Written by Theresa Corbin
Since Ramadan is about a week away, it only seems fitting to talk about food. What follows are from articles I have written for Aquila Style -a magazine for Modern Muslim Living- and a previous islamich post. SOOoooo Yes, I am totally about to quote myself …
The southern USA has a rich tradition of unique cuisine.
This culinary uniqueness reaches a fever pitch in the port of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is as if New Orleanians decided to represent their melting pot of different cultures in a literal cooking pot […] New Orleans is a fantastic destination for any hungry traveler or foodie looking for fanciful fare.
However, as is the case with most southern cuisine, the New Orleans food experience can be a gastronomic “landmine” for Muslims.
Most recipes either use parts of the pig or have some pork added for “flavour”. And when you do find a dish that looks pork-free, you will often find that there is alcohol added.
As a convert living in southern USA, who grew up on New Orleans food, I have had to tweak my mother’s recipes into home cooking the halal way. From gumbo minus the ham hock stock to bread pudding without the rum drizzle, New Orleans and American southern food doesn’t have to be passed up because of its haram components.
New Orleans is famous for its gumbo
[…]Unfortunately for the Muslim who takes a trip to New Orleans to try this stew, gumbo is almost always made with pork. Whether it is in the stock, a ham bone thrown into the roux for flavor, or pork sausage as one of the meats added to the stew, pork is almost always an ingredient in gumbo.
But there is no reason why Muslims should miss out of this robust multi-ethnic dish. Gumbo doesn’t need pork – shrimp, chicken, crab, or even fish can replace that part of any gumbo.
Click here for the recipe.
New Orleans BBQ Shrimp
BBQ Shrimp (deceptively named because it has nothing to do with barbecue sauce or grilling) is usually cooked with beer. I did a little research and some creative cooking, and discovered that the recipe could be adjusted for the halal palate.
Click here for the recipe.
The All Important Crawfish Boil
Even though the crawfish boil usually entails some un-halal aspects, those can easily be switched out for their halal counterparts. So, if you have access to crawfish, even if it isn’t live or from the Gulf of Mexico, you need to think about having a boil. You will first thank Allah, then thank me.
Click here for the recipe.
Bon Appetit!
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islamwich 
Anything to with sea food is a okay with me. That shrimp looks boti-ful.
Man I wish I could cook :_(
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You probably can. Have you given it a go? I find many men think they can’t cook only because they tried once or twice and gave up. Don’t be a quitter. btw some of your comments are going to spam. I don’t know why, and I hardly ever check spam. I have freed the ones already in spam purgatory and will check more frequently. My apologies.
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If I don’t drive, I certainly won’t take time to cook lol. I never really cared about food or eating and what not. It is halal and I can digest it, I eat quietly.
I haven’t had any of my comments missing…once or twice when I am posting via iphone, I think it’s double posted or something dunno.
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Don’t drive!? What are you, a Saudi Woman? Or Just another hazard of being a New Yorker?
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Hatred against technology ? lol along with other things. As a traditionalist I favor horses.
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Ahh, I see. You are a Muslim with an Amish rising (astrology reference)
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Can you make a blog post about herbal medicines ? Moonshine not required.
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I’ll look into it. Moonshine is all I know other than sunshine.
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not sure how to comment, so here is a reply
I nominated you for an award, Allah bless your work! http://joymanifest.com/2014/06/21/with-thanks-an-award/
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Jazakum Allah Khair Sister! Thank you so much I am honored. May Allah bless you.
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So lovely. We do shrimp boils in Mobile. Nothing haram in them…just some corn, potatoes and lotsa shrimp(s)! A little Old Bay, I think. Nom nom nom…..except I’m mostly in it for the corn and potatoes.
Sam’s Club has a pork-free variety of premade gumbo that’s delish. But I’m anxious to try your recipes, Insha’Allah.
What about jambalaya and etoufee? Any good recipes for those?
I wish I could eat to live. But I will say that is where I don’t scrimp. I am not about personal possessions, but I DO enjoy good food.
Now, along the lines of food and halal…..is seafood automatically halal or is there a slaughter method that must be used to certify it as such? I’m curious.
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Well according one named Hyde, usually halal is considered of those animals that do not eat other animals, i.e. herbivores. But I have heard that dolphins and sparrow are halal but they do eat fish and worms respectively, right ? (Why anybody would eat dolphin meat or a cute sparrow is another issue).
Far as crustaceans are considered, they do scavenge on the sea floor, so one might take issue with that ? But honestly I think it is Arab/Desi bias.
Far as actual slaughter is concerned, since so many fish are caught in multitude, I don’t think each individual fish gets their own “bismillaha”. it must be a consensus bismillaha…
but then again when Muslims eat fish from the supermarket, obviously those fish (I’m trying not say fishes, knowing the English majors will probably throw some Susan Sontag books at me) are not “properly” killed. Common sense would say general seafood is good as it is.
