Garrendenny Goat 'Flank n' Shank' Stew

I am on an unofficial break from blogging. I did not plan it this way. I have a folder full of unpublished drafts.  Stories and photos of lovely restaurants we have eaten at recently and a few exciting giveaways coming up once I get closer to releasing the book.

Right now I feel like I am treading water and at any given moment I might dunk n’ drown OR soar n’ swim. It seems, dear readers, there is no in between. I must keep my head in the book, as it were, until the book has completed itself. And then, if Blogtopia waits for me, I will get back to telling stories of what an unbelievable experience it is able to ‘take a year out of traditional studies to live the life of a writer – editor included’ for any college student.

There are all but a few weeks left with the April 12th deadline looming closer and closer. Incidentally, if anyone wants to come to my house on Friday April 13th for an all-out hoolie – sign up here!

Garrendenny Goat 'Flank n' Shank' (iPhone photo)

What dragged me out of my book worming, and has turned into an tasty blog-break indeed, was a gorgeous piece of Goat meat we cooked last night. Goat meat is not all that easy to come by in Galway so when my friend Lorna of Garrendenny Lane asked us if we would be interested in one of her goats, we were only too happy to sign up for one. Last summer we took a visit down to Lorna’s farm and saw the goats first hand. I could only imagine that considering the care and love her animals receive, not to mention the excellent diet they are fed, the goat meat would surely turn out as delicious as the pork from Oldefarm. It seems, we now have Pork and Goat producers all squared away. Now I just need to find a great (small) Beef producer. Any recommendations?

The Chef had clear instructions. Butcher his goat in four pieces (only) and hang it for two weeks. Sounds reasonable enough doesn’t it?

The practice of dry-aging meat here in Ireland seems rare. I know it is time consuming, and unless you have a keen sense of smell and excellent humidity and temperature control, you could run the risk of loosing your precious meat – so care does need to be taken when dry-aging meat.

The folks from Oldfarm, who recommended their butcher for the job, acted as the distribution center for all this goat meat and, in an excellent display of barter and trade, were able to trade some of their pork meat for some of Lorna’s goat meat. Don’t you just love when foodie-farming-folk come up with these kind of sharing arrangements? I do!

We took delivery of our hung and butchered goat last Friday. I was curious to see what it looked like and was immediatley drawn to the ox blood color of the flesh. The Chef was happy to see it was not huge, we prefer smaller animals because the meat is typically a lot more tender, and he was also impressed at the level of marbling in the meat too. This shows that they have had a great diet and have been neither underfed nor fattened for the kill.

After we laid it all out on the countertop the Chef butchered it to his pleasing, which was mostly all big joints because we are feeding a small army and he hates ‘small chops’ and pieces that dry out or overcook too fast, we wrapped and packed it in butcher paper and labeled it all for the freezer.

We did hold back a few ‘starter’ pieces to sample and decided on having a Garrendenny Goat Flank n’ Shank Stew.

When preparing the Goat meat, we treated it exactly the same as you would Lamb. We rubbed the raw meat down with olive oil, then gave it a serious crust of salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Dropping it into a heavy bottomed pot to sizzle and spit for a few minutes, I was surprised at how little of a ‘smell’ we were getting from the pot. Beef and Lamb both will quickly throw off a meaty smell, but the goat was milder for some reason.

Next, we removed the meat from the pot and tossed it in a large bowl of flour then right back in to the pot it went with a touch of olive oil. The flour, which might burn if you are not careful, helps thicken up your sauce later and it is necessary. Do not use Bisto. Please.

With all the meat in the pot we drizzled in a 1/2 cup of worcestershire sauce, a tablespoon of hot sauce and two tablespoons of cider vinegar. Things started to really sizzle so we threw in a whole head of garlic, two onions, a few sticks of celery and a couple of carrots; none peeled – but all cut in half. Then a handful of fresh herbs (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Remember me to one who lives there, She once was a true love of mine)   and we are back…

Garrendenny Goat 'Flank n' Shank' getting ready for the long haul (iPhone photo)

Next, a tin of tomatoes before we added the water, enough to cover the meat two-thirds of the way. Then after placing a tight fitting lid on the pot we cranked the heat up and waited for it to come to a rolling boil; reduced the heat and walked away. We left the pot on the stove for three hours long without lifting the lid once.

We were childless for the day thanks to my Mum so we went for a very long walk and enjoyed a quiet lunch – alone – with no noses to wipe. It was lovely. When we got home we were greeted at the door by a very enticing smell. Dinner, was most certainly done.

My little moo cows

I have inserted this little picture of my new favorite toys. The Chef found them at a flea market yesterday and I think this represents what I am about to say. It is so important that our children understand where food comes from. Lorna’s goats were affectionate, well groomed and filled with personality when we went to visit them last year. We explained to the kids that this was ‘who’ their supper was and aside from wondering which one was ‘Rolo’ (a favorite no doubt) they just forked in, and enjoyed it. They enjoyed ‘all’ of it.

Gorgeous Garrendenny Goat 'Osso Bucco' style

We served ours with a gorgeous gremolata, a brown basmati rice blend and a salad. There might have been an incredible loaf of bread on the table too. Well – look at all that juice! What is a girl supposed to do, use a spoon?

The Garrendenny Goat Meat is beautiful. I can’t say that there is a huge taste difference between Goat and Lamb – but what is noticeable is the quality of the meat and the tenderness. Here is a link to the nutritional content of Goat meat. There are many that insist Goat can be a bit gamey and should be eaten in a curry but in this case, I think that would be a crime. We are going to grind up some of it later this week and make Goat burgers. I will let you know how they turn out!

Those are all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna