Goat on the plate

Graham R. Cooper

Meat from young goat wethers that’s spent two years in our freezer is not the most appetizing prospect when you’re puzzling over what to have for dinner. Take a squiz at Paddock to Plate to see what I mean.

That said, frozen roasts, long past a use by date, seasoned with garlic and rosemary, cooked in beef tallow and served with pan gravy, are tolerably chewy and taste just fine. And I’ll casserole chops, slow cook shanks; June will use rib bones, and miscellaneous! bones, bits of meat, cartilage – anything defying my modest butchering skills, to make soup. Flavoursome and nourishing meals one and all.

We’re always playing catch up with non-vacuum packed goat meat that’s been in the freezer way too long. Determined to catch up, we’ve eaten a lot of goat meat over the last couple of months. Two weeks ago, we excelled ourselves, serving up goat for six of eight dinners:

1. Sunday 1st May: June’s rolled roast filled with homemade stuffing, the sage fresh picked from the garden. (Two small roasts – one put in the fridge to be served cold later in the week.)
2. Monday 2nd May: Graham’s curried, tasty chops casserole marinated in 250 ml of June’s homemade tomato puree. (2 serves in reserve for later in the week.)
3. Tuesday 3rd May: June’s soup – the meat boiled on the bone before being scraped off to add to the dried soup mix and vegetables from the garden. (To go in the freezer – 4 extra servings.)
4. Wednesday 4th May: Graham’s slow cooked goat shanks. (To go in the freezer – 4 extra servings.) If you’re interested in the recipe, check out Slow Cooked Goat Shanks: Pt. 3.
5. Thursday 5th May: Fairlie’s ‘Mt Hutt Takeaway’ fish ‘n’ chips. (Picked up on our way home after spending the day at Lake Alexandrina – which is near the much better known Lake Tekapo.)
6. Friday 6th May: June’s rolled roast served cold.
7. Saturday 7th May: Fried beef sausages (the butcher used our beef to make them), and oven-fried chips. (Saturday’s our tv dinner and movie night.)
8. Sunday 8th May: Graham’s tasty chops.

That’s all on modern-day homesteading at Little Owl Gully till next Monday. Thanks for your company. Bye for now.