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Ah…..common sense. I knew I forgot to pack something. 😛 Yes, I was referring to slaughter method, not eating seafood. Thanks for your insight, Hyde!
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I thought Alabamians were plain folks; do I detect a hint of sarcasm ?
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Funny you should mention it because Gracie and I were just messaging about doing a part two with jambalaya and etoufee. I think you can read our minds. And I am with you on the not skimping on food thing (even though I am on and have been on a diet since age 15). I will never buy a full price pair of shoes or any kind of brand name clothing EVER, most of my furniture is from garage sales or upcylced. My husband and I have even started plans of building a tiny house from reclaimed materials. But when it comes to food, I will spend my last nickel just to sit down to a good meal with the family. More to come on the issue of seafood and halal and methods of slaughter …
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Got ya beat. Dieting in some form since 11. But I’ve given up dieting in favor of making better health choices, insha’Allah. Looking forward to your insight about seafood slaughtering…:-)
And, speaking of clairvoyance, stop doing that. It’s so unlady-like. 😛
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Hot dog!!! You have been dieting for over 20 years (not to date you but…). I think you have paid your due. And yes with my most recent illness caused mostly by years of harmful dieting practices, I am looking into just making healthy choices. I often get told I am unlady-like but I am just livin’ here. 😉
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Yes….over 20 years. The doctor actually told me, “I think this is your base line for weight.” I don’t gain….I just can’t lose. 😦 Diets just harm us.
And unladylike? Psshhht. Why?
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I agree. It is all just harmful as you said. It is a symptom of a sick society who expects grown a$$ women to be the same size as an anorexic 15 year old. And we internalize it and tie our entire self worth to it. I am done. How much space in this world are we allowed to take up? Let’s forget it and just be healthy. I am mad ironically because I am hungry (not fasting yet-Ramadan for us starts tomorrow, inshaAllah).
I say I am unladylike only because that term is tied to silence and obedience. I am only obedient to Allah and speak because sometime it is an improvement on the silence.
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I see. Then, I suppose I am just as unladylike as you. Let’s be unlike ladies together!
And you think it’s hard for us? Imagine having a daughter. This phenomena of size-equald-worth isn’t new, but it sure has become a rabid way of.minimizing womens’ worth around the globe…..especially in the last 15 years or so, it seems.
Imagine hearing your 6-year-old daughter say, “Oh, I’m getting fat.” Mine hasn’t said it exactly this way, but it has come out of her mouth in other subtle ways that tells me somebody, somewhere has said something to her or about themselves in comparison. Why can’t we ALL have the right to be happy and enjoy our lives? Why should it only be reserved for skinny people? (Not that they don’t have problems, too, because they do.)
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I can’t imagine having a daughter and have to watch her be crippled by this sickness of our society. And it really is getting worse. People are inventing new ways to make women feel bad about themselves. WTH is this thigh gap!!!! how are we supposed to compete with photoshopped models? Who says we even should? I am biding my time until I am considered too old to matter. In some ways that makes me sad, to not matter, but I am sick and tired of being judged on some impossible standard. Hijab solves most of the problem, but we still get these messages that crush us. Maybe a post about this for our younger sisters in faith?
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Absolutely. And hijab does nothing to protect us from those who think they have a right. I walk into stores and am ogled up and down by clerks telling me, “We don’t have YOUR size!” Men stare at me….with my husband next to me.
The only person over 15 I’ve ever seen in real life with a thigh gap was my college aerobics instructor….and I remember thinking she looks malnourished.
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Damn, that sucks. People are such … ugh … it’s Ramadan. In my pre-hijab days, I can remember being oggled a lot more LIKE A LOT MORE. Or at least the oggler could see a lot more and I was always VERY uncomfortable and nearly crippled by that. It seemed I was stuck between fitting in and allowing the general public ownership over my body. As a western women we are instructed to wear tight, short, see through clothing (this is the uniform- and it is getting tighter, shorter and see through-er) and everyone has the right to judge every part. Sure, with hijab people can still tell that I am not a size 0. But they cannot critique every detail of what is NONE of their business. I am glad that I don’t feel compelled to put myself on display anymore. And I think that is part of the problem. Not only are women expected to take up very little space in this world, they are also expected to show people how much space they take up and every aspect of that space. How cruel.
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I know. You wouldn’t believe how many people have walked up to me, bright-eyed and smiling, and ask, “When are you due?” My response, “January 29…..2008.” Then they shrink away. I wouldn’t ask somebody that unless they’d told me they were pregnant. Oh….I could go on and on. But it’s getting late, and I need to sleep so I can get up for suhoor, inshaAllah. Today was a toughie for me…..migraine, hypoglycemia followed by profuse sweating. I think I’ve tipped the edge of diabetes (was borderline). I’m trying to do my best, as I haven’t fasted in several years due to medical problems (pneumonia, bronchitis, etc during Ramadan). I just keep making dua for it to get easier. Ya raab!
