Lamb suspended inside a deep, sealed 'well' oven dug into the ground and roasted by radiant heat, notably in Aydın and central Anatolia. The buried pit gives it a gentler, moister roast than an open tandır.
Also known as: kuyu kebabı, well kebab, kuyu tandır
Ingredients
- 2 kg bone-in lamb shoulder
- 20 g coarse salt
- 300 ml water for the oven tray
- 2 flatbreads, warmed
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tsp dried thyme (optional, for serving)
How to make it
- 1
Rub the shoulder all over with the salt and leave 30 min at room temperature.
- 2
Set the lamb on a rack over a deep tray holding the water, mimicking the humid radiant heat of the well oven.
- 3
Cook at 160 C fan for about 3 h, topping up the water once, until the meat is collapsing off the bone.
- 4
Raise to 220 C for 10 min to take the surface to a burnished gold.
- 5
Rest 20 min, pull into rough chunks and serve on flatbread with onions and parsley.
Pro tip: That tray of water is non-negotiable: a dry oven gives you roast lamb, while steam plus radiant heat gives you kuyu.
