Or for those of us who don't speak French, Goat Tenderloin.
This past weekend I butchered a ~2 year old Nigerian Dwarf goat wether. We had kept him around the farm to provide company for our doe, but since she now has her own kid he was not needed anymore. I had never butchered a large animal. I have processed my fair share of chickens, turkeys, ducks and even the random rabbit, but a goat, even a dwarf goat seemed a big step. But with the help of the book of Country Wisdom & Know-How and some net searches I figured I would give it a go.
The weather on Saturday cooperated, being slightly cool. Julia and Sam were interested in seeing the process so they climbed up into the hay loft, watched and took some photos, while I dispatched the goat with a .22 behind his ear. The hardest part of the process was getting the goat hung at a level to work on. I wasn't prepared for how heavy he was and I didn't have a block and tackle handy.
After getting the goat hung up the skinning and gutting process went fairly smoothly, although slowly. When I was mostly done I took him out to the clothes line so that I could finish in the sun.
I then washed and quartered the carcass and put it in our garage fridge to age. I went to Seattle on business Monday-Wednesday. I stayed home from work on Thursday to catch up with my family and started the process of butchering up the carcass. I got three bags of cubed stew meat and some soup bones from hind section. I carved out tenderloins, or back straps, from the ribs/chops. The bellies were saved for the dogs.
I still have a lot more to butcher but was interested in trying out the meat, so I decided to grill up some of the tenderloins. Danielle took this opportunity to pull together a zero mile meal for the Dark Days Eat Local Challenge.
Danielle describes the meal in detail, all I will say is that the goat tenderloin was great. Not quite as tender as good beef tenderloin, but the flavor was excellent. There was a slight undertone of goat but there was not a strong gamey taste. We were somewhat concerned since this goat was considerably older than the age at which they are conventionally butchered, usually around eight months. I am happy to say though that there was not any taint to the meat, although I was careful to closely trim all the fat, which is where the strong flavor supposedly is concentrated.
