From Preparing Halal Asado to Visiting an Angus Farm

Today was Monday, day five in Salto. We went to our last rural school, School Number 30 in Pueblo Laures in Salto. Our host teacher was Ines de Lisa.

We had to be ready at 6 in the morning to get there because Ines and her husband had to take us from the hotel which was about an hour away and they offered us to cook our own breakfast at their school which I was also excited about. I always like freshly prepared breakfast, especially if it is in countryside.

So, when we got to the school, one of our Fulbright colleagues, Saba, and myself said we are good chefs and we can prepare breakfast for all of us. Saba cooked fried eggs, and I cooked Shakshuka, a typical Mediterranean breakfast made of tomato, onions and eggs. All the ingredients were fresh out of the village including freshly-baked baguettes from the village bakery. The smell of the milk butter was so great that the minute I put it in the pan, everybody started to feel hungry. In addition to our hot meals, Ines put dulce de leche, and honey on the table. The honey actually came from Ines’ partner teacher’s home. It was so delicious. We ate like as if we haven’t been eating for a long time.

After breakfast, myself, Ines’ husband and Stephanie, undergrad fulbrighter, went somewhere else that I will never forget which I am going to share with you here in my post. Myself and Saba were observing Halal diet which requires the meat to be blessed according to Islam. So we were both vegetarian up to this point. However, we were so jealous seeing others eating all kinds of meat including Asado and had a personal mission to eat meat in Uruguay. So, I have been telling the host teachers how we can eat Halal or Kosher meat here in Salto. They said it was difficult to find. And I proposed to them what if I can prepare the meat so that we can all enjoy it. They said why not and the good person to know how we can find animals was Ines. Her husband works at a farm which we were going to visit later in the day today. To keep the long story short, Ines’ husband found a person, his name is Juancho, who has animals. He then took the two of us to the farm.

I was initially thinking that having chicken would be best because they are a lot easier to prepare but then they convince me to have lamb because it is cheaper and natural and they are going to help me out. So, I decided to go with a lamb. They told me that it is usually around $100. I was so happy with the price. In the US, in Ohio that type of lamp is usually around $280-350. Anyway, we choose one lamp out of his pasture and prepared it according to Islamic law. Ines’ husband and the owner did almost all the work. I did only small portion of it.

I also wanted to talk about the owner, Juancho. He was 84 years old, lives alone at his farm. When I went to his house to wash my hands after the meat preparation, I was so impressed by the cleanness and neatness of the house. Plus, the stuff he had was all antique and the way he put things in the old fashioned way made me walk around the house a bit. I think he understood my intention and he wanted to show his house. He took me and Stephanie to different parts of the house and when we went to his bedroom he pointed us to a picture which was of his wedding time with his wife. He suddenly got emotional and cried saying that he lost his life partner last year and he misses her so much. We couldn’t help ourselves but got emotional along with him. He also said that he has four children and they are all over in Uruguay which he misses them as well. He said it is hard for them to visit him.

His house is over 200 years old and he is planning to sell it because he can’t maintain it anymore alone. While he was showing us his house and all the memories he had with his family and children he never stopped crying. I felt so bad that I didn’t mean to have him go through this but later told myself that he wanted to share his stories with us as well as his emotions.

We then went outside, and he told us to wait for a moment. He ran into his house and brought his phone with him and asked us to take pictures with him. He said he wanted to remember this moment by looking at this picture on his phone.

I told him that it is OK to pay him the next day when I get some cash from the bank. He said money was not a problem, he was happy to do this for students and teachers and no money asked. He said it was a gift from him for a greater cause. What a big heart he has! A person who needs the most, wants to share what he has with others without any hesitation. He said we are making much greater goods and giving this “small” gift was nothing compared to what we do. My heart melted once again with this statement.

I kept insisting to pay and Ines’ husband told me to not insist because he worried that he would get offended by that. Then we asked what if we could give him a gift. He said it was a good idea and I immediately said I am going to give him a gift once I return back to Salto. Next day, I could not go to the bank due to our schedule but instead borrowed some money from Saba to give it to him.

We brought up the meat to the school and Ines’s husband quickly started a fire with wood to make Asado for us.

