Lamb under the sač

Method

1. Salt the lamb generously an hour before you cook and leave it at room temperature. Cold meat straight from the fridge will not brown and will not render properly.
2. Toss the potatoes, onions, carrots and garlic with half the oil, the oregano, the pepper and a good pinch of salt, and spread them out in a wide shallow tray.
3. Sit the lamb on top of the vegetables, rub it with the rest of the oil and tuck the rosemary and bay leaves in among the meat.
4. Pour the wine and water down the side of the tray, not over the lamb — washing the seasoning off the meat is the usual mistake here.
5. For a sač: set the tray on a bed of embers, cover it with the heated dome and heap hot coals over the top. Cook for about two hours, sweeping the ashes off and renewing the coals once, halfway through.
6. For an oven: cover the tray tightly with foil and cook at 170°C for two and a half hours.
7. Take the dome or the foil away for the last thirty to forty minutes so the lamb browns and the potatoes catch at the edges. There should still be liquid in the tray; add a splash of hot water if it has gone dry.
8. Rest the meat in the tray for fifteen minutes before you carve it, and spoon the pan juices over each plate.