Easter Roast

[Calm33]

Over the past couple of years I have been cooking Roast lamb for the Easter Sunday which everyone seems to enjoy and was wondering if it is true that New Zealand lamb is all halal?

Its just that my guests would object to this way of killing and I know they have stopped going into certain restaurants i.e. Nando's.
I also feel not inclined to eat Halal meat and find it seems quite hidden now in many shops and restaurants and many people don't realise they are eating it.

Heyha thanks for reading my comment! Thought it was lost in there! Yes many think halal is barbaric but if it is followed properly its actually more humane than most slaughter houses. But because of the way its cut its automatically called barbaric. But if people educated themselves and asked a muslim or read about it other than the dailymail they might find out exactly what it means.

That sounds interesting. I like the idea of that. I shall have a look

Obviously i cant vouch for every abattoir halal or not. Im sure many dont stick to what they claim either way. But thats what halal is supposed to be.

Thanks for the comments, I'm not sure why racism has been brought into this question. I understood that animals killed the halal way -
the animal was 1st strung up
their throat was slit
and they bleed to death -- not sure why the reference of a prayer makes it better for the animal.
Nando's near us never used to have a notice saying is was halal and now over recent years is has but not near the entrance at the far side of the large window well away from the door, so any customers entering it will not see the small sticker.
I just feel why should I have to ask?
I also thought 'spring lamb' - we don't eat meat everyday perhaps twice a week and holidays it is lovely to get everyone around the table and just have enjoy.

@calm33 did you miss all the discussion about pre-stun and no stun and the difference between pre-stun halal and kosher?!?

Human ignorance and prejudices at our day and age never stops to baffle me. Wooooo!!!! Scary terrorist halal meat!!!!! Ffs.

I'm with thepacksurvived and Heya...... all the farmers I know with Sheep are all free range/grass fed/outdoors. rarely supplemented unless it is necessary.

I knwo it doesn't answer your Halal question but I'd suggest buying British :)

Support local and less air miles. have agood Easter!

They dont bleed to death. The cut will kill them instantly and then the blood drained. But no one ever reads my comments regarding halal as they dont like the fact that its not as 'barbaric' as they thought it was.

hoe does cutting the throat kill instantly?

it doesn't with people, does it?

That's interesting. obviosuly I've never nurdered anyone

but with a chicken eg my grandparents used to chop their heads off. obviously that will kill! i don't see how cuting the throat woudl kill instantly that's why we execute people with total beheading eg guillotine or axe. in the past obv.

and they used to pay to have the axe sharpened as if it didn't chop off in one go there was chance you'd still be alive

it's quite hard to kill larger aimals like sheep people and cows. we're prob a similar size to a sheep. my mum was an anaesthetist and she always said it was quite hard to actually kill a person, we are quite big animals.

I just had a google and just quickly but seems to be if throat is cut then you bleed to death which is intuitive, you don't just drop dead, why would you? unless the cut is so deep it goes through spinal cord, is that what's meant? that's partial beheading then not throat cutting

Coming from farming stock I know you bleed a chicken and a pig to improve the taste of the meat. I have been in slaughter houses it is not pleasant. I have slaughtered birds of various kind. It is not easy to dispatch. My granny told me the beating heart sped up the bleeding process pumping it out so to speak. We do not like the taste of unbled meat and it makes the meat go off more quickly.

Any British lamb will have been indoor-reared and no grass. The outdoor are only just being born. As a pp said ewes are grazed outside and given supplementary feed and haylage during the winter, prelambing and post lambing. The lambs are being born now and stay inside for monitoring till we are sure their mothers can feed them. Then sent outdoors. It is far too expensive to feed lambs purely on concentrates indoors for their whole life.

"Cut its throat straight away to bleed it, which is essential for meat quality. If you kill it by cutting its throat to save a bullet, cut around to a nerve up at the back of the jaw to give it a quick brain death. Otherwise it just bleeds to death."

www.cleanskinsheepinformation.com.au/home-slaughter.htm

Interesting thanks thats.