While he was busy preparing our lunch, I attended the Ines’ classroom and observed her lesson.

It was time for them to take a break before lunch. Ines and her teacher partner took us to walk around the village and at the end we stopped at the park where students could play. Along the way, students played, laughed and showed every skill and talents they have. The park was amazing and I played soccer with the kids. We didn’t have a ball but rather used a plastic bottle as a ball once again.

When we got back from the park to the school, Asado was almost ready. Ines’ husband was carefully flipping the meat pieces on the griddle. The kids were hungry and anxiously waiting for the meat. They were all banging their silver forks and knives on the lunch table, calling “asado, asado…”The school cook also prepared rice, and salad so that students were not only eating meat.

Here it came. The Asado was ready and Ines’ husband brought some of the meat inside. He carefully cut pieces for the students and the school cook distributed the meat to everyone.

I forgot to mention. I kept going back and forth to learn how Asado has been made and its tricks to have the best quality. Ines’ husband told me that they use garlic, dry parsley, paprika, oregano, and black pepper mixed with water and put the mixture into the meat while it is cooking. He said that the key to having the best Asado is also slow cooking which we didn’t have that much of a time. I don’t agree with him. The Asado we ate was really delicious and he did a good job.

I also forgot to mention one more thing. When we had a zoom meeting back in the states with our host teachers from Uruguay, we asked what they would like us to bring for their students. Even though they said no, we insisted and Ines said they like Nutella. She said even though grocery stores has, many of the students didn’t tried before or they have tried once or twice in their lives. I immediately said I could bring jars of Nutella. Eventually, I ended up bringing two big jars of Nutella that I bought from Costco for Ines students. She distributed it, each student got one scoop before the lunch as a dessert. It was still plenty of it left but Ines said this was enough for them for today. They were leaking the Nutella as of they are eating ice cream. It was fun to watch them enjoy eating their treats. Who doesn’t like nutella, right?

The school cook also prepared alfajor for us which the taste was beyond description. I got to the point where I could not handle anymore to eat but stashed a couple more into my backpack.

After lunch students left the school and we were ready to go to our next stop. While we were getting in our cars, Ines’ teacher partner said she uses hitchhiking to commute to school everyday. She said that almost anyone stops and picks her up at her home. We asked whether it is safe for her as a young lady and they said it is absolutely safe. Then they said, here teachers and students have school uniforms and people recognize the teachers by their uniform and offer help immediately. They said they have so much for teachers as well as people who are on the path of learning, students. I was absolutely amazed.

Our next stop was to visit a 150 year old cattle farm called Cabana Bayucua. After going through a series of dirt roads, we finally arrived at the house of this cattle farm. A couple runs the farm together and they gave us a brief explanation of the history of the farm. They said that currently there were 3500 angus and 2500 sheep in the farm.

Then they took us to his lands on the farm. I was expecting his land was around his house only but it was so huge that it took us at least 30 minutes to get around his land with jeeps. One thing I learned was that they plant rice every year. The owner said that the Uruguayan rice is one of the best in the world. The water they use for the rice field comes from the reservoir near his land.

He also said that many of cattles here in Uruguay are free range and pasture raised. They don’t use any chemicals or hormones/steroids. He said that it is forbidden to use steroids in Uruguay. Another interesting thing I observed was that the concept of animal barn is almost non-existent, they all stay out in the pasture at night as well as if they are wild animals. I guess this is the next level of natural and organic farming in Uruguay.

When they were talking about Angus, they noted that Angus beef is considered to be high quality beef because they have fat stripes within their muscles which makes their meat so tender and a quality that many meat lovers want. They also showed us their best angus cattle for showcase. One of their animals even won best angus cattle in Uruguay recently. She was really beautiful. When we asked what makes them the best. The owner said that they look for the characteristics of Angus breeds in any individual. She said the one it won the best had all the characteristics of the breed.

The farm had two gigantic dogs. I am normally scared of dogs by nature. I don’t know why but I just can’t approach them easily. When I saw them approaching us, I said I probably would not enjoy my time as much as I wanted while I was here. In contrast, the dogs were so friendly and they were almost saying pet and hugging me all the time. They were really cute.

Another amazing day ended with great memories and I will never forget the things I have experienced today in my life.