Goat is called barbacoa at the Mexican places here. It's the sort of taste that I wouldn't pay for but if someone served it to me I would be happy to eat it. But with my money, we would have cabeza or cachete.
I hunt them and eat them. The meat of a young goat is very like lamb, but not nearly as fatty. You cook it the same way, but just need to be a bit wary not to dry it out. I actually prefer it over lamb. An older nanny is like mutton, again not as fatty, while a sexually mature billy goat is a bit "gamey", though good in a curry.
Feral goats are widely distributed here, and in the ranges not far from where I live they are fun to hunt. Out on the plains in the west of NSW they don't seem nearly as wary. A lot of landowners make a bit of money out of them here too, setting fences around water sources with ramps so the goats can get in but not out again, and trucking them to market for export to SE Asia.
The skins make a good floor mat too, and a good set of horns makes a good trophy. Billy skins stink though, and you never get the stink out of them, so Euro mounts are the go.
Goat is called barbacoa at the Mexican places here. It's the sort of taste that I wouldn't pay for but if someone served it to me I would be happy to eat it. But with my money, we would have cabeza or cachete.
79S: I have eaten a LOT of Mt. Goat meat and enjoy it somewhat - it often has a bit of an oily or lanolin (?) taste. Never eaten (or wanted to eat!) domestic Goat flesh. Hold into the wind VarmintGuy
One of my uncles was a lifelong farmer and sometimes he could be a little gruff. He was pretty opinionated about deer meat. It was probably 40 years ago when the subject came while we were staying at his log cabin on the Pearl River. “Hmph, tastes like goat!” was his blunt assessment of venison.
We laugh about it anytime the three of us “boys” get together and the discussion turns to preparing any kind of meat.
I went on an elk hunting trip with a couple of guys who had pack goats. Really cool animals, follow you around like a dog if you let them. They raised them and trained them up for packing, and sold some to cover their costs. One guy was a veterinarian so that helped.
Anyway, on every trip they'd bring a few new ones to train them on packing. There was one young billy that would just not cooperate so they spent a lot of time chasing him down and such. All the goats had names to begin with, but halfway through the trip we gave that billy a new name.
I got a stew made from goat meat one night at a restaurant my wife talked me into going to. I think it might have been Indian. The stew was the only thing on the menu that wasn't covered up with curry powder... The stew was great! I'd have sat there all night and eaten that stew.
Unfortunately, many times when goat is served but not enjoyed, it's poor quality, meaning wrong variety of goat. Most goat breeds are some derivative of a dairy breed, lean,lanky and meant to produce milk not meat. A fed out Boer wether is bigger than a market lamb,but built the same, wide and meaty with Simi fat distribution. Absolutely delicious meat,indistinguishable from good lamb.
When working in St Thomas, I ate “ram goat” many times. Usually in a stew with veggies, and topped with scotch bonnet (orange habaneros), sauce. It was pretty good.
I went on an elk hunting trip with a couple of guys who had pack goats. Really cool animals, follow you around like a dog if you let them. They raised them and trained them up for packing, and sold some to cover their costs. One guy was a veterinarian so that helped.
Anyway, on every trip they'd bring a few new ones to train them on packing. There was one young billy that would just not cooperate so they spent a lot of time chasing him down and such. All the goats had names to begin with, but halfway through the trip we gave that billy a new name.
First ate goat meat in Mexico doing plant start ups. "Cabrito" as prepared in and around Torreon is DELICIOUS ! Have also had it in Indian curry dishes. No different than beef as far as I could tell. Have four 6-8 month old goats running around with the sheep. One of them could become cabrito when I get time.
Love it barbequed or in a stew. Never had it any other way but I can't imagine it would not be good. We hang them upside down and cut their throat so they bleed out good. Improves the taste some. No mature billy goat and no old goats .
I worked with a large Hispanic population for a long, long time. They are very generous with sharing their lunches. I have eaten many cabrito tacos. They are as good as anything, anywhere. Slow cooked whole over coals, then cubed and reheated in a light clear gravy, and wrapped in a fresh home made flour tortilla.......oh my!
Much, much better than lamb, none of the lanolin that all sheep stink of.
Old billy goats, on the other hand, and I have seen several butchered and cooked, smell and taste just like an old rutted buck with his neck swollen to the size of a basketball. Either one, you can smell cooking from a block down the street. It is not a pleasant smell. Only the most desperate would actually eat either.
I worked with a large Hispanic population for a long, long time. They are very generous with sharing their lunches. I have eaten many cabrito tacos. They are as good as anything, anywhere. Slow cooked whole over coals, then cubed and reheated in a light clear gravy, and wrapped in a fresh home made flour tortilla.......oh my!
Much, much better than lamb, none of the lanolin that all sheep stink of.
Old billy goats, on the other hand, and I have seen several butchered and cooked, smell and taste just like an old rutted buck with his neck swollen to the size of a basketball. Either one, you can smell cooking from a block down the street. It is not a pleasant smell. Only the most desperate would actually eat either.
I went on an elk hunting trip with a couple of guys who had pack goats. Really cool animals, follow you around like a dog if you let them. They raised them and trained them up for packing, and sold some to cover their costs. One guy was a veterinarian so that helped.
