Smoked Sheep

As with olives, I must thank France for getting me to love eating sheep or “mouton” in French. To explain the taste is difficult but in my opinion it is like eating roast beef with a distinct flavor added. The distinct flavor of sheep!

Here in Côte d’Ivoire, my preferred way of eating sheep is smoked. There is a culture here of grilling and smoking meats. Here in my city, there is a place that I go to that smokes sheep and beef daily. They also make beef sausages. They cut off about a hand’s cup worth or about $2.25 for the sheep and $1.25 for the beef (sheep is always more expensive than beef).
They cut the meat into tiny morsels and then put it in brown paper and add onions, peppers, spices, and maggi sauce (kind of like soy sauce). When you get home, take out a cold Coke from the fridge and prepare to eat your fingers off!

The beef sausages that they make are pretty good too. For those of you that know about sausages, the traditional way of making them is to grind the meat and then use the cord of the intestines to incase the meat. Here, they certainly use the traditional method. Now, I hate to admit it because typically I do not dare eat anything other than the “regular” parts of animals (no organs, no feet, etc.) but I do eat those beef sausages with intestine casings and all!

So for any of you who have never had the occasion to eat sheep, my suggestion to you is the next time that you have a BBQ, while you’re selecting your chicken, beef, and wieners at the grocery store, pick up a pack of lamb chops and put them on the grill. You won’t regret it!