All About Roasting By Molly Stevens

There is roast lamb, and then there is méchoui roast lamb.

Traditionally, the iconic North African dish features a whole lamb roasted over a pit until the skin crackles and the meat itself blooms with slow-cooked flavor.

Méchoui is an epic preparation worth the trouble. Still, it is plenty daunting, so in our quest for an equally arresting facsimile, we turned to Molly Stevens.

The skilled cooking teacher is also one of our favorite cookbook authors. Like her indispensable tome All About Braising, Stevens's brand-new follow-up book, All About Roasting ($35; click here to buy), is a comprehensive, user-friendly guide to a familiar cooking technique.

In All About Roasting, Stevens has adapted the classic méchoui lamb for the home kitchen, and we made a beeline to Stevens's home in Vermont to watch her prepare the stunning dish.

Massaged with butter, paprika, garlic, coriander and cumin, an entire lamb shoulder (click here to see the recipe) marinates overnight, so the flesh becomes saturated with a flavor boost. Then, after roasting the lamb for hours, Stevens serves it with an inspired cumin-salt for dipping.

In our exclusive video, Stevens also shares her years of experience in a how-to on roasting well. See for yourself.