Lamb neck is a heavily worked muscle with a high ratio of connective tissue to lean meat — exactly the cut that transforms under low, slow heat. At 275°F for five hours, the collagen in the neck melts into gelatin, basting the lean meat from the inside and producing a silky, almost sticky texture that you cannot get from leg or shoulder. The fat cap renders slowly over the top, self-basting the whole surface. A leg roast goes dry and grainy under those conditions; a neck gets better.

Lamb necks are sold bone-in at most halal butchers, Middle Eastern grocers, and some Whole Foods. A whole cross-cut neck section (3 to 4 pounds bone-in) is what you want. If you can only find cross-cut neck slices — the round medallion-shaped cuts, usually 1 to 1.5 inches thick — those work too. Pile them in the roasting pan and they will merge into a coherent mass as they cook.

The flavor base is a paste, not a dry rub: olive oil, lemon juice, grated onion, and garlic bind the spices and help them penetrate the meat overnight. The defining spice combination is warm and earthy — cumin and coriander form the base; allspice and cardamom give it the aromatic Middle Eastern depth; sumac adds a tangy, fruity brightness that plays against the fat. It is applied the night before so the flavors can work into the dense muscle.

Do not skip the overnight marinade. Lamb neck is thick enough that a 4-hour marinade barely touches the interior. Twelve to 24 hours is the difference between a well-spiced crust and a piece of meat that is seasoned all the way through.

The defining move at Bavel — and what separates this from a standard braise — is the flatbread on the bottom of the pan. The laffa goes in before the lamb neck goes on top of it. As the neck slow-roasts, the rendered fat and meat juices drip down and soak into the bread, turning it crispy on the bottom and impossibly savory and lamb-infused on top. When the oven temperature blasts up at the end, the bottom of the bread crisps while the top remains tender and saturated with fat. The bread below is not garnish; it is a core component of how the dish tastes and a reason to fight over the scraps.

Laffa is a large Iraqi-style flatbread — thicker and chewier than pita, baked in a tabun oven. For home use, look for Lebanese mountain bread or the large Iraqi-style flatbreads at Middle Eastern grocers. Large flour tortillas (12-inch burrito size) work well in a pinch and crisp up similarly. Do not use thin pocket pita — it turns to mush before the meat is done.

Score the fat cap before marinating. Use a knife to score the fat layer on top of the neck in a crosshatch pattern (1-inch squares, cutting down to but not into the meat). This helps the spice paste penetrate and allows the fat to render more evenly during roasting.

The foil seal matters. Steam trapped inside the foil during the slow roast is what breaks down the collagen in the neck. Use two layers of heavy-duty foil and crimp the edges tightly against the pan. If steam escapes, the meat can dry out.

Do not rush the final blast. The caramelization at 450°F at the end happens fast — the exterior goes from browned to burned in about 5 minutes at that temperature. Stay near the oven and pull the lamb when the surface is deeply browned with charred edges, not when it first starts to color.

Pull, don’t slice. Cooked lamb neck does not carve neatly. Pull the meat off the bone in large, irregular pieces using two forks — some chunks, some shredded sections. The varied texture is intentional and more interesting than uniform slices.

The full Bavel presentation includes tahini sauce, beet-pickled turnips, turmeric-pickled cauliflower, pickled cucumbers, fresh mint and parsley, and laffa. For a home version, the quick-pickled cucumbers in this recipe, the tahini sauce, the fat-soaked bread from below the lamb, and a handful of fresh herbs covers all the essential components. Additional warm flatbread for wrapping is the main add.

A simple fattoush or tabbouleh salad on the side makes a complete meal. If you want to replicate the full Bavel pickle spread, make beet-pickled turnips (raw turnips, beet, red wine vinegar, salt, 24 to 48 hours) at the same time you marinate the lamb.

One authentic finishing touch: Bavel drizzles the plate with carob molasses, a dark, fruity-bitter syrup that cuts the richness of the lamb the way a pomegranate molasses would. A thin drizzle over the pulled meat right before serving is optional but genuinely close to the restaurant plate; it’s sold at Middle Eastern grocers, and pomegranate molasses is a fair substitute.

The spice-rubbed lamb keeps refrigerated for up to 48 hours before roasting — it will only get more flavorful. Once roasted, the pulled meat keeps in its own fat and juices in the refrigerator for 4 days. Reheat in a covered skillet over low heat with a splash of water, or in a 325°F oven covered loosely with foil, until warmed through — about 20 minutes. The fat-soaked bread does not keep; it is best eaten the day it is made. Do not freeze the cooked lamb neck; the texture of the pulled, gelatin-rich meat turns grainy on thawing.