A Misunderstood Meat

Goat.  My god, how did I not know how tasty goat is?  Why have you all been keeping this from me?  You know I like meat!

There were slim pickings at Codman Farm last week, mostly goat and more goat, so I said, what the hay.  Goat it is.  Nothing I cooked last week was going to taste good anyway.  I did some trash-talking on Facebook, threatening to eat it and whatnot, when Jen Maiser steered me toward a tremendous goat curry recipe.  Oh. My. God.  Vikram Vij, I may have to purchase your cookbook if that recipe is any indication.  It was fantastic.  The lack of local rice proved frustrating, however, with all of that delicious sauce pooling where a rice paddy should be.  We did the best we could with pita bread, and I froze the rest of it for next week when we’ll be eating rice seven days a week just because we can.

I have to say that I’ll be looking at goats a little differently from now on.  And not just because of their creepy rectangular pupils.  There used to be a certain innocence to our relationship, goats and I, unlike the tainted history between me and the rest of the barnyard crew.  Those virtuous days are gone.  So, I guess that would make donkey the final frontier for me at Codman.  As far as I know they only have one.  But it is a farm.  So.  (Clears throat.)  I’m waaaaaiting…

***

Eat Local Challenge Recap: 10/24-10/27

Friday, October 24
Breakfast: Yogurt, toast with honey, cranberry juice

Lunch: Minestrone soup with focaccia.  Kids had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples, radishes, and cheese.

Snack: Toasted pumpkin seeds

Dinner: Goat curry with green beans and pita bread

Saturday, October 25
Breakfast: Yogurt, toast with jam, apple cider

Lunch: Watch City Brewing Co., Waltham, MA.  We came for the local beer and stayed for the non-local mahi mahi tacos (craft).

Snack: Chocolate chip cookies

Dinner: Braised chicken and garlic in cider vinegar and rosemary, roasted potatoes, and kale.  Apple cranberry pie with maple ice cream.

Sunday, October 26
Breakfast: Yogurt, toast and jam, apple cider

Snack: Pears and cheddar cheese

Lunch: Leftover goat curry, green beans, and pita.  Kids had hard-boiled egg, bread and butter, apples.

Dinner: Same as Saturday, plus a big green salad with turnips.

Monday, October 27
Breakfast: Yogurt, toast and jam, cranberry juice

Lunch: Minestrone soup and toast.  Kids had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, carrot sticks, apples, cheese.

Snack: Cape Cod potato chips

Dinner: Roasted bluefish with maple-mustard-tarragon sauce, acorn squash, and garlicky green beans.  Maple ice cream.

Sources:
Drumlin Farm, Lincoln, MA: Potatoes, kale, green beans, lettuce, shallots, rosemary, tarragon, squash, pumpkins

Milk: Stonyfield Farm, Londonderry, NH
Butter: Cabot, Cabot, VT
Eggs: Chip-In Farm, Bedford, MA (Russo’s)
Yogurt: Stonyfield Farm, Londonderry, NH
Cheese: Cabot, Cabot, VT; Smith’s Farmstead, Winchendon, MA
Flour: Wood Prairie Farm, Bridgewater, ME (mail order); King Arthur Flour, Norwich, VT
Pita bread: Bay State Bakery, Worcester, MA (Russo’s)
Honey: Golden Meadow, Reseska Apiaries, Holliston, MA (Russo's)
Jam: Trappist, Saint Joseph’s Abbey, Spencer, MA
Peanut butter: Teddie, Everett, MA
Maple syrup: The Warren Farm & Sugarhouse, North Brookfield, MA (Waltham Farmer’s Market)
Cranberries: Decas Cranberry Products, Carver, MA
Apples: Autumn Hills Orchard, Groton, MA
Apple cider: Box Mill Farms, Carver Hill Orchard, Stow, MA (Russo's)
Cranberry juice: Ocean Spray, Lakeville-Middleboro, MA
Apple cider vinegar: Carlson Orchards, Harvard, MA (Russo's)
Mustard: Raye’s, Eastport, ME (mail order)
Beans: Baer’s Best, Moraine Farm, Beverly, MA (Russo’s)
Garlic, chicken: Butter Brook Farm, Acton, MA (In Season)
Tomatoes, pears: Russo’s, Watertown, MA
Onions, turnips, carrots: Dick’s Market Garden, Lunenburg, MA (Waltham Farmer’s Market)
Ginger: Old Friends Farm, Amherst, MA (Newton Farmer's Market)
Goat, bacon: Codman Farm, Lincoln, MA
Bluefish: Steamers, Newton, MA
Potato chips: Cape Cod Potato Chips, Hyannis, MA
Chocolate chip cookies: Country Desserts, West Newton, MA

Comments

[cookiecrumb]

Yeah, I just learned how good goat is too. I thought it was going to be all tough and shreddy, but it's not.
I've got goatburger in my freezer right now.

And, wait. Are you saying now you want to eat donkey?

[Melissa]

Really?? *Cringe*

Buuut if you say so, I may have to rethink it.

[prettyneato]

Coming from SoCal and a pretty predominate Hispanic neighborhood, I have had some delicious Birria. We have quite a few Boer goat farm/ranches near my house in Central Texas, but I cannot seem to find any goat meat at the market! Boo!

[adele]

I had one big, banquet-style meal during my semester abroad in Italy where one of the courses was braised goat with butter and sage. It was marvellous. I had seconds.

[jo]

Seriously, I think calling it kid must have upset everyone and scared them away..but goat is sooooo good and rather lean and could easily be a sustainably raised animal due to their voracious appetites for weeds and scrub.
I've also never understood why rabbit isn't more widely utilized.

[Tammy]

jo: I wonder if I could raise goats on this mountainous cliff I live on, with all-you-can-eat garbage and poison ivy. Mmmmmmm. As for rabbits, I agree, although I know certain family members of mine who have soft spots for them. Me, my soft spot is in my belly.

adele: Drooooooool.

prettyneato: I hereby declare birria to be the next goat recipe in the queue.

Melissa: Oooooh, it's good. Succulent and lambish. Rethink!

CC: I'm just saying, you know, if there was nothing else.

[Barry Foy]

A little more appropriate (in a couple of ways) and definitely more interesting than pita as an accompaniment for that curry may be the recipe near the bottom of this page:

http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf/gf080920cuisines_of_the_axis

...for Lamb Fat and Spinach Chapatis, from Jennifer McLagan's great new book, "Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes." I'm pretty sure you could substitute goat fat for lamb.

[maris]

I'm not quite as adventerous as you are! But what a great idea your eat local challenge...I always feel better know, knowing that I'm eating local produce. Not even so much for the envionmental factor, but because who wants to put something in their body that's been on a truck for 2 weeks in a dark box? Yuck.

[Tammy]

maris: Thanks for commenting. It was an adventure indeed.

Barry Foy: I didn't bring it up, but I actually made homemade chapatis (sans lamb fat) and they suuuuucked. They sucked real bad. That's why I didn't list them. Thanks for reminding me.