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As for hijab…….I was practically invisible before I started wearing it. Honestly, I could’ve walked down the street naked and nobody would’ve looked. I blended in, no matter what I wore. SubhanAllah.
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SubhanAllah, I guess everyone’s experience is different.
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And yes…..post.
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agreed 😉
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Women and diet…*no comment*… and eww just ’cause you live in the South, does not mean you have decorate your house accordingly :). What about Gone With Wind Mansions ?
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decorate your house accordingly, you say, lol. No I am not interested in an alligator upholstered couch. I am a creative person, I think it spawns from that and then agrees with my principles of only take what you need. Not that I don’t like nice things, I do, but I cannot stomach paying thousands of dollars for some run of the mill Sears catalog bullshit that every sad sack Tom, Dick and Harry in the mid-West has. References to my work. Before: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=335532276568515&set=pb.100003352361444.-2207520000.1403560954.&type=3&theater After: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=335532483235161&set=pb.100003352361444.-2207520000.1403560954.&type=3&theater
And no I am not interested in purchasing a home for hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions that I will take too much to cool, and too much to keep clean, and too much of my time to work to afford (will never purchase a home on ribba inshaAllah and who has that kinda cash up front?)) I create, I reduce, I reuse, I live consciously. If you are not a part of the solution …
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Vituperative Language ALERT! From an English major!!! Tsk Tsk
And Tom, Dick and Harry ?!?!? What is that ? We are Americans; we stick to John Does, and Joe Shomoes 🙂
And I know you did not insult me with facebook
Of course people should buy what they like and be wise about it too. I never ever plan on buying a house [castles and fiefdoms, Downton Abbey(s) are another matter); apartments are just fine (maybe on Madison Avenue).
I like your “self preserving” side. In a way I have that too, but lol in a way. Even the Beloved preserved and made use of everything to much as he could 🙂
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I like all kinds of language, as long as I am not cursing or offending someone, (sorry I offended your delicate sensibilities) I think coarse words are alright among friends, maybe, perhaps, yes/no?… Ok, I curse like a sailor and I am trying to quit. And yes, I totally threw you down a flight of stairs and insulted your cat’s mother’s uncle using facebook. Maybe I will stop these abusive and salty behaviors during Ramadan??? InshaAllah.
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Unladylike like you say ? Why I’ll be doggone if in the South any woman isn’t lady like…but if you are there is always Pygmalion.
P.S. Ladies ladies your ages are ubiquitous throughout this blog 🙂
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I know my age is ubiquitous because I really don’t care, but I don’t know Siam’s feeling on the matter.
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It is a symptom of a sick society who expects grown a$$ women to be the same size as an anorexic 15 year old.
Thank you for this! At 30 years of age and having just recently (over a month) weaned my 32 months old toddler off breastfeeding, you’d expect people to understand why you’re no longer that svelte young lady whose only concern was her books. But alas, people are dumb. I had to constantly informed them that “My husband takes good care of me.”
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The fact that people feel the need to comment on a women’s weight, like has happened to you, is to me a sign that people feel some amount of ownership over our bodies. It is sickening. My cousin who just gave birth, was telling me a similar tale of terror. Someone decided to comment on the fact that she hadn’t sprung back to pre-baby weight even though she was only 1 month postpartum and breast feeding. Sheer ridiculousness! Are we not allowed to be happy unless our appearance makes others happy?
If I were you, the next time someone says some such nonsense, I would ask them if they are perfect? and what is it their business? I wouldn’t do this out of my love for being flippant, I would do it because comments like this are oppressive. And hopefully they will think twice before making rude statement to the next young lady.
❤
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1-In regards to the slaughter of seafood, The most human way is best, at least in my opinion. Some silly folks say cutting their necks is the only way, but how does one cut the neck of a crabs who don’t have necks to cut? For fish (some fish don’t even die when you cut their head’s off), shrimp, and crawfish these animals don’t have blood in the sense that mammals do (the reason for cutting the neck being it is a quick and nearly painless death and to get the most blood out the animal.)
As I have learned from living and fishing, crabbing and shrimping most of my life on the Gulf Coast is that these animals are anesthetized in the cold water of winter. So if you put them in cold water they will slow down and almost hibernate. When they are on ice or in cold water is the perfect time to slaughter them. That is what most of these industries do. They put them on ice until it is time to kill them or sell them.
2- Those who follow different mathab like to knit pick on what seafood is aloud what is mukrooh an what is haram.
But I have never seen any religious evidence to support their claims.
