Irish Food, made Halal

kylith

I've joined a cooking club in work (which is a very multicultural place) where, on the last Friday of each month, one person cooks lunch, using a traditional recipe from their country, for 10-15 people. My problem is making Halal traditional Irish food since 'traditional' Irish foods like bacon and cabbage are right out. Someone suggested lamb stew, but I'd prefer to something a little less cliche.

Ideas welcome!

Honey-ec

kylith wrote: »

I've joined a cooking club in work (which is a very multicultural place) where, on the last Friday of each month, one person cooks lunch, using a traditional recipe from their country, for 10-15 people. My problem is making Halal traditional Irish food since 'traditional' Irish foods like bacon and cabbage are right out. Someone suggested lamb stew, but I'd prefer to something a little less cliche.

Ideas welcome!

I'm not being facetious, but does changing a "traditional" recipe so that it's halal not kind of defeat the purpose of the entire exercise?

Also, halal also covers the method by which the animal was slaughtered, so you're going to have to specifically source whatever meat you decide on too. Personally, I have a bit of a problem with halal slaughter methods, so I wouldn't be going down this road for ethical reasons alone.

Can you not just a cook a traditional Irish recipe, in the traditional way, and if a few people can't eat it for religious (or any) reasons, then that's their call?

sdp

Not to sure about halal meat, don't the meat have to be killed by a butchers who follow strict Islamic guidelines for it to be Halal?i'm sure other boardies will know more then me, if you have a source, you might try corned beef as that go back as far as the late 1680s, and in cork in the 1825 is was one of the biggest exports form the city, also spiced beef, is a very traditional dish, and you can spice it yourself,(I have an old recipe if any help) saying that nothing nicer then the ole irish stew , best of luck with it

kylith

I think it'd be quite churlish of me to happily eat the food that the Muslim people provide, and then shrug my shoulders over their dietary restrictions. I don't personally agree with methods of Halal slaughter, at the very least I find that it makes the meat dry, but for this one meal I think I can put my feelings aside and go to a Halal butcher once in my life.

SDP, if you could give me recipe for spiced beef that'd be great. Does it have to be roasted? If I could find a Halal supplier of corned beef I'd be delighted, because I love corned beef and I could cook it in the slow cooker. I guess I'll have to look around.

Honey-ec

kylith wrote: »

I think it'd be quite churlish of me to happily eat the food that the Muslim people provide, and then shrug my shoulders over their dietary restrictions

Yeah, but you (presumably) don't have any religious dietary restrictions that they're accommodating. It would be churlish if they had gone to specific trouble on your account and then you didn't return the courtesy alright.

Minder

Have you asked the muslim people at your work if the only eat halal meat?

yellowlabrador

go for a chicken roast with all the trimmings traditional and you can use a halal chicken from a halal butcher

Mellor

kylith wrote: »

Someone suggested lamb stew, but I'd prefer to something a little less cliche.

It's probably the best example of a traditional irish dish. And should be easy to pick up Halal lamb. In a sense, all the traditional dishes are going to be a bit cliche.

sdp

spiced beef, ( Gran's recipe. she used to leave it 2 weeks, I've only been brave enough to leave it up to 7 days )
Give yourself a week to start this,

1.8kg- 2.2 kg of silverside,or middle rib boned ( will feed 10-15)
Gran used to use cloves,but I don't, if you do add 3-4 to mix

110g soft brown sugar
340g salt
2 bay leaves
85g whole allspice
85g whole juniper berries
15g saltpetre ( you can get it in chemist)
few sprigs of dry thyme
tsp of fresh ground nutmeg
85g whole black pepper

grind all the spices till fine, mix with everything else,
trim away any extra fat
rub the mix well over the beef and into every crevice (really rub in well )
put into earthenware dish or pyrex and into fridge
turn every day
after a couple of days some liquid will come out of meat,( if your worried about it just mop it with some kitchen roll, but i leave it)
leave at least 3 day, but the longer you can leave it, the better the taste.
after 7 days, remove from fridge and roll and tie the beef.

to boil beef
dice large chunks of 2 onions/3 carrots/1 stick of celery/ tsp black pepper corns/ sprig of thyme,
place in bottom of saucepan, put beef on top, cover with cold water
bring to boil and simmer for 2-3 hours till soft and tender
( 30 mins per 450g and 30 mins over)

if you not eating it hot, press it with weights on top over night,
makes it easier to slice thinly next day
good luck with it, if you not sure of anything let me know

kylith

Honey-ec wrote: »

Yeah, but you (presumably) don't have any religious dietary restrictions that they're accommodating. It would be churlish if they had gone to specific trouble on your account and then you didn't return the courtesy alright.

