Ups and downs of preparing Sallah meat

Cooking for most women is a hobby because they enjoy experimenting; trying out different recipes and combining several condiments to produce foods that have wonderful aroma and delicious taste.

But some have complained that the process becomes tiring when the quantity of what they are cooking is much and they have limited time to properly prepare it.

Eid el Kabir is also known as the Festival of Sacrifice, (After witnessing Ibrahim’s devotion and willingness to sacrifice his son, Allah gave him a lamb to sacrifice in the stead of his son, Ismael).

In Nigeria, the most preferred option of sacrifice is ram or cow, depending on the individual’s financial strength.

A Madrasah scholar, Mallam Haruna, told Homefront that the person offering the sacrifice may keep all the meat for his own use, but advised that it is most rewarding to distribute onethird among the poor, another one-third among his relatives and then, keep the rest for his personal consumption, as learnt from the teachings of the Holy Prophet.

Haruna, who warned against selling parts of the sacrificed animal, also said parts of it must not be given to butchers as part payment for their services.

He emphasized that as long as the animal is for sacrifice, not even its skin should be sold as is the case with some people.

Preparation of Sallah meat is usually done in a ceremonious manner, as the quantity of the meat prepared is usually much which can be overwhelming for the person handling it.

This could also mean preparing it in an unhygienic manner especially when the hands involved are many and proper kitchen etiquettes are not followed.

Basira Shehu, a housewife, told our reporter that preparing the sacrificial meat during Sallah is usually very tiring for her because of the amount of work she has to do.

The mother of four who noted that although she has a maid who helps her out, it usually takes its toll on her because she has to cook all the meat to preserve it.

“I have to at least cook all the meat to preserve it from getting spoilt. In my area, we rarely have constant electricity, and if I say I want to keep the meat in the freezer, AEDC might just decide to shock me, so to be on the safe side I cook it on the first day and then fry the meat the day after,” she said.

Another housewife Zainab Musa also acknowledged that it is usually an arduous process for her because on the Eid day, she wakes up very early to prepare the meal she serves to her neighbours before she starts work on the lamb.

“I begin preparing what I am going to serve my neighbours as early as 6am. I try to finish that before the sacrificial meat is ready for me to start preparing,” she said.

Zainab, who learnt the practice from her mother before she got married, said preparing the meat usually takes all her time that she sometimes forgets to do other things.

“Last year, I had one of the worst experiences. The butcher while skinning and cutting the meat decided to cut the intestines into pieces with all the feaces in it, and by so doing, made it impossible for me to wash properly,” she said.

The mother of two, who later gave the intestines away to someone who was willing to go through the trouble, said because she was busy attending to other things she couldn’t be with the butcher to monitor the process of cutting the meat.

“I was very busy, my kids are little and my husband after he had made the sacrifice left the venue and I couldn’t be with the butcher throughout. It was annoying because I had planned on making delicious pepper soup with it,” she added.

But Mrs. Ibrahim says preparing the sallah meat for her is like preparing any other meat without stress because she usually refrigerates the meat.

“I only prepare what I need for that day, like the head and legs of the ram and also the intestines which I use for pepper soup. But others, I have a deep freezer that would accommodate them and I don’t trouble myself until much later.

The banker, who noted that she has workers who come on her invitation to help her sort out which part of the meat she’ll need to prepare on the day and which part she’ll need to store for later use, added that she calls the workers because she has a full family of men who cannot help her out in the kitchen.

“I live in a house full of men, aside my husband and my four kids that are boys, we also have 3 of my brothers-in-law staying with us and we are a traditional family, the men do not know the way to the kitchen unless their meal is ready,” she said.

Homefront spoke to a nutritionist who explained that housewives should take precaution when preparing ram meat because there is usually high risk of contamination when skinning the animal, and therefore called for proper hygiene to be maintained before starting.

She warned that proper kitchen hygiene must be observed before starting the work on the meat.

She also advised that the meat be cooked properly, at a very high temperature to kill off bacteria and make it tender, soft and suitable for consumption, adding that “all raw meat can carry harmful bacteria on the inside, it is important to properly cook the meat to kill the bacteria that can cause food poisoning,” she said.

She further warned against eating too much meat, stating that ram meat contains high level of cholesterol and saturated fat, which can be harmful to the body when consumed in excess.