Mi’laq (Eid offal breakfast)

Mi’laq is the name for the organs that “hang” inside the sacrificed animal: lungs, liver, spleen and heart, and in some homes the kidneys too. On the first morning of Eid al-Adha, right after the slaughter, they are grilled on skewers over charcoal or cooked in a pan, and they go to the breakfast table where the family gathers. In Deir ez-Zor offal does not wait for the feast: it is grilled on skewers and sold in the street all year.

What is on the plate

According to Al-Watan, mi’laq means the lungs, liver, spleen and heart; the liver is called sawda locally. Another feast-day article adds the kidneys. Butchers sell the organs together as a separate item. In everyday speech, “kbir al-mi’laq” (big mi’laq) describes a boastful or greedy person.

How it is cooked on the feast morning

The slaughter takes place in the courtyard, and breakfast is laid out straight after. The pieces are threaded onto skewers over a charcoal brazier or cooked in a pan. The women of the house compete over what reaches the table first: mi’laq, or sharhat, slices of fresh meat cooked over a wood fire. One Al-Watan piece describes two mi’laqs sent from the village being grilled over charcoal.

A childhood taste in Damascus

A memoir of 20th century Damascus, published in Al-Watan, recalls the joy of children at Eid through two tastes: grilled mi’laq and ful nabet, sprouted and boiled broad beans.

All year in Deir ez-Zor: halawlawat

An eSyria article from 2010 describes “jabda” stalls grilling liver, heart and kidneys along the main street of the city’s Tishreen quarter. In Deir ez-Zor, skewered grilled offal is called halawlawat and is eaten both morning and evening. Another eSyria article, from 2012, describes halawlawat as the local counterpart of mi’laq in other provinces, made from liver, heart, lungs, spleen and windpipe.

At the table after a birth

Mi’laq is not only a feast dish. An eSyria article on birth customs lists mi’laq and liver on the “khalas” table laid after a woman gives birth.

How it differs from maqadem and qabawat

This site has two other offal dishes. Maqadem is the sheep’s trotters of Damascus, simmered for hours until the broth sets. Qabawat is Aleppo’s intestine stuffed with rice and minced meat. Mi’laq has no filling and no long boil: the organs are cut up and go straight onto the fire or into the pan.

Where to eat it

At the tables of families who sacrifice an animal on the morning of Eid al-Adha, across the country. In Deir ez-Zor, as halawlawat, at street grill stalls; for where they stand today and when they open, ask locally.