Thread: Getting back to living off the land.....

@Barry the hunter Nah I'm just a knock about cook!

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

@Barry the hunter Nah I'm just a knock about cook!

ya might be- but you may also inspire new hunters to try and use the meat they shoot - when I think back on my early goat shooting days on east coast we would should 50-80 in a day - none came back with us - but then we were encouraged by the station owners to lower numbers and we took to it with a vengeance - I would visit my Full bore club secretary and armorer - he would sell us two cartons of .303 75rounds in each and we would shoot them all of in a day - no bloody wonder now rather deaf

Really enjoy this thread and love a bit of goat meat and go goat hunting regularly always have some in the freezer for a nice stew or curry. I find it more mild than most venison.
We are very picky about the ones that come home with us though, younger nannies generally. Older nannies go to the dog as it can be a bit tough/dry. Billies, almost without exception are left on the hill.
Have shot some goat off spring pasture last year that was as fatty as any lamb and was excellent eating.
We've been trying to eat more wild game lately and the freezer is full of goat, rabbit, hare, and venison. I have recently become a bit fond of hare as a meat after being put off from it for a few years.

Freezer even has a drawer of possum hind legs, which I give to a work mate for their dogs. Takes no time to whip the back legs off and throwing them into a bucket as I'm going around shooting them.
I would feed it to our dog but he has regular supply of goat and I don't like the smell of possum which stays on your hands after having to skin them.

Originally Posted by Makros

Really enjoy this thread and love a bit of goat meat and go goat hunting regularly always have some in the freezer for a nice stew or curry. I find it more mild than most venison.
We are very picky about the ones that come home with us though, younger nannies generally. Older nannies go to the dog as it can be a bit tough/dry. Billies, almost without exception are left on the hill.
Have shot some goat off spring pasture last year that was as fatty as any lamb and was excellent eating.
We've been trying to eat more wild game lately and the freezer is full of goat, rabbit, hare, and venison. I have recently become a bit fond of hare as a meat after being put off from it for a few years.

Freezer even has a drawer of possum hind legs, which I give to a work mate for their dogs. Takes no time to whip the back legs off and throwing them into a bucket as I'm going around shooting them.
I would feed it to our dog but he has regular supply of goat and I don't like the smell of possum which stays on your hands after having to skin them.

I rate hare highly - I dont know if you have tried it this way but I soak in salty water overnight and then simmer it in milky water for a few hours before a slow roast bloody delicious

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

I rate hare highly - I dont know if you have tried it this way but I soak in salty water overnight and then simmer it in milky water for a few hours before a slow roast bloody delicious

No I haven't tried hare like that but that sounds exactly like what a German friend did with some rabbits I gave them. I was sent pictures and it looked delicious!

Originally Posted by Makros

No I haven't tried hare like that but that sounds exactly like what a German friend did with some rabbits I gave them. I was sent pictures and it looked delicious!

yeah works with rabbit - hare- canadas - and paradise - takes away gamy smell -but not tame geese they are inedible any which way --was told once with tame geese boil in milky water and very long (10hrs ) slow roast -nah bloody awfull - and yet Poms rate them - no accounting for taste -

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

I rate hare highly - I dont know if you have tried it this way but I soak in salty water overnight and then simmer it in milky water for a few hours before a slow roast bloody delicious

Got dozens of the buggers, so will have to try this approach thanks

A leg of goat going into the oven to slow roast. Seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme, chilli flakes, cinnamon stick, fresh mint, bay leaves, and garlic cloves pushed into cuts in the meat. Olive oil and butter on the leg and a cup of water to prevent it drying out. 150°C for about 2 hours

Re: eating goat, if you don't like it, bumblefoot's excellent thread probably won't hold much interest for you. I wouldn't try and persuade someone to eat something they just don't like. Everyone tells me how good kahawai sashimi can be, yet I can't stand it. Last time I tried, I was literally gagging and I'm a lover of raw fish. Despite eating goat 2-3 times per week, I'm not overly keen on European-style recipes where goat is substituted for lamb. Goat goes well with South Asian and Middle Eastern flavours to my mind. If that isn't to your tase, I can see the problem. Yes, goat curry may be a boring cliche, but it works. Last night's batch was as good as anything I've had in an Indian restaurant and I made it with goat shanks. Easy too!

https://myheartbeets.com/slow-cooker-goat-curry-indian/

@MB Interestingly I'e found that goat is fine roasted etc. I've given roast goat leg or slow cooker shoulders to friends and they all said that they would have thought it was lamb/hogget.The big thing I've found with roasting is to be super careful that it doesn't dry out. Hence the oven bag, cup of water in the bag, and butter and oil. Goat doesn't have the fat to keep it moist like lamb does. The other thing is that when frying goat steak; if you like it medium rare you need to take it when rare; in contrast to lamb/beef etc. The goat seems to keep on cooking for a few minutes when taken off the heat.

