When my Turkish boss taught me how to cook this many years ago, he told me that when they cook it at home in Turkey they dig a big pit, put a whole lamb in it, and leave it to cook in its own juices for an entire day. You’ll be pleased to hear that you don’t need to go such lengths to enjoy my recipe for Turkish Lamb!

Ingredients:
Whole boned leg of Lamb
(You can buy an un-boned leg of lamb and bone it yourself. I have done that but it’s easier for the butcher to do it. You can also use mutton instead of lamb).

2 tablespoons of Course Ground Black Pepper

2 tablespoons of Onion Powder/Onion Salt (if onion powder, then add 1 tablespoon of salt)

You will need a large saucepan. I use a 9” pan

Cooking Time 2-3 hours

Instructions:
Wash (rinse) the lamb under a cold tap and place it on a chopping board. Cut in to where the bone was (butterfly it) and open it up keeping it in one piece.

Rub the pepper, onion powder and salt all over the lamb.

Put the saucepan on the hob over a high heat. Place the lamb in the saucepan, skin side down, and cover with the lid. After about 5 minutes, turn the heat down to low. (You want the saucepan hot but you don’t want to burn the meat. You simply want to get the fat to start melting).

If the lamb is sizzling you can add a few tablespoons of water.

Turn the lamb about every 15 minutes. If you have a lot of liquid remove the saucepan lid and reduce. You should not need to drain any liquid from the meat.

After about 1½ – 2 hours the meat should start breaking in to pieces. You can further help this by easing the lamb apart. Keep turning. The fat should melt away.

The pieces of lamb should be about the size of half a banana. When the lamb is done you should have no fat on the meat, but you will have some oil in the pan. The meat should be in pieces, crispy on the outside and tender in the middle. There will be some very small crispy bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Don’t waste these – they taste delicious. Scrape them off and ladle them onto a serving dish with the rest of the meat.

Serving Suggestions:
We like to eat our Turkish Lamb hot, just with a salad and some pita bread. It also tastes delicious served cold. You can add some potato wedges if you like.

You can reheat the meat over the course of several days. Simply heating it in the microwave for 1 minute heats the meat and really brings out the flavour.

Ann-marie Morgan for Third Age.