There sheep are raised on a very large ranch in Questa (about 30 minutes north of Taos) where the graze out in the open mesa of northern New Mexico. When the lambs are ready to be born, he brings them down to his home in Valdez to keep a better eye on them. He also brings them down when he is looking to sell them. His home ranch makes some of the ranches in Western Mass seem like small pens. These lamb get big fast, get good fast and get tough fast...if you're not careful. Good thing we're careful, marks for unloading more lamb sure, but careful. We watched them run around looking for good structure and weight. Not too big but not too small. Healthy healthy and clear eyes. Then we picked our two girls out. We tied them and loaded them into the truck.
Once we got back to my grandparents house, we went out to my old basketball court and got set up. We readied the hangers, both inside the garage and one strewn over the basketball hoop. We sharpened the knives and the saws. We brought out buckets of soapy water and a pot to catch the blood. We took a deep breath and started preparing our food. My wife documented the morning of work I am about to post. She wanted to portray the events and steps necessary to preparing a lamb from start to finish. She wanted to do it so next time she could take part herself, more so than she did today even. We both stress a fair amount of importance on the understanding of what food is and what it takes to bring that food to our table. If we emotionally can't take part in any step of the way from the literal voyage from farm to table, then we shouldn't be eating it. It is a respect that we have for the animal. It is the same respect that causes us to use every part of every animal we possibly can at the restaruant. Same ideals here. The same ideals that my grandparents taught me. I am here to teach my grandfather how to properly butcher a lamb and he is here to teach us how to care for slaughter and evisceration. We are at his home so we are going to do it the way he does it, the way he was taught by who ever taught him. There is no FDA watching over us, just my grandma. So please know that we paid dear respect to these beautiful animals but the pictures are slightly graphic and may not be for everyone. I did my best to select pictures that I felt best told the story of the morning. I can assure you, we plan to use everything we possibly can from this animal...from the blood to the bones.
I think this is terrific; I really honor what you're doing here--not just participating in the whole process of getting food to the table, but making this process visible. The moment when you're halfway through skinning the lamb is probably the toughest; it's still both cute, fuzzy lamb and meat hanging on a hook. But it's the inevitable process that puts food on the table.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I feel that if you can't face what eating meat really entails--killing, skinning, gutting, and breaking down an animal that's probably pretty lovely alive--you shouldn't eat it. That said, I haven't yet done this, though I'm on the lookout for a way to learn. Since the pig and all its products (nose-to-tail is yummy!) is my favorite, I'm hoping to find a reasonably inexpensive (single-income family right now) class in slaughtering and butchering a pig somewhere in the Valley. If you know of any, I'd love to hear about them.
Hope the lamb was good!
Elizabeth, the lamb was outstanding...really some of the best lamb I've eating in a long time. I just left a message with my grandfather asking what grasses the lamb was grazing on because the meat was so velvety and flavorful.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that more and more people are coming to the realization that we eat those same animals we see out there in pasture. We are thinking of doing a butchering demo the Sunday before the Cochon Dinner if we can get enough people interested and also get the pig in time. We would probably just charge $5 or $10 for the demo.
My staff also wants to take part in a slaughtering, if I can find the time I will let you know. There have been a few other people interested so we can make it a group event...if it ends up happening at all. I will keep you in the know.