But how can you claim it is mukrooh or haram when there is this? “And it is He who subjected the sea for you to eat from it tender meat and to extract from it ornaments which you wear. And you see the ships plowing through it, and [He subjected it] that you may seek of His bounty; and perhaps you will be grateful” 16:14
and this: “Lawful to you is (the pursuit of) water-game and its use for food – for the benefit of yourselves and those who travel…” 5:96
Allah Almighty has given the permission for us to eat from of all sea animals without exception of a certain kind of them and without putting the condition of slaughtering. So how can we then listen to a mathab over Allah?
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*nods head willingly and poignantly*
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I have never given a second thought on the halalness of seafood. I have always held on strong to the Quran Verse 5:96. I love seafood. Although I am not willing to risk my life over Fugu.
Ramadan Kareem to the Islamwich family!
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🙂 Ramadan Kareem, Mrs. B. May you and your family be blessed in it and may it benefit you in the rest of the year. ❤
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Ameen Inshallah. And to you my dear Theresa and husband, may this blessed month be a month of mercy, forgiveness, joy and only good things 🙂
Oh by the way, I am going to give the Gumbo recipe a go. In fact, today I shall go shopping for the ingredients. Hopefully, it will be delicious 😉
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That is awesome. If you can find Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning (www.tonychachere.com) at the market that is always best to flavor it with. Hope it turns out great!
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I used a local spice “creole” seasoning 🙂 I am not sure how a gumbo is supposed to taste so I am just going with my gut hehehe. By the way, instead of okra, I used tomatoes and instead of crabmeat I used mutton…is that ok? Anyway, its on the stove cooking away. Will be breaking fast in 2 hrs Inshallah.
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Adding okra is the African style. Tomatoes are often used in Gumbo in the Spanish style. Mutton? Idk, never had it. Like ever, not just in gumbo. Gumbo is a kinda thing that you just throw everything in it and it taste awesome. I hope it made for the best iftar ever ❤
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Why are you taking so long to write new blog pots ? Huh ? Huh ? Huh ? Huh ? Commmmeeee onnnnnn…..
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HYDE!!! What happened to Mr. Paul Williams blog????? I am glad you enjoy our blog but you know we are very busy women. We all work, have families,
hobbies, social media accounts to keep up with. Not mention all the napping that needs to get done! *rolls eyes*LikeLike
OooO, pff, procrastinating. Work defines a man 🙂
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Actually he’s a baby and has blocked me.
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😦 sorry to hear that. Maybe you can use a little Ramadan good will and make-up?
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He’s just going through menopause…
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I should actually make posters of your shrimp recipe and show around idiotic mountain people in Pakistan who tell us southerners from Sindh and seacoast that its “HARAM” “MAKRUH” to eat shrimp and sea food.
I have copied the recipe and will prepare it probably for Iftari dinner with family soon, thanks again for this very nice post!!!
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Glad you liked it! I hope you enjoy the recipe. Yeah, people never cease to amaze me at how much they love to complicate religion. It is clear in the Quran that we can eat all seafood, but still we have to make it complicated. I think a big problem our ummah is having is that we are insecure in deen. When people are insecure they want to enforce the strictest version they can find to prove to themselves they are indeed faithful (like the young girl who wears too much makeup trying to prove she is grown up). If we were secure in our belief, we would not need to prove so much. We would take the easier of two paths as the Prophet (SAWS) has told us to do.
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First of all mountain people are not idotic. Second don’t be so grumpy; have some haggis 🙂
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LOL my stomach churned from the mention of haggis. We are talking about the Scottish dish, no?
Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o’ a grace
As lang’s my arm.
And no not ALL mountain people are idiotic. No matter what mountain they come from (even if they are from the mountains of Mordor)
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(Hmm actually Mordor is the name of the place, i.e region. The mountains would and Barad-Dur)
Haggis is awesome!
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Wow !!!! How about you gals keep this private? 🙂
I was going to be snickering and laughing, but I have decided to lower the gaze…
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I don’t think we have described ourselves other than not being “perfect”. I think these issues are something that every woman faces. Sorry to disturb you, sir.
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East easy ! Keep the anger in the kitchen now ladies. But sis can you stop with the ownership thing ? Jeez louise! Maybe people are what they are it maybe it’s time not delve into my way or the highway :)))))))
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Look brother, It is a huge issue and becoming even bigger. Maybe you don’t understand how damaging and far reaching it’s effects are now but you will. May Allah spare any daughters you may come to have from it. But for now if we feel like discussing it and you don’t want to hear it, you are free not to read about it.
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Wow ouch! 😦
I’ll just sit quietly by..perhaps you should do a blog post it about it. Ultimately obviously as a dude, I’ll never really understand, but let not my humor be considered insensitive or crude. Sorry.
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You are forgiven 🙂
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