I had a goat curry from a Fijian Indian place in Papatoetoe a few time a few years back. Holy hell it was stunning. I've been trying to get mine to that level, and (not trying to be a blow arse), have nearly cracked it. The only difference now is that that they use bone-in goat, whereas I don't. But I do usually cut a couple of goat shank bones in half and throw them in.

But everyone's tastes are different. As a butcher I do believe that carcass care is incredibly important. Especially when skinning goats. I always have a couple of buckets of water, one soapy, one plain, to continually wash my hands and knives, especially the hand that punches the skin off.

I used to chuckle when pig hunters (and not ragging on them, because I hunted pigs with dogs for many years) would come into the shop and say "You can't buy meat like this!". And I'd feel like answering... "No; we wouldn't come to your place to process your steer, chase it with dogs for half an hour, let the dogs hold it for a while, kill it and then take hours to get it to a chiller

The other meat care trend that I find weird is the recent trend to "shoot it and leave it to the next day to retrieve it.." So it hasn't been bled out properly, has sat with its guts in all night etc.... I know there are occasions when that can happen; but the amount of times I see it; especially on NZ hunting programmes (one in particular), and US hunting shows amazes me. Maybe ok when it's in tahr country and freezing cold weather. Not ideal, but probably ok. But it's amazing how many vids I've watched where people do it in warm/warmish weather.... Or; they shoot one the night before; go hunting the next day and leave the animal until later in that day. Then do the big "We harvest the best meat/you can't get meat like this in a shop" yada yada....

Right; I'm off my soapbox now..... Spleen vented....

An easy tea of wild goat shanks and veges steamed in a foil package in the slow cooker. The goat shanks just melted off the bone. Wild goat shanks, spuds, pumpkin cabbage, brussel sprouts and onions, seasoned and wrapped in foil. Put some water in tbe bottom of the crockpot and a small upside down plate to keep the sealed foil package out of the water. Put the crockpot on low and walk away for a few hours. Tea done. Great for when you're busy and want something healthy and to not be tempted by takeaways...

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

An easy tea of wild goat shanks and veges steamed in a foil package in the slow cooker. The goat shanks just melted off the bone. Wild goat shanks, spuds, pumpkin cabbage, brussel sprouts and onions, seasoned and wrapped in foil. Put some water in tbe bottom of the crockpot and a small upside down plate to keep the sealed foil package out of the water. Put the crockpot on low and walk away for a few hours. Tea done. Great for when you're busy and want something healthy and to not be tempted by takeaways...

Attachment 214812

looks bloody good mate yummy I bet

Originally Posted by Makros

Really enjoy this thread and love a bit of goat meat and go goat hunting regularly always have some in the freezer for a nice stew or curry. I find it more mild than most venison.
We are very picky about the ones that come home with us though, younger nannies generally. Older nannies go to the dog as it can be a bit tough/dry. Billies, almost without exception are left on the hill.
Have shot some goat off spring pasture last year that was as fatty as any lamb and was excellent eating.
We've been trying to eat more wild game lately and the freezer is full of goat, rabbit, hare, and venison. I have recently become a bit fond of hare as a meat after being put off from it for a few years.

Freezer even has a drawer of possum hind legs, which I give to a work mate for their dogs. Takes no time to whip the back legs off and throwing them into a bucket as I'm going around shooting them.
I would feed it to our dog but he has regular supply of goat and I don't like the smell of possum which stays on your hands after having to skin them.

Hare is great - just remember it’s a ‘dry’ sort of meat so crock-pot or oven bag.
Hare, rabbit, goat, fallow, chamois, thar, red, whitetail, wallaby - I’ve eaten meat from all of them and all were great.

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

A leg of goat going into the oven to slow roast. Seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme, chilli flakes, cinnamon stick, fresh mint, bay leaves, and garlic cloves pushed into cuts in the meat. Olive oil and butter on the leg and a cup of water to prevent it drying out. 150°C for about 2 hours

Attachment 214265

I always rub a roast with olive oil to seal the surface and brown it in the fry pan before putting in the oven. With a fatless meat - which is pretty much all our game meats an oven bag makes a huge difference because the slight positive pressure in the bag stops moisture from moving out of the roast. I never need butter, bacon etc with this method but sit the roast on a bed of thin kumera slices

Wild goat shoulder ready to be rolled and slow cooked. And, the rolled roast in the crockpot. Seasoned with, goji berries, salt, pepper, a few chill flakes, sumac and fresh mint. Fresh mint, cinnamon stick and 3 garlic cloves in the cooking water