Halal Wedding Buffet

[Barmaid]

I have rather stupidly offered to provide a wedding buffet for my sister in law. Now a normal buffet I can do, however tonight I have been informed that there are people attending who will need halal food.

Please help, am clueless now.....(and am considering faking my own death).

[Eve]

What were you planning on doing?

Do you have local places you can get some halal meat from to do some selected halal dishes, if a buffet then I'm sure there will be plenty of other things that can go with whatever they are having.

If you are not sure on the halal thing then just make sure there are lots of halal friendly bits and bobs. It's not like it's a sit down where they may need a separate meal.

[Barmaid]

Hang on Eve, can we take a step back. I have nfi what the hell halal is or what I need to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eve]

Oh, and if in doubt then just make sure there are loads of veggie options suitable for a vegan (ie no animal fats etc... used).

[Eve]

Oooooooh ok. (it's Jenna btw, fancied a name change :)).

Try this...

www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~facilities/documents/GuidetoHalalFoods.pdf

[boxtops]

Barmaid. this really isn't a problem. When we got married, we had several Muslim and Jewish guests, so we tailored the whole menu round that.

We had veg soup or melon for starters, and strawberries and cream or profiteroles for dessert. For the mains, our local butcher provides halal chicken breasts (the majority of butchers buy in from Holland), and a lot of the chicken and lamb in Tesco is halal). (In fact our butcher said he couldn't get it until we pointed out that the box of chicken had "Halal" printed on it!)
We then avoided alcohol in the dishes and provided soft drinks as well as wine and champagne for those who wanted it. It was extremely easy to manage, and those who weren't Muslim or Jewish didn't know any different - the whole meal was lovely and pretty well the same in content as we'd have delivered if we hadn't been paying attention to the requirements of our guests.

[Buenchico]

Hi Barmaid

Forget 'Halal'. Just think 'veggie' and you'll be safe ;-)

If you do decide to include meat-based dishes (which is definitely complicating things!), buy your meat from somewhere like here:
http://www.zabihah.com/d/Peterborough+7906+Jamil-Halal-Butchers-amp-Grocers/

If in doubt, see this guide:
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~facilities/documents/GuidetoHalalFoods.pdf

Chris

[Eve]

Do you think anyone local would do halal products (if you wanted to buy any)? I guess I'm used to being surrounded by it up here as I live in such a highly mixed area and right by the local Curry Mile.

[boxtops]

jenna, I live in the depths of Kent which has a very low ethnic Muslim population (54 reported at the last census) and yes, our butcher's meat is Halal, it's tasty and reliable.

[Eve]

Veggie is a good guide but remember no alcohol too (or vanilla as I learn from that link, didn't realise that!!!), missed that bit out, sorry!

As long as there are options available, unless anyone is being particularly picky I can't see a problem, if I was veggie/vegan I wouldn't make a big fuss over dietary requirements if it were me, with it being a buffet I'd just pick from what I could eat, especially with it being a wedding, it's not like they are paying for a meal.

[boxtops]

We made sure to label everything for the evening buffet too, jenna's got a good point, then people can pick what they liked. You're doing a buffet, just buy halal chicken and make finger food from them, that'll be fine.

[sara3]

I would pay good money to attend this reception :0)

[Barmaid]

Sara, bugger off.

everyone else, thank you for your constructive replies.

Mr BM is laughing at me stomping round the house saying "effing hell, she didnt tell me I had to do this Sugar when I agreed to do it....."

[sara3]

:@)

[boxtops]

when is it, barmaid? If you ask your butcher soon, if they don't stock it they can get it in.

A good way to tell halal stuff is look at the labels (tins etc) - if there are ingredients listed in Arabic, you can bet it's halal.

[Barmaid]

But seriously, I can source halal meat (hey I live in Peterborough!). But what do I need to think about in terms of preparation? For instance, does the food need to be prepared separately? (eg, I understand that in a Jewish kitchen there are divisions as to dairy products and everything else). Is there anything I can't use in the prep. This needs to be done properly.

[Barmaid]

Sometime in June, Boxy. But if I start the thinking process now, I might just be in a position to provide a buffet for 50 odd in Cardiff sometime in early summer!!!!

[boxtops]

No, same kitchen, just make sure you wash knives etc in between cutting ordinary meat etc. - which is why it's easier just to buy all halal (you're only talking chicken and lamb here as a general rule, unless you're running into goat country). Avoid contact with alcohol products, even if the alcohol will burn off it's a no-no. No alcohol in sauces.

[Buenchico]

Only ingredients are either Halal or Haram. How you make the dish is irrelevant.

[sara3]

Is Barmaid allowed to drink whilst preparing, Boxy?

Otherwise I think it'll never happen.

[boxtops]

agree Chris, but you don't want to butt your chicken bits in the oven against something which might seep into the halal stuff, like a wine sauce.