The Meat Department

I am not sure if these blogs things are suppose to go in any sort of order or if it's fine to jump around. I was thinking I should write more often and that it didn't really have to be about big things that happen but just every day things. And so today as I sat down to write I thought I would like to share about the meat market.  The meat section of the market (and the fish section) is probably my least favorite part of the market.  One it is really smelly and two the guys are really pushy to get you to buy from them.  Any time Ellie comes with me to the market she asks if we have to go by the stinky place. She plugs her nose the whole time and all the Ugandans laugh or smile because of it.  So besides those two things I am never really sure what to get/ask for.  The meat is just hanging there and then they hack off a piece and weigh it and that is what you get.  You can try to ask for different pieces but most of the time you get what you get.

 I have learned recently that you can ask for boneless but it costs a little bit more.  I am just not sure the best way to cook it when it comes in chunks with bone.  I usually only buy it that way (bone in) when our friend and house help Goretty is cooking dinner for us. (On a side note she said she would be willing to write a post from her perspective on living and working with us.) The main options are goat, beef, pork, turkey and chicken.  I have yet to buy a live chicken from the market but mostly because I don't want to carry it home alive.  Goat seems to be the most expensive. A guy tried to make me pay 15,000 per kilo which is the muzungu (foreigner) price but I knew it was too much so I decided not to get goat that day...It should only be 12,000 per kilo.  Beef is 9,000 per kilo with the bone and 10,000 per kilo with out. You can also get it minced for an extra 1,000. Pork is usually 9,000 per kilo but you can pay 10,000 per kilo sometimes. I am not even sure how much a live chicken costs.  I will get back to you when I find out/buy one.  I think because Jinja is close to Kampala and is almost a city (I think they are voting on it soon) we get things in the supermarkets that other towns don't get.  Like frozen meats.  I can get bacon, chicken breasts, drumsticks, minced beef, and lots more. Whenever my sister-in-law Jennifer comes to town she goes shopping before she heads back to Soroti. The meat you buy at the supermarket is more expensive but it is much more what I am used to.  I am slowly starting to learn but I would really love to learn which parts are which of the different animals and really get good cuts of meat.  I have a friend who is a butcher and I would love to have him come to experience the meat market here and show me how to pick the right stuff!