Marinated and smoked leg of goat, served with charred vegetables, salad, and garlic sauce inspired by Turkish and Middle Eastern flavours. This meal is great for sharing with friends over a weekend BBQ or dinner.
Goat meat, or chevon, is incredibly popular across much of Africa and the Middle East. Despite this it is quite rare to be served goat in most Australian homes. There are millions of feral goats across Australia (resulting in $25 million of losses to agriculture per annum) , they can be a challenge to hunt, and are great to eat (perhaps with the exception of big old billy goats).
Having done most of my hunting until recently in the Top End opportunities to enjoy wild goat had been few and far between. Living down south has led to some more wild goat meat in our diet. I came up with this recipe to first introduce my family to goat meat.
Allow the goat to smoke at 225* until the internal temperature reaches about 165*. This took about 5 hours.
Smoked goat with charred vegetables
- 1 bone-in leg of goat could be substituted with lamb
- 2 tbsp freshly cracked pepper
- 2 tbsp sea salt
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary
- olive oil
- 1 lemon
- 2 Onions
- 4 long red chillies
- 1 cup mesquite woodchops soaked in water
- Rocket
- 2 tomatoes
- olive oil
- lemon juice
- sea salt flakes
- 2 cups sunflower oil or similar tasteless oil
- 4 cloves garlic very finely chopped
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup cold water
- sea salt
- Make a rub by crushing the coarse salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary in a mortar and pestle. Once all ingredients are thoroughly crushed add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and mix well.
- Rub the mixture all over the goat leg, being sure to work it into all of the gaps between the muscles. Set the meat aside, at room temperature, to take on the flavours of the marinade while you prepare your smoker.
- If you haven’t already, start soaking a good couple of handfuls of woodchips in water, I used mesquite for this recipe.
- I aim to have the smoker stable at 95-105°C (200-220°F), with the water pan at least three quarters full. To achieve this quickly, and to avoid a dramatic drop in temperature, I use a chimney to start the charcoal and once white hot I pour it into the smokers charcoal tray, and then add hot water to the water pan. Once the smoker has reached a stable 95-105°C (200-220°F) you’re ready to add the meat.
- Zest a lemon over the goat leg immediately before putting the leg in the smoker.
- Put the goat on the top rack of your smoker, and add a handful of woodchips to the charcoal. With the smoker at 95-105°C (200-220°F) it should take about three hours to cook, but the size of the leg and amount of fat and connective tissue will vary this time. The only way to absolutely know how cooked the meat is with a meat thermometer.
- While the meat smokes, very finely chop four cloves of garlic. Using a small food processor, stick blender, or by hand with a whisk (if you’re a bit of masochist) slowly trickle the sunflower oil into a bowl with the garlic. Just like mayonnaise, or a hollandaise sauce, you are trying to make an emulsion. Too much oil too quickly and the emulsion will split. Once all the oil is added you should have a thick mayonnaise type sauce, slowly add the lemon juice as you whisk. Then if the emulsion is still too thick slowly add ice-cold water until you have the desired consistency. Add salt to taste, pour into a container and set aside in the fridge.
- Once the internal temperature of the meat has reached 140 degrees Fahrenheit, or your desired level of doneness, remove the meat from the smoker and set aside covered to rest for twenty minutes.
- While the meat rests make a salad of rocket and sliced tomato, dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Grill onions and long chillies (a mix of red and green, halved lengthwise) over a very hot grill. Finally, warm some Lebanese or Turkish flat bread and carve the meat from the bone. Serve the sliced goat, topped with char grilled onions and chillies, salad, and flat bread on large plates in the middle of the table to share.
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FAQ
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