Maghreb: simple in its ingredients, long in its cooking, and eaten by hand around a shared dish.
This guide explains what mechoui is, how it is cooked in Morocco and at home, how it is eaten, and how it differs from tanjia, the slow-cooked dish of Marrakech.
What is mechoui?
Mechoui is a whole lamb, or a large cut such as the shoulder, roasted slowly over the embers of a wood fire. The meat is basted with butter as it turns, and it cooks for hours at a gentle heat rather than quickly at a high one. The result is a crisp, golden outside and very tender meat underneath.
It is a dish for many people. A whole lamb feeds a crowd, which is why mechoui belongs to weddings, family feasts and large gatherings rather than to everyday meals.
Where does mechoui come from?
Mechoui is a dish of the Maghreb — Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia — and of the herding cultures of North Africa, where roasting a whole animal was the natural way to feed a gathering. Its name comes from the Arabic for grilling or roasting.
In Morocco, it is traditionally prepared for celebrations: a wedding, the arrival of an honoured guest, a family feast.
How is a Moroccan mechoui cooked?
Over embers, or in an earth oven
The lamb is cooked in one of two ways. It can be turned on a spit above a bed of embers, or lowered into an earth or clay oven dug into the ground, which is then sealed so the meat roasts in its own heat. In both cases the fire is not flame but embers: steady, low heat for a long time.
The seasoning
Moroccan mechoui is seasoned sparingly: butter or smen (preserved butter), salt and cumin, sometimes with garlic or a little paprika. The butter is rubbed over the meat before cooking and brushed on again as it roasts.
How long it takes
A whole lamb takes several hours over embers. There is no shortcut: the meat is ready when it can be pulled off the bone by hand.
How to make a mechoui at home
Without a pit or a spit, a lamb shoulder in the oven gives a result close to the real thing:
- Rub the shoulder with softened butter, salt, ground cumin and, if you like, a little crushed garlic.
- Roast it covered in a low oven — around 150 °C — for about three to four hours, basting it with its own juices from time to time.
- Uncover it for the last half-hour so the outside turns golden.
- Serve it whole, with bread, and small bowls of salt and cumin.
The meat is ready when it comes away from the bone without a knife.
How is mechoui eaten?
Mechoui is eaten by hand, from a shared dish placed in the middle of the table. Each person pulls a piece from the bone with their fingers and dips it in salt and cumin. Bread takes the place of cutlery. In a celebration meal, the mechoui comes at the centre of the feast, before sweets and mint tea.
Mechoui outside Morocco
In France especially, the word méchoui has taken on a wider meaning: a large outdoor party built around an animal roasted on a spit, sometimes with meats that have nothing to do with the Moroccan dish. The Moroccan mechoui is the original: lamb, embers, butter, salt and cumin.
Mechoui or tanjia: the Marrakech difference
Marrakech has its own slow-cooked meat dish, tanjia. The meat is sealed in a tall clay jar — the tanjia — with spices, preserved lemon and butter, then left for hours in the embers of a hammam furnace. Where mechoui is roasted and crisp on the outside, tanjia is braised in its jar and falls apart.
Both are slow, both are for sharing, and in Marrakech tanjia is the dish the city claims as its own. Tanjia marrakchia is one of the main courses offered with the VIP pack in Agafay.
Where to eat mechoui in Marrakech
The best-known place is the edge of Jemaa el-Fna square, where a few lanes specialise in mechoui: lamb roasted in underground ovens, sold by weight at lunchtime and eaten on the spot with bread, salt and cumin. Some restaurants also prepare it to order for a group.
Our own dinners in the Agafay desert serve Moroccan dishes — soup, salads, tagine or couscous, and mint tea — rather than mechoui; desert dinners in Agafay lists them.
