Naceur Boucherit - The Butcher Store

Continuation from previous post (Premeir Mai)…

It was a ten minute drive to our next stop. I just knew the butcher store would be a much better experience than the one I had at Premeir Mai market. The store is called Naceur Boucherit. It’s not very big at all; probably fits 10 people comfortably. But it was clean. The only animals I could see in this place were dead, and they were supposed to be there unlike those stray cats in Premeir Mai. This place was a breath of fresh air compared to what I had just seen.

Almost a week prior I had been to Naceur with Giovanna, our sponsor. At the time we had no meat in the house so I greatly appreciated her offer to take me to Naceur after she got off work. Since it was my first time purchasing meat I only wanted to buy a little to make sure that it agreed with both Douglas’ and my stomach.  Several people informed me that meat from certain butcher stores can make you ill. However, I heard good things about Naceur. Nonetheless, I was still a bit skeptical. This was the type of atmosphere I expected meat to be sold in. The place had a good temperature for housing food. All the meat was stored in glass containers where they were free of any outside contamination. The machinery was a shiny silver color and appeared to have just been cleaned. And fortunately one of the men working spoke a little English. This place was definitely to my liking.

The main types of meat I eat are chicken, turkey, fish and shrimp. Naceur did not sell any seafood, but they had my chicken and turkey, along with many other parts of the cow. Since Algeria is a Muslim country no pork is sold here. That was perfectly fine with me because I don’t eat pork and I rarely eat beef. I’ll admit to having pieces of ham, beef or ribs once in a blue moon, although I’m not a huge fan. I never purchase or cook it for myself. I mainly eat it when cooked at a friend’s house or to entertain my husband and try something new. I’m a creature of habit. When I find a food I like I stick with it and will rarely try anything else. My husband is completely opposite of me. Douglas will not only try any new food that is placed in front of him, but he’s an avid beef fan and right behind me, pork is his next best friend. Needless to say he has been struggling with daily shivers from his lack of pork intake. The embassy should really offer some sort of PorkAholic program to help people deal with their transition from consuming pork on a daily basis to no longer having it at all. I think it could be very beneficial. I’m sure my husband would highly disagree and rather focus on his plot to find a way to get some kind of pork shipped in a care package to him.

There was a large assortment of meat spread out for purchase. They carried chicken, turkey and beef, ribs, lamb and various parts of the animal such as the brain, liver, heart, gizzards, etc. You couldn’t tell what some of the pieces were because there were no labels beside them. At first sight, the appearance of it all made my stomach turn. I don’t know the last time I entered a butcher shop. All my life I have always purchased my meat from the grocery store packaged with a label on it. Thankfully Giovanna was there to help me tell the man what I wanted. Although he spoke some English, it was still a tad challenging to convey my request. I opted to order only a couple pieces of chicken breasts and a little turkey and beef. The man had been exceedingly helpful and patient with me. I paid for my food and we left. It was a pretty nice shopping experience that only took a few minutes. However, my experience there today was not exactly the same.

After leaving Premeir Mai, the other two embassy employees I was befriended by and I were dropped off at Naceur. Just two of us actually wanted to buy meat that day. The other person went to a small vegetable stand next door to get some produce. I didn’t mention earlier that next to this butcher store there is an In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) clinic. Although they are in separate buildings, I found it hilarious and a bit odd that an IVF clinic would be placed right next to a butcher store. A woman can go receive her ovulation induction and then walk next door to purchase her meat for dinner. Now that’s a one stop shop for real! We proceeded into the store as I noticed it was filled with a lot of people this time. When I went with Giovanna there were probably no more than five people there including ourselves. This time, including us, there were at least fifteen people in the store. It was a clear difference from going on a weekday in the evening versus going on a weekend in the morning. Clearly you will not find much disparity in those numbers when shopping at a store in the states.  

The two of us waited about 15 minutes until we were serviced. There were two men working the front of the store to assist customers and one gentleman in the back. I was happy when our turn came around and the same man that took care of me when I was with Giovanna was able to assist us as well. My friend offered for me to go first, but I declined so that I could take a little more time to decide what I wanted. Since the meat I bought a week prior from here agreed just fine with Douglas’ stomach and mine, I decided to go ahead and stock up on meat so that I wouldn’t have to continuously come back and forth to the store as often. Several Americans at the embassy recommended I keep my freezer stocked with an assortment of meat. In our home we were provided with not only a refrigerator, but a large deep freezer as well. I don’t know if I will ever fill that additional freezer to its capacity. I would have to purchase enough food for a year! The Algerians do not usually buy large quantities of anything. Most people buy what they need and simply come back to the store a couple times a week to purchase their groceries. I have never been a supporter of that concept. I would prefer to buy enough to last me at minimum a week but ideally two weeks. Also, since I will always have to request a driver to take me shopping and have someone with me because it’s not recommended for me to go shopping by myself, I would much rather stock up to avoid the unnecessary trips.