Anyway, on every trip they'd bring a few new ones to train them on packing. There was one young billy that would just not cooperate so they spent a lot of time chasing him down and such. All the goats had names to begin with, but halfway through the trip we gave that billy a new name.
"Cabrito."
The rest of the string was on their best behavior after that I presume?
Eaten goat many times. Sometimes it is delicious, sometimes it taste like a… goat.
Ditto.
Have eaten domestic goats and wild Rocky Mountain goats. The domestic goat meat IME is sometimes similar to venison, generally good. Sikh friends in Canada made a spicey hot green colored stew out of goat that was delicious. We ate several goats when I was growing up, processed and cooked just like we would deer.
The wild Rocky Mountain goats IME have all been very tasty and very tough. But I've only eaten old, mature ones, both billies and nannies. They make very good crockpot stew.
I went on an elk hunting trip with a couple of guys who had pack goats. Really cool animals, follow you around like a dog if you let them. They raised them and trained them up for packing, and sold some to cover their costs. One guy was a veterinarian so that helped.
Anyway, on every trip they'd bring a few new ones to train them on packing. There was one young billy that would just not cooperate so they spent a lot of time chasing him down and such. All the goats had names to begin with, but halfway through the trip we gave that billy a new name.
"Cabrito."
The rest of the string was on their best behavior after that I presume?
They already were pretty much. Bottle fed and imprinted on humans, almost like a pet. Get them loaded up with gear and start down the trail and they'd just fall in line and start walking. Every day at lunchtime one of us would have to come back to camp to let them off their leads so they could browse for an hour or so.
They'd get pretty spread out, and to get them back we had a bag of salted in the shell peanuts. You'd take that bag out and shake it and goats would come running from every direction. Grab one, snap on the lead, and the reward was one peanut. And only one, didn't want to spoil 'em.
Twice- First time in the Philippines; a bunch of us were sitting around the office of a regional strongman, someone brought in a foil wrapped package of curried goat, passed it around…it was pretty good. Next time was somewhere (don’t remember exactly where) in the Caribbean. Hungry, lunch time, and saw a sign pointing down an alley toward “Barbados Cafe.” (This was not Barbados, but had a lot of people from there in the workforce.) Thought “What the hell.” Went down the alleyway, a few tables in the alley, outside a door. The lunch special was some sort of goat stew. It was pretty good.
Never wild only domestic. A little greasy but still good. In its basic state not a flavor to run from. If doctored up probably as good as a lot of proteins.
Goat is called barbacoa at the Mexican places here. It's the sort of taste that I wouldn't pay for but if someone served it to me I would be happy to eat it. But with my money, we would have cabeza or cachete.
As a South Texas snow bird, "barbacoa" is the head (cabeza) of a cow. It is slow cooked in a smoker, then everything but the eyes and the ear and nasal gristle is sorta "mixed". I don't (won't!) eat barbacoa. Just not my "thang"! 😖
I've slaughtered both goats and sheep. Good stuff if properly processed. My first experience with mutton was a "leg 'o lamb" out of a meat market. The wife was on a "Passover" kick and wanted some lamb. After THAT experience, we didn't buy mutton for MANY years! It was nasty. I've slaughtered rams, ewes, nanny's, billies and wethers. They were all good, but the wether was the best!
I worked with a large Hispanic population for a long, long time. They are very generous with sharing their lunches. I have eaten many cabrito tacos. They are as good as anything, anywhere. Slow cooked whole over coals, then cubed and reheated in a light clear gravy, and wrapped in a fresh home made flour tortilla.......oh my!
Much, much better than lamb, none of the lanolin that all sheep stink of.
Old billy goats, on the other hand, and I have seen several butchered and cooked, smell and taste just like an old rutted buck with his neck swollen to the size of a basketball. Either one, you can smell cooking from a block down the street. It is not a pleasant smell. Only the most desperate would actually eat either.
This.
Double quote/agree.
Have eaten goat from domestic breeds raised specifically for meat, to to feral goats in various places. Generally it tastes a lot to me like good deer, whether whitetail or mule deer, if from the same-age animal.
Of course it also depends on the skill of the cook, and the pre-meal meat care.
I worked with a large Hispanic population for a long, long time. They are very generous with sharing their lunches. I have eaten many cabrito tacos. They are as good as anything, anywhere. Slow cooked whole over coals, then cubed and reheated in a light clear gravy, and wrapped in a fresh home made flour tortilla.......oh my!
Much, much better than lamb, none of the lanolin that all sheep stink of.
Old billy goats, on the other hand, and I have seen several butchered and cooked, smell and taste just like an old rutted buck with his neck swollen to the size of a basketball. Either one, you can smell cooking from a block down the street. It is not a pleasant smell. Only the most desperate would actually eat either.
This.
Double quote/agree.
Have eaten goat from domestic breeds raised specifically for meat, to to feral goats in various places. Generally it tastes a lot to me like good deer, whether whitetail or mule deer, if from the same-age animal.
Of course it also depends on the skill of the cook, and the pre-meal meat care.