Meschoui
Meschoui , also Mechoui , ( Arabic مشوي, DMG mašwī 'grilled'; also Meschui or Maschwi ; French Méchoui , Spanish Mechui or Anglicized Meshwi ) is an on rotisserie or in an earth oven cooked lamb . This holiday dish is a traditional specialty of North African and Mediterranean cuisine . In a figurative sense, the term is used - especially in Tunisia - for all types of roasted meat from the grill.
Cultural background
Nomadic shepherds with large flocks of sheep traditionally kept a certain number of lambs for the mechoui, which were specially fed - for example with Artemisia - to give the meat a particularly aromatic taste. The execution of a mechouis, including the ritual slaughter , preparation and enjoyment of the meal, was a purely male affair, which was later extended to family celebrations, with the women then taking care of the other aspects of the feast.
The custom of holding a mechoui on a special festive occasion had and still has an important social function: In addition to offering a good, plentiful meal - it is not unusual for a 20 kg lamb for 20 people at such a celebration and that all meat is eaten during the long meal - existing group structures are strengthened and, for example at weddings or for guests of honor , new social contacts are created in a special setting.
In Morocco, a traditional mechoui is part of a diffa (an often multi-course feast) that is celebrated during a mousing (French moussem , regional festival, usually in honor of a saint ). Other occasions for a mechoui are religious festivals such as the Islamic Festival of Sacrifice (Arabic. Al-ʿīd al-kabīr , Morok. Arabic. L'aïd al-kabîr , i.e. the Great Festival , or also aïd al-adhâ (Morok. Arabic; French. La Fête du Mouton )), Mawlid an-Nabi ( special day on the occasion of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed ), at weddings, births or the presence of special guests as a sign of respect and hospitality . At these big festivals, other meat dishes (chicken, beef) are served in addition to mechoui, as well as couscous , vegetable dishes and sweets for dessert .
Preparation and cooking
After the skin has been peeled off , the lamb is skinned and the internal organs are removed. Then it is coated inside and outside with a seasoned marinade, the base of which is olive oil (or melted butter), with the spice mixture Ras el-Hanout , garlic , onions , ground caraway seeds , turmeric , ginger and pepper as well as salt . The heart , liver and kidneys can be cut into strips or cubes, scalded in boiling water, dabbed off, seasoned and separately roasted for a few minutes on small skewers (French brochettes ) or otherwise prepared.
Preparation on the grill
The most common preparation method in Algeria and in the north and east of the Mediterranean is cooking on a grill. The abdominal cavity is left open and the lamb - fixed on a spit with two spit forks and a back clamp - is grilled over a one to two meter long and about half a meter wide pit prepared with embers while slowly turning.
A system with a rotisserie spit attached to the side and parallel to an ember basket is more common. The speed of the cooking process can be regulated on the one hand by the distance to the embers and on the other hand by equipping the ember basket with logs; Initially, the grilling is further away from the hot embers, towards the end closer to the weak embers. This structure has the advantage that the fat can drip down and be collected without igniting in the embers, which avoids carbon deposits on the roast. During the entire cooking time, the lamb must be constantly turned manually or by a motor so that the heat is evenly distributed throughout the roast. It is repeatedly coated with the seasoned marinade at regular intervals. The grilling time of the mechouis varies depending on the weight of the animal; A rule of thumb is that a 20 kg lamb takes around a quarter of an hour to cook per kilogram.
When the lamb is crispy and cooked through, it is removed from the grill. The forks and clamp are released and the skewer is withdrawn. The cook cuts the meat and arranges it according to type on serving plates. Green coriander , parsley, and peppermint can serve as additional spices and for decoration. Depending on the cultural area, it can be common for the host of the Mechouis to remove the grilled meat from the roast lamb with the fingers of his right hand and offer it to his guests, who enjoy the meat from hand to mouth without cutlery or plates.
Preparation in the earth oven
In Morocco - and there especially among the Berber peoples - an earth oven is preferred in addition to the grill , which is usually set up for one-time (or multiple) use. It is made of clay, has a cylindrical shape, is about two meters high and open at the top. The stove is filled with twigs and logs that heat the stove walls as it burns down. While the embers are being created, the lamb is being prepared - one variant is that the abdominal cavity is filled with couscous, almonds , plums or vegetables and then closed again - and attached to a sturdy stick made of fresh wood and longer than the height of the Oven so that the mechoui can be pulled out of the oven again. Up to four lambs are placed vertically in the oven, which is then sealed as hermetically as possible with clay. The cooking time is between four and six hours. Another variant is that wood is stacked in a hole 0.8 to 1 meter deep and 1.5 to 2 meters in diameter and burned for several hours. The lamb is cut into several large pieces, seasoned and buried in the hot ashes in closed clay pots. The cooking time - usually three to six hours - is determined by the experience of the chef.
Preparation in public ovens
In the cities of Morocco, mechoui is prepared in public ovens ( ferrane ) or by specialist butchers who then deliver the finished dish.
Trivia
- Many French places celebrate folk festivals with a mechoui in the summer , but in Villiers-Charlemagne, Département de la Mayenne in the Pays de la Loire region , since 1969 the “largest mechoui in France” according to the Guinness Book of Records takes place in the third week of August. instead of 50 to more than 60 lambs being prepared as part of additional festive activities .
- In the French film Stunningly ( Le Souffle ) from the year 2001, a Mechoui plays among men - and its preparation - a central role.
- The Canadian music group Jack G. Marinovitch has a song on their 2003 album Cactus Cola Canapé called Méchoui .
literature
- Gilles Sartier: Manger et élever des moutons au Maroc. Sociologie des préférences et des pratiques de consommation et de production de viande. Thesis , University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne , Paris 2006 (French; dissertation at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Institut d'Étude du Développement Économique et Social, December 2006; online as PDF file, 1022 kB).
- Ghislaine Danan-Benady, Laurent Bianquis: Couscous et Méchouis. Hachette, Paris 2001, ISBN 201-6208-651 (French).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl May: In the realm of the silver lion , FE Fehsenfeld (1898)
- ↑ Hans Ritter and Karl-G. Prasse dictionary on the language and culture of the Twareg: Elementary dictionary of the Twareg main dialects in Algeria, Libya, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso , Volume 2, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag (2009), p. 504
- ^ Daniela Schetar and Friedrich Köthe Tunisia: Travel with insider tips (with travel atlas), Mair Dumont Marco Polo (2008), p. 25
- ↑ In his dissertation, Sartier states that this tradition is declining among the younger generation in Morocco and that nowadays instead of the mechouis at such festivals, only small culinary delights are offered, but more time is spent on music, dance and other activities.
- ^ Heinrich von Maltzan: Three Years in the Northwest of Africa: Travel in Algeria and Morocco , Volume 3, Dürr (1868), Volume 3, p. 134
- ↑ Hartmut Buchholz: Morocco , DuMont Reiseverlag (2010), p. 60