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Goat meat – Montana lags behind

Goat meat is the meat of the domestic goat (Capra aegagrus hircus). It is often called chevon or mutton when the meat comes from adults, and cabrito or kid when from young animals. While “goat” is usually the name for the meat found in common parlance, producers and marketers may prefer to use the French-derived word chevon (from chèvre), since market research in the United States suggests that “chevon” is more palatable to consumers than “goat meat”.

Cabrito, a word of Spanish origin, refers specifically to young, milk-fed goat. In the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean, and in some parts of Asia, particularly Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India, the word “mutton” is often used colloquially to describe both goat and lamb meat, despite technically only referring to sheep meat.

As cited in a New York Times article, goat is “the most widely-consumed meat in the world. Goat is a staple of Africa, Asia and South/Central America, and a delicacy in a few European cuisines. The cuisines best known for their use of goat include Middle Eastern, North African, Indian, Pakistani, Mexican, and Caribbean. Cabrito or baby goat, is the typical food of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.

Goat has historically been less commonplace in American, Canadian and Northern European cuisines, but is finding a hold in some niche markets. While in the past goat meat in the West was confined to ethnic markets, it can now be found in a few upscale restaurants and purveyors, especially in cities such as New York and San Francisco. Bill Niman of Niman Ranch has recently turned to raising goats and he, along with other North American producers, tends to focus on pasture-based methods of farming.

Goat can be prepared in a variety of ways, such as being stewed, curried, baked, grilled, barbecued, minced, canned, fried, or made into sausage. Goat jerky is also another popular variety. In Okinawa (Japan), goat meat is served raw in thin slices as yagisashi. In India, the rice dish mutton biryani uses goat meat as a primary ingredient to produce a rich taste. “Curry goat” is a common traditional Indo-Caribbean dish. Cabrito, a specialty especially common in Latin cuisines such as Mexican, Peruvian, Brazilian, and Argentine, is usually slow roasted. Southern Italian and Greek cuisines are also both known for serving roast goat in celebration of Easter; goat dishes are also an Easter staple in the alpine regions of central Europe, often braised (Bavaria) or breaded and fried (Tyrol).

Montana

A state with about three head of cattle for every person, Montana has been slow to embrace the humble goat.

But with demand from new immigrant populations driving a market boom in this country, a few Montanans are getting in the goat business and trying the meat for themselves.

Producers are way behind consumers so finding the meat locally is challenging.

“You want to taste it? It’s delicious but you’ll be fighting other people at the grocery store,” said Yvonne Zweede-Tucker, who sells breeding goats locally and is the author of “The Meat Goat Handbook: Raising Goats for Food, Profit and Fun.”

“You go online and everybody is sold out, sold out,” she said. “The basic problem is the U.S. is about 6 million pounds short of goat meat a year and rising.”

For a producer, “it’s a lovely problem, but a problem,” Zweede-Tucker said.

“Most of the world consumes goat before they eat beef,” she said. “We’ve had room and capacity in the U.S. to raise cows, but most countries don’t.”

Zweede-Tucker said five acres is enough room for goats but would leave cows unsatisfied.

American demand is also driven by the health conscious. Goat meat is lower in calories and fat than beef, pork and chicken and is rich in iron.

The meat is like venison that was finished on alfalfa. It should be cooked slowly in moist heat. Slow cookers or roasting bags in the oven are good strategies.

Calls to Great Falls supermarkets and area butchers turned up no sources of goat meat. The Mountain Front Market in Choteau may be the only source in northcentral Montana, if not the state.

“It’s been pretty popular,” owner Jill Owen said. “People like it. A lot of people think it’s going to have a strong taste and it doesn’t. It’s not like lamb or gamey. I think it’s milder than beef.”

The store stocks chops, roasts, ground goat, breakfast sausage and kabob meat, all from Meadows Ranch along the Rocky Mountain Front near Ear Mountain. Producers Faithe and Tanner Lee approached Owen about stocking some of their goat meat to see if people would go for it.

Bill & Sheila’s Barbecue

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