About two weeks ago, my husband woke up at the crack of dawn to go with our good friend Bouchaib to a farm about an hour away. Bouchaib and Devon had been planning this trip for many weeks. Bouchaib is Muslim and he and his family go to this farm to get their halal meat. We thought halal was a religious ceremony, similar to kosher. On the drive to the farm, Devon found out from Bouchaib halal means to kill the animal yourself.
So, they got to the farm and went to a pen full of lambs. They were all tagged with prices, according to their weight. Devon chose one in our price range and Bouchaib stepped in to get down to work. For those of you who are vegetarians, you may want to stop reading here. We don’t mean to offend. We were on an exploration of understanding Bouchaib and his Moroccan culture.
Bouchaib cut the neck of the lamb in accordance to halal standards. He then…well, even though I’m not vegetarian, I don’t know that I can share all the details…let’s just say, he cleaned the lamb and butchered it.
Now, Devon found out that every piece of the lamb is used in Bouchaib’s home…every piece! Devon, being from America, where we tend to go to a nice clean grocery store and pick out cherry red cuts of meat, nicely cryovaced in glistening plastic, wasn’t too sure what to do with the skin, hooves, head, intestines…well, you get the picture! So, Bouchaib assembled his bag, taking the “choicest” of pieces and left Devon with the rest! Devon did choose the testicles of the animal, because he was planning a special guy’s night, with grilling, fire pits, apple juice and cigars. He figured it would be a great way to discover who was the manliest…fear factor style!
Devon left the farm with a freezer full of meat. We spent about a quarter of what we would’ve if we had bought the meat at the grocery store…and it is fresher! (for sure!)
I did a bit more research into the meaning of halal…and one thing I discovered, if Devon had done the butchering himself, it wouldn’t be considered halal. A Muslim has to do the slaughtering. So, the next time we go to the farm, we plan on taking our dear friend Bouchaib with us again!
