Different Meat Week - Goat Goodness

image David Blaine

Goat, chevon, mutton, billy, kids or whatever you call these animals, it's a very good meat to try when the cost of lamb might be out of your budget. Goats that a less than a year old, are known as "kids". So if you get a young goat to eat, you can tell your friends you eat kids!

I don't recall seeing these at the general supermarkets, but I know these can easily be found at most ethnic stores or commonly found in grocery stores that cater to the Spanish or Mexican buyers. Rather than waste time driving around looking for some goat meat, I just headed to my local Mexican carniceria meat market. Got some fresh goat! Woohoo!!! Although looking at goat steaks, it kind of reminds me of pork chops as you can see from the picture above.

The meat is a pretty lean meat and much leaner than chicken, and has a higher protein content than beef. I got mostly what I think was shoulder cuts. Not sure what I was really getting other than I asked the Mexican guy behind the counter, who didn't really speak English, if I can get some "chivo" which is Spanish for goat.

Goat can have a really gamey smell sometimes, and I'm not sure if that's because it's older meat, or the diet the goat has been eating, or if it's the section of the goat where the meat is cut from.

Gamey meat doesn't bother me, and I pan fried one of the pieces and just added a little salt and pepper. I wanted to get the flavor of the meat at it's most natural state and this was one of the quickest ways to do it. It was a little tough to chew, but not overly chewy. Sometimes, I thought I kind of look like the goats themselves as I was chewing the meat. The flavor is a strong flavor of gamey lamb and beef, and might be too strong for some people.

image alvxyz

The rest of the pieces of goat, I threw them into a stew. It was more like a tomato based stew. I'm sure there's a name for that type, but it escapes me at this time. I just know how to make it, and call it "stew". I decided to try it this way to see if I can get some of the strong flavors out and tenderize the meat. The meat was able to break apart with just a spoon, but the meat by this time wasn't anything that really stood out. I think the tomato acids and the herbs canceled most of the distinct flavors out, although slightly still detectable to tell you that you aren't eating beef.

I think goat is an excellent meat to try. I do recall now seeing this labeled as mutton in the major grocers, but they weren't very appealing looking and seemed dried out. Definitely a pass. If you have an ethnic store or Mexican grocer, I would try them first. You're most likely going to get fresher goat meat.