Whole Roast · Pit-Cooked Lamb
Mechoui (Slow-Roasted Lamb)
Photo: إيان (Ian) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
A single alley behind Jemaa el-Fnaa, nicknamed Mechoui Alley, is lined almost entirely with stalls that do nothing but roast and sell this one dish, sold by weight straight off the carcass.
A whole lamb is seasoned simply with salt, cumin, and butter, then roasted for hours over low coals or in an underground pit until the meat can be pulled apart by hand. Vendors carve it to order and serve it with a small dish of cumin and salt for dipping, plus warm bread.
Why it's made this way: The slow pit-roasting method turns a whole animal into a communal, shareable dish, and Marrakech's dedicated mechoui alley has made the technique into one of the city's signature market-square meals.
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