The Goat Topic: Tips & Techniques

[jfrater]

Thanks Panaderia - what do you think about sous viding it for a while? I am not sure what temperature would be best but is that an option do you think? And then just a very quick grill to blacken some of the marinade...

[Panaderia Canadiense]

That would probably work. I don't do SV myself (the basic rig comes in at over $1K down here) so I can't help with temperatures or times, but what I've read of it makes me think you'd get crazy tender meat that way, particularly if you can go very low and very slow. Of course, with SV, you should also be able to seal some of the yogurt/masala mix in with the meat while it cooks.

[Butterbean]

Low and slow is how I do goat and it will just be fall off the bone tender.

[jfrater]

Panderia I was considering doing that with the yoghurt mix but I can't find a temperature for sous vide goat and if it is anything like beef it would need to bathe for 24 hours to be perfectly tender by the looks of things (based on chuck steak). I am just going to leave it marinating as long as I can and hope for the best!

[ChrisTaylor]

The thing about goat:

-- in my experience, at least, goat is a funny beast. from the meat-eating perspective, I mean. young goat, as in baby goat, is already tender. it's what I'd use. I mean, it's more expensive and harder to find--in Australia, at least--but the price/effort difference is worthwhile. old goat might be flavoursome (altho' young goat is delicious too, so don't feel you're giving up flavour for tenderness) but it can be quite tough. so. in short. buy baby goat and you're half way there, pretty much.

[jfrater]

Panderia I was considering doing that with the yoghurt mix but I can't find a temperature for sous vide goat and if it is anything like beef it would need to bathe for 24 hours to be perfectly tender by the looks of things (based on chuck steak). I am just going to leave it marinating as long as I can and hope for the best!

[jfrater]

ChrisTaylor: this was goat from a wild game company - their products are usually amazing - unfortunately I didn't pay attention to whether it was kid or not. I guess we will find out tonight when I try to eat it. Maybe I ought to add the goat to the curry sauce much earlier while it simmers - rather than adding it at the end after a blast of heat.

[ChrisTaylor]

What cut is it?

[jfrater]

Chris I am not sure to be honest - I bought it about a month ago and didn't check the label when I took it out to marinate it - it is cubed so I am guessing it is meant for stewing purposes.

[Broken English]

I've never used sous vide on goat, but I'd think that 48 hours at 62.5 would be a pretty good bet, that works pretty well for pork belly, plus you can always test and increase the time if you need to.

[jfrater]

Thanks Broken English I opted for slowly cooking them in the curry sauce - they have two more hours to go (which is good because I have tested a piece and it is tough as old boots!)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Do let us know how it turned out....

[jfrater]

Panaderia - I opted to slowly stew it for 3 hours in the tikka masala sauce - it was meltingly tender

[ChrisTaylor]

I found some goat shanks. These are from a baby goat and rather small. The first few search results on Google are useless: photos of dinners, a blogger going on about irrelevancies. Any suggestions on time and temp? Treating them as lamb shanks is a worst-case-no-other-choice-apocalypse fallout.

[Keith_W]

Chris, you might have more luck if you did a google search for "capretto". I suggest a long braise or pressure cooker.

[judiu]

Or "cabrito" , the Spanish equivalent.

[ChrisTaylor]

Poking and prodding Google I eventually got it to spit out a useful result: a blog post by some guy that butchered a couple of goats in his apartment. Yeah. He suggested 73C/12 hours and that sounded sensible enough to me. Anyone hardcore enough to portion two farm animals in a shoebox-sized kitchen sounds exactly like the kind of person I'd trust and take seriously. I wanted goat curry (hence not PCing a ragu, say) so I stirred the deboned, cooked shanks into the Muslim curry sauce from Modernist Cuisine at Home.

[Naftal]

Seventy-five percent of the world eats goat http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/eat_goat_it_is_a_healthy_choice

So I was wondering how it is done in various traditions. So...How do you do goat?

[heidih]

eGullet member chardgirl documented a goat feast cooked by some of her farm staff starting at this post http://forums.egullet.org/topic/78851-eg-foodblog-chardgirl-21st-century-peasant/page-5#entry1073481   Then scroll down to post#166 for the "Mexican haggis".  The cooks are from Michoacan, Mexico. 

[andiesenji]

Kid meat can be prepared just like lamb because it is tender and flavorful - quite sweet.  Roast saddle of kid is as good, if not better than lamb (I really don't care for lamb). 

 

Goat meat, in my opinion and experience, is best in braised dishes and if you google you will get a lot of results.

 

I make a braised goat shoulder, which is enough to serve four easily.  Leg of goat will serve more - up to ten, depending on the amount of meat on the hindquarter.  A Mediterranean dish here is one I made last fall with great results.

 

The local Mexican carniceria carries goat meat and will cut to order.  For stew there are goat shanks, which have to be cooked a very long time.

 

And lastly, I won a couple of chili contests back in the '80s with a goat chili recipe made with green chiles, mulatto chiles, a small amount of a hotter chile (Manzano usually) and dried tomatoes.  I'll have to dig out the recipe if anyone is interested - I can't find it in my computer files. 

 

My Mexican neighbors barbecue goat meat after brining it in large pieces overnight, marinating, wrapping in foil and cooking long and slow in a wood-fired barbecue much like pork, removing the foil for the final 40 - 60 minutes to finish the surface, if the goat is a bit old and leaner than usual, they wrap the meaty parts in a "jacket" of pig skin with a thin layer of fat. 

Roasts can also be larded with pork or beef fat if one has a good larding needle.

 

Also Google "roast goat Greek style" ...

Edited July 18, 2014 by andiesenji (log)

[Hassouni]

So...How do you do goat?

 

Low and slow. Seriously - prime candidate for sous vide

[Beebs]

Many years ago, caterers for a family party did a whole kid goat on a rotisserie, Greek-style. Took about 8 hours or so, if I recall. It was fabulous.

[CatPoet]

I only have had  kid stuffed with  parsley butter and slow roasted. I know it is a old Swedish recipe but we dont eat  goat here anymore.  North Sweden used to eat alot of  goat because they are  easier kept. 

[annachan]

I love goat curry.

[andiesenji]

I found the recipe I made year-before-last  for a potluck on Easter Sunday.  Chivo Guisado.

 

This is a very good stew - savory, not spicy but  one can add any number of condiments to the stew, traditionally served over rice. 

 

I made several "sideboys" to set out around the cazeula in which I served the stew.  Chopped avocado, green onions, stewed black beans, mango salsa, toasted chopped peanuts.