Icicle

At the farmer's market yesterday, our local slaughterhouse/butcher was advertising veal for sale, half or whole, cut to your specifications. They raise their own animals, treat them kindly, and offer an organic alternative to the supermarket, so I want some! If you were in my shoes, what cuts would you prefer? Any suggestions are most welcome!

Better late than never for a reply-- I should get online more often! The party was a smashing success. The DC'ers brought a couple of cases of Tusker Beer -- hard to find outside of East Africa-- and that set the mood for the grand experiment. The goat did well also, though the oven roasted (baked, my husband rightly insists) leg meat was less so than the grilled shoulder bits. Roasted, it was uncannily like chicken, but grilled brought out more goaty flavor -- perhaps the high heat is the key to good goat? We mixed up a spicy peanut sauce and kachumbali (minced onion, tomato, chilis) as kebab dipping sauces. The heat, I think, mellows the unpleasant side of gamy, and the onion tang cuts any greasy aftertaste. All in all, unless I was spit roasting an entire animal over coals (the nightmare our lone vegetarian guest envisioned), I'd go the curry/stew route in a heart beat. It IS a lean animal and roasting bits is not it's forte. Chewy, chewy, chewy Final verdict: a fun hands-on party food experience, but not the best use of the ingredient. Thanks for the moral support and tasty advice! Christina

We were fortunate to get a kid goat raised on Vermont green pasture, so I'm hopeful we're starting better than Serengeti scrub land and an older culled animal. The legs are much smaller than the lamb I just got and the whole animal was 26 pounds processed, so I'm assuming by 'kid' the butcher meant quite young. Apparently, goat is quite delicious-- thus the incentive to give it a try and the reason I've got so many volunteers willing to risk it. My husband gets a dreamy look when he mentions it (and the roasted octopus he ate in Zanzibar, but I think that must be all the spices in the air there). Thanks for the tips!

Actually, I'm not that brave -- I'm off the hook since most of my guests remember goat being more an African experience than a great culinary feast! Part of the fun will be seeing if we can do better than the 'shrapnel stew' they remember. Most of the guests served in Tanzania/Zanzibar, so curry is definately an option given the East Indian influence of that region. Chapati and dal are on the menu too to reflect that. Thanks for the great advice!

I'm hosting a Returned Peace Corp Volunteer Party this weekend and due to popular demand, we've got a goat to roast. It's cut into 2 legs, rib roasts, shoulder roasts, loin and stew meat. My thought was to roast both legs in the oven (crowd of 10 or so to feed) and do kebabs with some of the other roasts on the grill. Does anyone have any tips on oven temperature and finish temperature? I like my lamb rather pink, but not having been to Africa myself, I'm not familiar with a good goat benchmark. Any suggestions ??

The lazy summer method I use: If I'm grilling something already, I usually give'em a good scrub, get them similar in size, toss olive oil, rosemary, sea salt, and taters on a big square of foil, fold the foil over to form a packet and toss it on the grill about 20 minutes (10 a side) before I'm going to start grilling the main item. Easy, tasty, and no dishes or stove/oven required!

I'm another ranch victim -- love it on pizza crusts!