I'm sure that if I did then they would accommodate me. Anyway, I won't be cooking a lunch that they can't eat because I really don't want to be the bitch who excluded a portion of the staff. I'm here for the next 9 months, and I can do without everyone hating me.

Anyway, I found a recipe for home brining corned beef, so I might give that a test run in the next few weeks, if I can find pink curing salt. http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/home_cured_corned_beef/

Mellor

What about the Hindu people

kylith

Mellor wrote: »

What about the Hindu people

No Hindus, luckily, and no vegetarians either

the beer revolu

kylith wrote: »

Anyway, I found a recipe for home brining corned beef, so I might give that a test run in the next few weeks, if I can find pink curing salt. http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/home_cured_corned_beef/

You'll have to get it on line or else ask a friendly butcher who cures meat for a little - you'll only need a pinch or so - this is what I did to get some.

the beer revolu

Honey-ec wrote: »

Personally, I have a bit of a problem with halal slaughter methods, so I wouldn't be going down this road for ethical reasons alone.

I'm not convinced that Halal slaughter is any worse than other types.
Interesting article here.
There seems to be no conclusive proof either way.
More on it here.

No nasty pictures in either of those links!

John Mason

Does the dish have to contain meat?

Honey-ec

the beer revolu wrote: »

I'm not convinced that Halal slaughter is any worse than other types.
Interesting article here.
There seems to be no conclusive proof either way.
More on it here.

No nasty pictures in either of those links!

I've read up on it quite a bit, and barring "conclusive" proof either way, I'll go with my gut instinct on it.

Mellor

the beer revolu wrote: »

I'm not convinced that Halal slaughter is any worse than other types.
Interesting article here.

Maybe the blood drains so quick that the animal feels no more pain than a bolt to to brain. Maybe not. I wouldn't be overly surprised if it were true.
But my issue is with the intention. Halal methods go back long before ECG scans. So they weren't set out knowing the pain so no different. The intention afaik, is to keep the spinal cord intact so the animal can feel the death. Which I don't see the point of. But it's not something I know a lot about, so I could be wrong.

Mrs Fox

Back to the topic -- how about Seafood Pie? Great recipe here. Just omit the white wine and it's Halal all the way.

kylith

Mrs Fox wrote: »

Back to the topic -- how about Seafood Pie? Great recipe here. Just omit the white wine and it's Halal all the way.

Hey, that could be just the ticket! I wasn't sure about it because I didn't know if shellfish is halal (and what's a fish pie without prawns?), but a quick Google says it is, and I do make a gorgeous fish pie. Definitely less effort than brining my own corned beef too!

Gyalist

kylith wrote: »

Hey, that could be just the ticket! I wasn't sure about it because I didn't know if shellfish is halal (and what's a fish pie without prawns?), but a quick Google says it is, and I do make a gorgeous fish pie. Definitely less effort than brining my own corned beef too!

I don't know any Muslim who eats shellfish. Surely it would be much easier to ask your colleagues.

This thread reminds me of this incident that I was involved in last year:

I had a meeting last week with the caterer regarding the dietary requirements of the new Asian members of the cricket club. I explained to him that most Pakistanis are Muslim and don't eat pork products, most Indians are Hindus and many of them are vegetarian or don't eat beef. So we agreed that the best way forward was to increase the vegetarian options or at least use halal meat.

This morning I received a phone call from the caterer, "Do you think that if I got halal ham that the Asian lads would be happy with that?"

hardCopy

Gyalist wrote: »

I don't know any Muslim who eats shellfish. Surely it would be much easier to ask your colleagues.

This thread reminds me of this incident that I was involved in last year:

Simpsons Did It wrote:

Homer: Waitamin Waitamin Wait a minute... Lisa honey, are you saying you are never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No!
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No!
Homer: Pork Chops!?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal!
Homer: Yeah right Lisa, a wonderful "magical" animal. Hehe.

.

kylith

Gyalist wrote: »

I don't know any Muslim who eats shellfish. Surely it would be much easier to ask your colleagues.

This thread reminds me of this incident that I was involved in last year:

I've found sources online that say everything that comes from the sea is halal, and others saying shellfish, and some types of fish, are haram. It seems to depend on the sect of Islam followed.

I'm glad I'm not religious, so I can eat whatever I want.

Minder

Kylith, are you sure that your muslim colleagues will only eat halal lamb? My in-laws are muslim in as much as they came from a muslim country. They don't eat pig products, but that's about the limit of their dietary restrictions. My extended family shop in the large supermarkets and buy whatever meat is available - chicken, lamb, beef etc - none of it halal, and they are happy to eat it.

Also +1 on the shellfish halal/haaram debate.