My friend was done with his order and now it was my turn. I decided I would purchase a mixture of chicken breast and turkey. I told the butcher that I would like 6 chicken breast and 4 kilos of ground turkey. Items in Algiers are sold in kilos instead of pounds like in the U.S. I thought that would be a good amount to start out, except when I said 4 kilos the man asked me if I was sure that is what I wanted. He continuously repeated himself by saying, “you sure you want 4 kilos?” In addition he placed 4 fingers up as if I couldn’t understand what the number 4 meant. He was very nice though, but very shocked by the quantity I wanted. I didn’t think it was too much meat. The man started with the chicken first. As you see in the picture below, there are only whole chickens displayed. 

In order for me to get 6 chicken breasts, he must use 3 of those chickens. I was able to pull out my cell phone to take a couple pictures of the process. As I looked around me it felt pretty safe to do so. The man used a large butcher knife to split the chicken in half and then strip the breast of meat off each side of the bone. You can see him doing this in the pictures below. In the background you will see the remaining parts of the chicken. And to the right are the 6 pieces of chicken breast I requested. That process took about 15 minutes. 

Now he moved on to get my turkey. There were a couple pieces of large turkey breast laid out in the display. Instead of the man grabbing those pieces he opened the door behind him to get a large quantity of meat. When he opened the door I saw a huge array of meat hanging and even more on shelves. It seemed like the meat in the display should have been enough, but then again I had never seen meat ground before so I didn’t know how much it took to achieve the desired amount. After he gathered enough turkey breast, he went to the back room where the turkey grinder was located. In the picture below you can see another man using the beef grinder. 

It was pretty interesting to watch this process. However, I can’t say the same for the other people in the store. I began to get strange looks from the other customers. One couple started talking in Arabic and/or French. I can best describe the feeling I had as the one you get when you’re in a grocery store at the deli counter and someone in front of you places an order for 4 different types of meat at 1 lb. each and then another of 2 different types of cheeses at ½ lb. each. And you are patiently waiting to order your ½ lb. of meat and just a few slices of cheese. Yes, that is what it felt like. I simply looked at the couple and anyone else giving me those “hurry the heck up stares” and smiled at them. I figured they couldn’t hate me as much if I smiled at them. I really had no idea it would take that long to grind turkey. When I went shopping in the states I was accustomed to going in the store, glancing over the selection of meat and choosing the packages with the latest date on them. Two minutes and I would be on to the next grocery item. Not at the butcher shop. Thirty-five minutes later he presented me with 4 brown paper wrapped packages of ground turkey and 1 wrapped package of chicken breast. I couldn’t believe it took that long. By then I was a little annoyed myself simply from standing there the whole time watching the process. Unfortunately it’s not like he could have moved any faster. One can only cut chicken and grind meat but so fast. Even though the customers in the store didn’t seem too friendly, I liked the staff and the environment. Therefore, since I’m a creature of habit I’m pretty sure I will continue to shop there for all my meat.

The three of us intended on going to one more store; however, a little more than 2 hours had passed from the time we went shopping at Premeir Mai, drove to Naceur and purchased our assortment of meat. None of us felt like going anywhere else. Honestly waiting around drains me more than moving around and staying busy. We had an eventful morning and I was now ready to go home, unpack my groceries and share this experience with my husband.

Douglas was on duty working when I got home. I called and told him I made it back safely from my shopping excursions at both Premeir Mai and Naceur. He was excited to hear about my experience. When he got home I told him everything ranging from the freshly grown produce sold at the dirty market, to the long wait at the butcher store while receiving the evil eye from several customers. He found it all quite entertaining and was happy that I survived. But most of all I think he was pleased that we now had more meat in the house. I proceeded to show him the spread I purchased. I told him there were 6 chicken breast there and 4 lbs. of ground turkey in each wrapping. He looked at the turkey, held it in his hand and said, “Honey this is definitely more than a 1 lb. of turkey.” I said, “No it’s not. I told him I wanted 4 kilos of turkey and to wrap them each separately.” I then asked my husband to go look up the conversion amount from kilos to pounds. He went to do so and with a smirk on his face he told me, “Babe, 1 kilo is 2.2 pounds.” I looked at the meat and realized that instead of what I thought was 4 lbs. of ground turkey meat, we now had 8.8 lbs. of ground turkey sitting on our counter. I shook my head and said, “Dang it! No wonder the man continuously tried to confirm my request for 4 kilos while the customers gave me the stares of death.” I’m sure they all thought to themselves, “These greedy Americans!”

I’m convinced that with every outing and new experience whether good or bad, I will undoubtedly always learn something new.