On the heat. Mild

Ingredients

• 2.5 kg lamb shoulder, bone in
• 150 g soft butter or smen
• 8 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp coarse salt
• Good pinch saffron, crushed
• Fresh coriander, chopped
• — ON THE TABLE
• Small bowls of ground cumin and coarse salt, separately

Method

1. Beat the butter with the garlic, cumin, paprika, salt, saffron and coriander into a paste.
2. Score the fat side of the shoulder in a diamond and rub the paste into every surface and into the scores. Leave 2 hours.
3. Wrap the whole shoulder tightly in two layers of foil, put it in a deep tray with a cup of water beneath it, and roast at 140 °C for 5 hours.
4. Unwrap, baste with the collected butter, and 230 °C for 30 minutes to crisp the outside.
5. Rest 25 minutes. It should be pulled apart by hand, not carved.
6. Serve with the bowls of cumin and salt on the table — each person dips each piece. That ritual is the dish.

Cook's note. The cumin bowl matters. Seasoning at the table rather than in the kitchen means every mouthful arrives with fresh, volatile cumin rather than cooked cumin.

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