Washed In The Blood of the Lamb

[tyellas]

“Stokes Valley Game Butcher – Not Open To the Public – Game Hunters and Owners Only.” I’d always wanted to see beyond the opaque storefront, and my curiosity was rewarded today.
On New Year’s, at a party, I met a man who wanted to get some extra lambs off his land. One thing led to another, and I wound up calling this game butcher to see if they did homekill. Yes, they did. “Homekill” is the practice of killing meat animals for farmers on their properties, i.e., killing them at home, then processing the meat. A couple of us signed up with the homekill people to have these extra lambs turned into lamb chops, lamb legs, etc. One lamb apiece.

Today was the day for me to pick up my lamb. At long last, I entered the Stokes Valley Game Butcher's establishment. The front of the shop was filled with shelves of pig jawbones, an old sofa with a zebra-print throw, an assortment of rugby jerseys displayed on a wall, flanked by about seventeen deer skulls, thar skulls, and antler racks. Seven mounted ungulant heads, as well as a local taxidermist using a refrigerator as a mini-billboard, and an overhead rack of butchering implements, all said, “It’s my private bloody shop, I’ll do whatever the bloody hell I want.” I complimented the proprietor on his tattooed arm sleeve, a black and white woodland scene. “Covers my scars!” he said. Gesturing at all the animal remains, I asked, “Did you shoot all of these?” He had, with one or two exceptions. He handed over “my” lamb, now entombed in vacuum packs and one large plastic bag. His hands had dried blood on them. Feeling like the milksop that I am, I took my dismembered baby animal home.

Laid out to freeze, the lamb meat – for a whole lamb, mind you - takes up only half of my freezer. Since it was lunchtime when I got home, I opened a package of the back steaks, lamb filet. The meat was a delicate pink, like veal, except this little lamb had stood in a grassy valley field with its mother until the homekill reaper snuck up on it from behind. I pan-fried it gently, with a little rosemary and pepper.

It tasted like filet of angel. If bacon is meat candy, then this was meat ambrosia. I sopped up its delicate pinkish ichor with whole-wheat pita bread and tzatziki from a local Greek delicatessen. I kept misquoting Shakespeare, “So young and so lamb-tender, so young, my lord, and true.” I hope that if a carnivore ever consumes me, I might taste that good – though I doubt it.

Comments

[ellapoodle.livejournal.com]

Oh yum. You lucky girl, and to have the sweet lambkin on Valentine's day no less...filet of angel, I love that term.

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

It's the day after V-day here - that International Date Line again.

[shalom]

Mmmmmmmmmmm....we had New Zealand lambchops on the grill tonight, and I shudder to think how long it took to get here (but it was delicious) compared to the freshness you enjoyed. My great uncle owned a meat packing plant in Brooklyn, so a visit there was not for the squeamish. But I've great memories bringing home big boxes of steak and lamb and helping my parents wrap it in freezer paper and tuck it away in the freezer.

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

You know, they do some amazing things with airless meat packing nowadays, so your lamb was probably in very good shape.

It's so fascinating to hear in these comments about people's own involvement with meat that they eat, and to consider that the trend is now to get that involved again.

[iisaw.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a little bit of heaven. We're getting our ewes bred next month... looking forward. :)

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

Yes, make sure that the only coyote that gets to them...is you!

[iisaw.livejournal.com]

LOL! I'll do my best!

[jilba.livejournal.com]

The vegetarians don't know what they're missing, do they? And this animal had a proper sun kissed life in a paddock with other sheep before becoming delicious chops. Hubby and I used to run a home kill business, we mostly did cattle. Off into the grassy paddock, and bang from .303, and lots of fun dressing the beast. Then into our chiller, which in a week doubled as the cut up room. The only thing we were allowed to move off the property was the hide. All meat stayed there, well..until we left. Then I've no doubt friends and family removed their shares! It used to make us good money too.

Must buy some lambs. Now the nights are starting to cool off, we can kill, hang them under the verandah in wet sheets and cut up the next day.

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I don't know what happened to "all the meat", I just got the presentable bits!

Next weekend I am going to an Argentinian "asado" barbecue, with whole lambs being cooked. I am now really looking forwards to it.

[snottygrrl.livejournal.com]

yumm. sounds like an interesting if slightly bizarre experience and with a yummy outcome.

sorry about not getting back to you re: photos. i'd suggest doing it this weekend but the weather is supposed to be crap.

[*hangs head for being bad friend*]

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

You're not bad, you're preoccupied!

And you're right, it is dreadful out...I'll give you a call tomorrow night...

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Ooh. [drools]

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

-hands you napkin-

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

I hope that if a carnivore ever consumes me, I might taste that good – though I doubt it.

I'm sure the worms which end up snacking on your mortal remains (a long way in the future, I hope!) will think you taste divine.

Today we eat, tomorrow we are eaten. I think locally-raised and processed meat brings that reality home in a way the plastic-wrapped steaks and chops in the big grocery stores can't. Perhaps that's its most valuable feature.

Enjoy your tasty, tender lamb!

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

Funny you should say that about the worms; I do plan on being buried without preservatives. There's a local organic graveyard that just opened up!

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

I remember your post about the organic graveyard. Alas, I don't think there are any near me, so the worms will have to settle for chowing down on my ahses (which can't be all that tasty!).

[maureenlycaon.livejournal.com]

When I think about the cruelty of meat ranching and hunting, it's not a "Don't eat Bambi's mother!" thing, but more the sheer, unnecessary suffering before the animal is dead. You may have heard the ugly news about what the Humane Society found at a slaughterhouse here in California, with "downer" cows being shocked and kicked to try to force them to get up so they could legally be slaughtered for human consumption. At least your lamb probably got to stay with its mother in pasture all of its life, able to fulfill its natural instincts and live a pleasant life, until that fatal day. That's how animals should be raised for slaughter.

And few American animals are eaten with so much appreciation! ;-)

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

Yes - apparently the cruelest part for many animals is being removed from their home and taken, rather unpleasantly, to the abbatoir. I'm familiar with the work of that animal therapist/famous autistic Temple Grandin, and she works with slaughterhouses to restructure the spaces so that they are less traumatic.

[maureenlycaon.livejournal.com]

Which reminds me -- I need to download "The Woman Who Thinks Like A Cow" and learn more about her.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

One hopeful thing is that, as more people are becoming aware of the evils associated with industrial meat production, more humane alternatives are starting to pop up. I discovered last year that my local farmer's market has several participating local meat producers who sell grass-fed beef and true free-range chicken. And you can even order grass fed, humanely slaughtered buffalo online. When I clear out room in my refrigerator freezer, I'm going to place an order for this healthy, cruelty-free red meat.