Rebel Cooking - Growing Up

I have not been cooking overly much here today – just a little goat meat stew and some odds and ends. But, what I have been doing quite a bit of these days is learning more about preserving foods.

As well as working at growing a sourdough starter culture….it was growing well until I got a little carried away and added another type of flour to the mixture and promptly killed it.

At least I think I did – so, I am trying to revive it or I will start it all over again. But, it’s all new territory for me, so this is a great learning curve so far and I am enjoying making the mistakes too. Right now the starter has grown a tiny bit in the last hour, there might be hope yet!

But, back to the meat – there are so many different types of meat out there such as venison and goat, we in the West would not eat regularly (as a general rule). But, are really missing out when we don’t because they are not only a great source of protein (lean and healthy) but tasty too.

To really enjoy a meal of goat or venison – it’s all seems to be in the marinade and your approach to cooking. Of course for any stronger or tougher meat, you will have to treat it a little differently from a spring lamb.

When handled and cooked properly, any meat can be made into a wonderful meal and these gamier tasting meats are no different. So on to the marinade which might be anything really, but just something that will break down the collagen fibres of the muscle as well as add flavour…

I don’t follow any one recipe when it comes right down to it. What I do is just look at how much I would like to cook and then decide what ingredients I have on hand and how big a bowl to use.

It’s that simple – I often start with 3 or 4 bay leaves, add some olive oil if the meat is lacking fat (such as venison), a tablespoon of mustard, 1 level teaspoon turmeric, some sage, thyme, rosemary (especially for goat meat), chopped onions, garlic, leek, a little balsamic or apple cider vinegar and then I add something citrus or sweet.

Today I sliced up a whole lemon into thin wedges and added it into the marinade for goat meat, which all went into the stew once it started cooking. I would just season a little bit with pepper and some salt – at the beginning because it might draw out some moisture from the meat. Besides, salt can be added at the end of the cooking as well.

The last time I made a piece of goat or venison I added cranberry apple sauce and it was lovely….and since goat lends itself to herbs, I do put in whatever I can find from my garden (parsley, lovage, Welsh onion, sprouting things and leaves etc.).

So you see you can add anything and make a great tasting meal from this type of meat – no excuses necessary. Just flavourful great taste and a little learning curve will take you there….now I am ready to get back to my sourdough. This is so much fun!

April 

Goat Stew