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Goat meat is a food staple from China to Greece, but it isn't too common here. But with the recent arrival of Goat on the Los Angeles restaurant scene, "the other red meat" seems poised for popularity on the West Coast. It's also sparked debate on our discussion boards about what it tastes like and how it's prepared.
“The meat is really mild,” says Robert Luna, Goat's executive chef. “It’s not like lamb or sheep in the sense that you don't have a strong gamey flavor.”
Health-conscious diners, take note: goat has a much lower fat content than other meats, including chicken, according to Susan Schoenian, a sheep-and-goat specialist at the Western Maryland Research & Education Center. No kidding!
Since goat meat is so lean and fibrous, people wrongly assume it will be tough. “The truth,” Luna explained, “is that goat is a lean, beautiful, succulent piece of meat.”
The flavor of goat meat depends on the animal and how it is cooked, says Schoenian, who likened different goat dishes to beef and lamb as far as variety goes.
Luna butchers whole goats in the restaurant’s kitchen to prepare Goat’s signature dish of goat carnitas with pomegranate-and-avocado salsa. He roasts the meat in its own fat and lets it sit overnight, rendering it “flaky and moist, yet crunchy.”
If you aren’t ready to make a full meal out of the namesake meat at Goat, you can always go for the goat-milk ice cream for dessert.
– Julie Zeveloff