Uzbek Lamb Recipes

Uzbek cuisine — Plov, samsa, lagman — hearty Silk Road cooking from the heart of Central Asia — brings its own distinctive techniques and seasonings to every ingredient it touches. When Uzbek cooks work with lamb, they reach for its own regional aromatics, fats and signature spice blends, and the techniques that come up most across these recipes are simmering, boiling, steaming and frying.

A tender, distinctively rich red meat at home in fragrant, spice-forward and slow-cooked dishes. In this collection it's most often cooked with ground cumin, onions, fine sea salt, carrots, garlic and potatoes. The dishes here span uzbek classics ready in as little as 55 minutes to slower, more involved cooking that rewards a relaxed afternoon.