For sure they need to have blood drained. Was just not sure that cutting the throat would kill. Sounds like you need to know what you're doing.

Note it says "to save a bullet". I wonder if the disproportionate amount of unstunned meat in UK is to save on specialised equipment / money. Wouldn't be surprised.

That i am afraid i cant comment on! But yes a skilled butcher should be able to do this. But i guess whatever you did theres no 100% chance that you will know if the animal can feel anything as they cant communicate this. And im not a butcher. These are just the thijgs that make something halal in meat. But anyways. Just buy whatever you feel appropriate for yourself/guests

Insecure123 our lamb is mostly grassfed and certainly all outdoors. As I said we supplment a few lambs with cake but not many and only for a month or so.

I phrased my post the way I did as while I do not know a single farmer who feeds their lambs cake indoors all the time I can't be certain it doesn't happen somewhere

I phrased my post the way I did as while I do not know a single farmer who feeds their lambs cake indoors all the time I can't be certain it doesn't happen somewhere Exactly Thepack It's astonishing how much drivel is posted on here about farming. People make sweeping statements when they have never set foot on a farm in their lives. You were hesitant because you want to be accurate.

Yes I got that. I was agreeing with you. I am from a farming background/ farmers girlfirend and have many farming friends and can never believe the misinformation and absolute bullpoo in some cases that i read about it - especially on MN lol. Every farmer I know their livestock is grass reared/outdoors and supplemented where necessary.

I think it should be compulsory for halal meat to be labelled as such, so consumers can choose.

Question about slaughter in general - halal slaughter bleeds the meat, which I know, but does standard slaughter not bleed the meat? How would that work if so? When you were butchering the cow there would be pints and pints of blood just slopping all over?

I don’t like the taste of either halal or kosher meats. I don’t eat lamb, but my husband bought a package of halal chicken. It does taste different, and I don’t like it. It’s missing a “zest”, for lack of a better description. That’s also the reason I eat only wild rather than farmed fish.

@obviouspretzel yes normal slaughter does that too (if you want to make black pudding you have to supply your own container and go back later that day to collect the blood, where I use! Never have...)
Pre stun halal and 'normal' slaughter are almost identical in process except halal has to be carried out by a Muslim who says a prayer over the animal. But in both cases the welfare requirements are the same, as is the legislation around it being a licenced premises and slaughter man etc. If my abattoir did halal my animals wouldn't see or feel any difference at their end (as I would only go somewhere that did pre-stun).

In no-stun halal, and in all kosher, the stunning step is missed out. It still has to be done on licensed premises etc but these are, as far as I know, specialist facilities.

I object wholeheartedly to no-stun slaughter, but as pre-stun halal is no different to any other stun slaughter I can't and don't object to it- if I did, I'd have to become a vegetarian (and I understand why people choose not to eat meat, totally get that). I wonder if I were devoutly religious I might be bothered by another faith's prayer being said over my meat, as PP have said, that's an interesting point.

never understood why halal is the bad guy but kosher never gets a mention - odd that

Oh, well that is very simple. Kosher is from the nice, calm and "safe" Jewish religion, who also are majority white. Whereas Halal is from the violent, "foreigner" religion, where the majority are not white. (please note, I obviously don't feel that way about either religions, i'm using sarcasm to make a point!)
I believe the words to explain this would be prejudice, racism and ignorance.

I don’t like the taste of either halal or kosher meats

Oh my god. Thank you for giving me a much needed laugh on this slow morning! Yes, of course it tastes different...

It does taste different. I’ve had non Kosher Jews say the same thing to me.

I don’t know about beef, and I don’t object to the manner of slaughter, or the prayers. That doesn’t bother me at all.

If you can’t taste the difference that’s your issue, not mine. But thanks for the smug superiority.

If you can’t taste the difference that’s your issue, not mine. But thanks for the smug superiority

Nope, not superiority just an understanding of the phrase "mind over matter". Its very much like the placebo effect in medicine. Its also a bit odd you notice a difference in taste, its not like they add extra flavors or anything in.