West Africa · Volume 01, The Wolof-Mandinka World
Dibi
Fulani and Hausa pastoral grill, urbanised into Dakar street food
Illustration
- Time
- 20 minutes
- Researched
- Researched from 160 sources in the brief
As tradition built it
Serves 4. 20 minutes.
Ingredients
The tradition's method, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them.
- 1 kg mutton or lamb, in pieces
- to taste salt
- 2 onions, sliced into rings
- to serve mustard
- to serve fresh baguette
Method
- Season the meat with salt only.
- Grill over wood fire, turning, until charred outside and cooked through.
- Serve with raw onion rings, mustard and fresh baguette.
What a modern chef changes
The wood chosen deliberately, and the meat rested
No new rungs: this dish needs restraint, not addition
Method
- Choose a specific wood for its smoke, rather than whatever is to hand, the same discipline this atlas applies to grills across every volume.
- Rest the meat five minutes off direct heat before serving. The traditional version serves it straight off the fire; a short rest redistributes the juices without asking the dish to be anything other than what it is.
- This is the one dish in the chapter that should not be over-engineered. Its whole appeal is that it needs almost nothing done to it beyond salt, fire and good meat.