Fiction: Camel Feast

My family had chosen to have a camel as the feast highlight this year. Once again, my mother had to work hard to secure a camel for the process, which as normal was nearly impossible. However, here we were, not just with a camel, but with a stuffed camel. Mom had gone through a lot of work to prepare and procure this camel. The camel, a pseudoruminant, did not have a lot of fat, so the marbling was not as much as you would see on pork or mutton. We rendered some pig fat from some bacon and used that to help with the seasoning.

The camel had been cleaned of offal, trimmed and skinned and boiled the carcass until it was tender. It had then been stuffed with a selection of other meats. Twenty inbred chickens my mom had culled from the flock (Cornish X and Freedom Rangers crossbreeds) had been cooked and stuffed into the body capacity with hard boiled eggs and rice mixed with nuts. Mom had also culled a singleton dorset lamb whose conformation was not as desired, and as a dual purpose breed could be used for meat. The chickens had been stuffed into the lamb with additional roasted nuts and rice. The lamb was then stuffed into a camel, along with more nuts and rice. It had then been cooked over a large charcoal pit. A platter was arranged with rice, and the stuffed camel placed atop the rice. Mom had decorated it with more boiled eggs and nuts. She was tired, and directed me to help cut and serve the dish.

I eyed the expansive animal, and immediately began by cutting off the hind legs. I cut the loin, flank and breast of the camelid, revealing the lamb. I then slice along the loin, flank and breast of the lamb after removing its hind legs and hindshanks. I remove the lamb’s rack, and remove entire chickens, carving them as I normally would. I remove large legs, wings and remove the breasts of the chickens. Returning to the Camel, I cut and slice the shoulder and neck. I remove the rack, and slice off in pieces. I then do the same to the sheep and finish up the chickens. My family descends upon the meat with gusto.