Cooking Goat meat
Goat can lose moisture and can toughen quickly if it is exposed to high, dry cooking temperatures because it has a low fat content. The two basic rules are:
1. cook it slowly (low temperature)
2. cook it with moisture
Here are a few recipes:
Simple Goat Cutlets (2 per person)
Marinate the cutlets in red wine vinegar, pepper and salt for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
Add to a sizzling frying pan or griddle pan for 30 seconds on each side then turn down the heat. Cover and cook for 3 or 4 minutes on each side. Let the meat rest somewhere warm for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Goat Kebabs
1.5kg diced goat meat
1 clove crushed garlic
Large can pineapple pieces
2 large red peppers (or yellow or green)
2 tblspns soy sauce
2 tblspns lemon juice
For the marinade, mix 250mls of pineapple juice with the soy sauce, lemon juice and garlic. Add the meat and stir well. Allow to marinate for at least 2 hours. Remove seeds from the peppers and cut into chunks. Thread meat on skewers, alternating it with the pineapple and pepper. Grill or barbecue for 10 minutes or until tender, basting frequently with the marinade.
Goat Tagine
1 kg diced goat (4 by 4cm pieces)
400 g potatoes (cut into cubes)
2 medium parsnips (chopped)
2 medium carrots (chopped)
10 shallots or pickling onions (peeled)
5 Roma tomatoes (chopped)
orange and lemon rind
2 Bay leaves
1 cassia bark
600 ml chicken stock
2 cans chick peas (washed and drained)
For the spice mix
3 teaspoons Smoked Paprika pimento
½ teaspoon Allspice
1½ teaspoons coriander seeds (ground)
3 cardamom pods (ground and husks removed)
3 Cloves ground
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 Cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
1 Chilli (seeds removed and finely chopped)
10 g Ginger (finely chopped)
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
Mix all spice ingredients together and rub over goat, allow to marinate for 2 hours.
Add a little oil to heavy based pot or a large tagine & lightly sauté onions, potatoes, carrots & parsnip- put aside. Lightly brown marinated goat – put aside.
Place sautéed veg back in pot & put meat & rest of ingredients on top (except chickpeas).
Pour over stock, cover with lid and cook on low heat in oven or stove top for 3 hrs, stirring once or twice and adding drained chick peas in last ½ hr of cooking time.
Garnish with fresh Coriander and Fennel and serve at the table in the tagine.
Tandoori Masala Goat Sausages (or burgers)
2kg minced goat meat
200g tandoori masala spice (you can try any spice, just make sure its 10% of meat’s weight)
salt and pepper to season
Mix all the ingredients together. Either feed through a sausage maker or round into a ball and flatten into a burger. Grill/fry/barbecue until cooked through.