Peka

Peka (Dalmatian Lamb & Potatoes Under the Bell)

A slow-cooked Dalmatian classic: lamb and potatoes roasted beneath a bell-shaped peka lid buried in hot embers for smoky, fall-off-the-bone results. A wood-fired grill with a dome cover is the closest home-kitchen stand-in for the traditional konoba hearth.

Prep

25 min

Cook

180 min

Total

205 min

Serves

4

Difficulty

Hard

Recipe ingredients

• •1200 g (2 lb 12 oz) lamb shoulder or leg, bone-in, cut into 4 large pieces; veal shoulder works as a milder substitute
• •800 g (1 lb 12 oz) waxy potatoes, Yukon Gold or Charlotte; halved if large
• •2 g large yellow onions, cut into wedges
• •1 head garlic, separated into unpeeled cloves
• •80 ml (1/3 cup) extra-virgin olive oil, Dalmatian if possible
• •15 g (1/3 oz) fresh rosemary
• •10 g (1/3 oz) fresh thyme or bay leaves, optional
• •20 g (1 oz) sea salt, coarse
• •5 g (1 tsp) black pepper, freshly cracked
• •60 ml (1/4 cup) dry white wine or water, for the bottom of the pan
• •3000 g (6 lb 8 oz) hardwood charcoal or wood embers, for the ember cover; needed for the 'under the bell' effect

Steps

1. 1 Season the lamb generously with salt, pepper, and half the rosemary. Let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes so the salt draws out moisture. Keep it covered while it waits.
2. 2 Build a fire in a kettle grill or fire pit and let it burn down to glowing embers (about 45 minutes). You will need a large quantity of embers to bury the lid, so plan ahead. A kettle grill with a tight-fitting dome lid and a heat deflector is the realistic home substitute for a traditional peka; cast-iron Dutch ovens do not replicate the dry radiant heat.
3. 3 Place large chunks of hardwood (oak, olive, or beech) on the embers to create a hardwood coal bed. Traditional peka cooks use olive wood, which gives a characteristic Dalmatian smoke flavor. Keep the grill outdoors, well away from walls, dry grass, awnings and anything flammable, and keep a bucket of water and a lid within reach.
4. 4 Toss the potatoes, onion wedges, and garlic cloves with 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil, salt, pepper, and the remaining rosemary. Spread them in a single layer in a wide, shallow cast-iron pan or a round tray that fits under your grill lid.
5. 5 Sear the lamb in a heavy skillet over high heat with 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil until deep golden brown on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. This browning is essential because the meat will not brown under the lid.
6. 6 Nestle the seared lamb on top of the vegetables. Pour the wine or water into the pan (not over the meat) and drizzle the remaining olive oil over everything. Keep the pan level; pooling wine and fat is what feeds a flash of flame.
7. 7 Set the pan directly on the grill grate over the embers. Place the lid on the grill. Shovel a modest bed of hot embers and ash on top of the closed lid, just enough to keep it hot, using long metal tongs or a small shovel. Never heap embers close to the lid handle, the rim or the vents, and never tip the lid so ash can drop into the pan below.
8. 8 Cook for 2.5 to 3 hours. Every 45 minutes, lift the lid with heat-proof gloves held at arm's length and turned away from your face, add a few embers to the top if they have dimmed, and baste the lamb with the pan juices. The internal temperature of the lamb should reach 85 to 90 C (185 to 195 F) for classic fall-off-the-bone peka doneness; the meat should slide easily when prodded with a fork.
9. 9 During the last 30 minutes, crispen the potatoes without dumping embers under a pan full of wine and fat. Use a heat-proof tray or a second pan, or lift the pan carefully with heat-proof gloves onto a trivet and move the embers beneath it from the side with long tongs. Do this only when the embers have gone from flames to steady glowing coals, never with active flame, and watch that the fat does not ignite. A flash of flame from burning fat is put out by covering it with a lid, never with water. If you have any doubt, skip this step: the potatoes brown well enough from the embers on top alone.
10. 10 Shovel off the top embers, carefully lift the lid (away from your face; escaping steam is intense), and rest the meat for 10 minutes. The potatoes should be crisped at the bottom and saturated with smoky lamb fat; the lamb should pull cleanly from the bone.
11. 11 Serve family-style straight from the pan, with crusty bread and a simple salad of tomato, onion, and olive oil to cut the richness. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and reheat them to steaming hot before eating.