Slow Cooked Goat Stew

In the fall of 2009, I made the decision to start eating meat again and the first meat I had was goat. I had talked at length with my friend Suzanne, of Cozi Farm, about what meat to eat, how to prepare it, and how to enjoy it again. She also offered to cook my first meat meal. She braised a goat roast, that had come from one of their own goats on their farm and we shared it over dinner. Braising or slow cooking, makes meat extremely tender and easier to digest. I was a little concerned about having digestive problems. Everyone at the table suggested I only have a little to see how my body did with it. It was wonderful! Flavor and texture and mouth "feel" that was familiar, but better than I ever remembered. I had two helpings. And my body felt really, really good. Like I could have left the table and sprinted home. Before this meal, I had never thought about eating goat.

Goat meat is the most widely consumed meat in the world. It can be tough if cooked at high temperatures and the taste depends on the age of the goat. It's definitely not beefy, but has a similar mouth feel to beef and not as gamey as venison (which I'm hoping to work with soon).

Last week, I purchased some goat stew meat and ground goat from my friend Roland of Walters Unlimited (his beautiful pasture fed goats are pictured above) and found this recipe on FoodNetwork.com for Goat Stew. Although many goat stews are spiced, I decided to keep it simple and try a variation close to a beef/vegetable soup.
And I cooked it all in the crock-pot. As I've learned, I think the crock-pot's greatest value is slow cooking meat. We ate our goat stew in-between football playoff games and everyone agreed it was terrific, but more like a soup than a stew. My mom gave the official thumb's up.
The cost breakdown was about $5 for 1lb. of goat stew meat and $10.50 for the carrots, potatoes, celery and garlic from Whole Foods. I already had the tomato paste and used a can of chopped tomotoes vs. fresh. So, the entire meal was about $20 and fed four people easily with enough leftovers for Eric and I for two nights. I'd really like to try goat stew again, trying a recipe like the goat stew at the Saxapahaw General Store, our local five star restaurant/gas station.