Homemade Barbecue Sauce With Lamb, Chicken Or Pork

Ingredients for the marinade:
1 heaped teaspoon cumin seeds
2 T fennel seeds
5 cloves
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
bunch fresh thyme or lemon thyme, leaves picked
bunch fresh rosemary, leaves picked, a few whole sprigs reserved
1 orange, zested and juiced
1 bulb garlic, broken into cloves and peeled
4 heaped teaspoons sweet smoked paprika
6 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup organic tomato ketchup
8 T olive oil
10 bay leaves

1 (3-pound) chicken, or 1 (7-pound) leg of lamb on the bone, slashed evenly 1/4-inch deep or 4 1/4 pounds pork rib racks

Preparing the barbecue sauce/marinade:
To make your marinade, grind the cumin seeds, fennel seeds and cloves in a pestle and mortar with some salt and pepper. Chop the thyme and rosemary leaves, orange zest and garlic together finely. Put into a bowl with the ground spices, then add the rest of the marinade ingredients and mix together.

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Preparing the meat:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and light the barbecue about 40 minutes later.

Rub your chosen meat all over with the marinade, really getting it into all the nooks and crannies and, in case of the lamb, the slashes. Place the meat in a snug-fitting roasting pan, top with any leftover marinade and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Bake the meat in the preheated oven until tender, about 1 1/2 hours for the pork ribs and the lamb (but only for 1 hour for pink lamb), and 1 hour and 20 minutes for the chicken.

Finish the meat on a medium hot barbecue. Place it carefully grill and sear it well on one side, then turn it over. While it's cooking, use the reserved rosemary sprigs to baste the meat with the juices from the bottom of the roasting pan. Keep turning and brushing the meat until you've built up a lovely sticky, charred crust, then take it off the grill to let it rest on a serving dish for a few minutes. Reduce the juices in the roasting pan either over the grill or on the stove.

Serve with a bowl of the reduced juices from the roasting pan.

Serves 4 to 6