WARNING: This post contains images that may be considered graphic and/or disturbing.
The process of making rehbah cookies...
... and the other kinds I got to eat.
The selling of sheep in the medina.
The five sheep for my family.
The morning of...
You have to hold down the sheep: it struggles fiercely.
You slice the carotid and the jugular in one clean movement.
In order to separate the wool from flesh, you insert air (either with a bicycle pump, or as the butcher did: by blowing deeply).
Two or three strokes and the head is separated from the body.
As the butcher skins, he moves efficiently, snapping bones and slicing in lines.
Then, the butcher moves on: removing organs with precision.
He holds the knife, clenching his teeth, as he winds yards of intestines.
Blood and guts go down the drain.
The eyes of the sheep seem to stare, as glazed over as they are.
It's a bit like Christmas: calling up the family you can't see, giggling over excitement, and watching sheep die.
The cowl of the sheep (fat that surrounds the stomach) dries for a bit.
Add the liver to a tagine...
...or grill it and listen to it sizzle...
...wrap it in cowl...
...make brochettes.
The heads are roasted, grilled, and scrubbed with steel wool to remove the burnt bits.
The meat cleaver thuds as skulls are reduced to bits of bone and brain.
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