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The mythical Moroccan Mechouie barbecue

The mechouie is the haute cuisine of Morocco. It can be a dish, the style of cooking or a kind of meal. These pictures are of three wood-fired ovens and a spit pit where the mechouie is prepared.

The original mechouie was a whole lamb roasted over an open fire on a spit. It was stuffed with herbs and rubbed with butter and spices. The ovens developed later, when it became impractical to have large open fires in built up areas. These ovens are found underground in small restaurants in the middle of the medina (walled city) of Marrakech. The ovens are 2 meters deep, starting from a base of 2 meters wide and tapering up to the 50cm hole in the top.

Up to ten lambs can be smoke-roasted simultaneously in one of these wood-fired ovens. You build a huge, roaring fire in the oven and let it burn down to embers. Then you set the lambs on spits inside the oven and two to three hours later you have malt-in-the mouth tender, smoky meat with crispy skin satisfying every desire a gourmand could dream of.

The mechouie barbecue is is normally fired up for celebrations like weddings or other village festivities or ceremonies. It is a feast - and a real treat.

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