Tandir Go'sht — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

A whole leg of lamb suspended inside a searingly hot tandoor clay oven, roasting for hours until the meat pulls apart in succulent, smoke-kissed strands.

Ingredients

2kg leg of lamb
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp coriander
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, quartered
Fresh herbs for serving

Instructions

1 Rub the entire leg of lamb with a paste of crushed garlic, cumin, coriander, salt, black pepper, and oil, massaging it deeply.
2 Let the seasoned lamb marinate for at least two hours, or overnight in the refrigerator for even deeper flavor penetration.
3 Tie the lamb securely with butchers twine and suspend it inside the preheated tandoor oven or place in a very hot covered grill.
4 Roast for three to four hours at steady high heat, with the exterior developing a dark crusty bark while the interior stays moist.
5 The lamb is done when the internal temperature reaches seventy-five degrees Celsius and the meat pulls away from the bone effortlessly.
6 Transfer to a large platter, let rest for twenty minutes under foil, then pull apart into generous chunks for communal serving.

Did You Know?

In rural Uzbekistan, whole lambs are sometimes lowered into underground tandoor pits and left overnight, with the pit sealed until morning.