Need help cooking goat

[Whisperwindkat]

I need some help. This past fall we butchered a 5 month old buckling and I have tried several different recipes (about 3) using the meat. The recipes have been delicious but the meat is awfully chewy and tough. I have tried marinating it for 24 hours before hand, soaking in meat tenderizer and still I get chewy rubbery meat. Does anyone have any advice? We did not let the carcass hang because we didn't have anywhere to do that. It was still too hot here to do that outside. We have two bucklings that are destined for the freezer now, but I am not so sure that I want to put them there if I can't get the meat tender enough to chew. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Blessings, Kat

[Cheryl aka JM]

Pressure cooker. works great. Our favorite way to eat goat is as filling for burritos, tacos, enchiladas, tamales ....really anything you might consider using shredded pork or beef.

We put a couple legs (I always make a lot so we can freeze some extra for later~ I use my pressure canner because I rarely thaw the meat before I start~ just pop the frozen legs into the pressure canner) so~ a couple legs, some pepper flakes, some cumin, some garlic, some salt, whatever smells good in the spice cabinet that day. Add some water~ about half way up. Put the lid on~ cook longer than you think you need too. Usually after I stop and cool it down I discover I didn't cook it long enough and have to put it back on for another 10 min. What I'm looking for is the meat to easily fall off the bone. Then shred the meat~ set aside. Sweat some onions and jalapeños in some veggie oil, add some cumin, some chili powder.....again....what ever smells good in the spice cabinet. Add the shredded goat. Use in pretty much everything. We've even used it on sandwiches.

[bloogrssgrl]

The best way I've found to make any meat tender is to cook it at a low temp for a long time. You can do it in the oven (at 225-250 for several hours) or a crock pot.

[saanengirl]

I stew the meat with curry spices for a couple of hours. It is great served over rice, and is very tender after being cooked this way.

[wintrrwolf]

ahhh so the one time I have eaten goat at an India restaurant, didn't like it because it was to chewy...
So is this the only way to eat goat?

[Backfourty,MI.]

The ribs I always cook in my pressure cooker smothered in BBQ sauce, they are my favorite. The roast I usually cook in the slow cooker with what every spices I normally use for any beef roast, add onion, potatoes, etc. Usually turns out very tender that way.
Chops or steaks browned in some oil & sprinkled with herbs or spices & then put in the slow cooker with mushroom soup is another way we like it, the soup & meat juices make like a gravy we use over rice or potatoes too.

[saanengirl]

I have grilled goat chops before, and they weren't tough. These were from a 6 month old wether.

[Jay27]

We typically hang carcasses for 7 - 10 days, but since you didn't/couldn't do that, letting the meat marinade in the fridge for a similar amount of time will accomplish the same thing. Salt the meat, put in a covered dish and push it to the back of the fridge for a week. The salt will keep it from rotting and tenderize it nicely.

[where I want to]

I don't know if hang time makes a difference as I don't process my own. But I can tell you that my goat meat is tender if I broil it just enough to cook it but not one minute longer. I broil goat ribs (my favorite thing.)
I have the legs ground as that part is least tender and I don't want to do the long cooking that it need to be good. Ground goat meat is a million times better (slight hyperbole) than any other ground meat and most of mine gets processed that way.
Basically with my goat meat, I never bake it- just broil for chops and steaks or slow cook for a long time for other things.

[pygmybabies]

If you butcher your own, can you still grind it? I guess if you have a meat grinder? I would like to make hamburger out of mine someday...that is a long ways away. But if I ever need to I would like to do it, I looked over ozarks butchering posts, and saw how easy she makes it look. I dont know if I can do that though

[Goat Servant]

Sure you can grind it. I didnt know if I could do it either. But as soon as the bullet hit them they were no longer who they were.
Yes, nothing holds a candle to ground goat!!! Even good ground beef from the butcher shop!

My favorite way to cook goat (besides the ground like you would normally fry)
is to put whatever spices suit you fancy as someone already said, put in dutch oven with BBQ sauce or if you a hankering for coconut milk, be sure the meat is mostly covered pop on the lid & bake 2hrs at 300.
Even 5 mo old buckling legs the meat almost falls off the bone.

[Whisperwindkat]

Thanks everyone. I will try the pressure cooker and aging it in the fridge. If that doesn't work then I will grind up whatever is left and just use it ground. We have so much ground venison that I was hoping to use the goats for different cuts, but hey I will take what I can get. I will keep trying, thanks again. Blessings, Kat

[Backfourty,MI.]

When ever we have had a goat butchered we take it to our regular butcher that we get our half a beef & pork from. He also does our venison for us in the fall. He told us before the ONLY meat that needs to hang for a week to tenderize is Beef. He doesn't hang our goat for a week when we take one to him.

[motdaugrnds]

We butcher the goats we don't sell every year. We do not hang them, salt them, pressure them nor place them in the refrig for any length of time. They are always tender.

The trick to tender meat is knowing "when" to butcher the animal. We have discovered if the goat is in the process of either losing weight or stabilizing its weight, it will be tough (unless ground of course). Thus, we always make sure the goats we are slaughtering are in the process of "gaining" weight (for at least a couple of weeks); then we slaughter them. This permits us to package any type of cuts we desire knowing it will all be tender.

[edmonds]

I really like thinly sliced chops, seasoned and grilled over coals. Roasts are good in curries, etc when cooked for a couple of hours in covered oven pot. I like motgaugrnds idea of slaughtering when goats are gaining weight, which is what you do when slaughtering beef.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by Backfourty,MI.

He told us before the ONLY meat that needs to hang for a week to tenderize is Beef. He doesn't hang our goat for a week when we take one to him.

That is exactly what I was told by many sources when I first researched this topic.

I never hang my butcher goats, except for the short time it takes to skin and gut them.
They are tender and juicy(unless improperly cooked, goat is very low-fat).

The only ones I've ever had that were tough, were stunted goats that a friend gave me. I butchered them for the dogs, but tried some myself. It was stringy and tough.

I always butcher my meat kids at 3-7 months of age, straight off their dams, so there is never a time in their lives that they are not in good flesh and gaining.