Last weekend I was on a quest!! A fan of lamb, I wanted to try goat meat. Searching online, Indie Tulsa lead me to believe that Perry's provided goat (goat tacos even). Believing I would easily find what I desired, I looked forward to my first visit to Perry's (where friends had bought beef tongue, oxtail, and tripe). Upon arriving last Sunday, the parking lot was packed and I had to park on a somewhat questionable residential street. Entering the store, I found the place packed with people waiting for assistance at the butcher's counter. Identifying a section of the freezer as the "odds and ends" area, I found no evidence of goat meat, though there was a note about the unfortunate absence of rabbit.
Upon leaving Perry's, Ashley and I went on a visit to Las Americas Super Mercado. After checking out the rest of the store, including some interesting produce, we found that they were fresh out of goat!!
Next stop, Petty's. I asked the butcher if he knew where to find goat in Tulsa, thinking that he might be more of an "old school butcher" than a butcher at a chain, and might know where to get non-traditional meat. No luck.
Next stop, Whole Foods. No luck (why I thought I might find goat here, I'm not sure), but upon leaving determined that an Indian market might be a better place to check. As I recalled there was an Indian market across from India Palace on Lewis. In fact, New Indian Bazaar did indeed have goat!! We also went to an African market in the same shopping center and bought some malta (made by Guinness).
After getting home I cooked up the goat (after deboning it; very disappointed by the the boniness) by searing it simply with salt and pepper. All in all the goat was quite gamy. I expected something like lamb, but this was lamb times ten. Not bad, but it was like eating Long John Silver's and then eating swordfish; quite a jump in taste. Verdict: while lamb may well be my favorite meat, goat goes a little too far. Next up: Rabbit.
(Malta was not nearly as bad as I thought it might be. It kind of reminded me of Yoohoo, though its not something I would want to drink very often.)
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7 years ago
5 comments:
Perry's does have goat, you have to ask at the counter though. Dan and I got some, but it was pretty bony and gristly, low quality stew meat. So...I won't buy it again. I am pretty sure there are a few meat goat farms in Okla, though, you might be able to find something of a bit higher quality and better cut.
I love Perry's though. So bustling, it's one of the only places of its kind left in Tulsa. When I get back I'm gonna investigate what other odds and ends Dan and I can find there to cook. I think they actually do the butchering of the whole animals there (not 100% on this) so I'm assuming if I give them advance notice they can get me weird cuts or organs pretty fresh.
I should clarify a bit. The meat we got was pretty bony and gristly but the actual meat there was tasted good in a spicy stew (I made some curry-ish dish with a meat masala from India Bazaar). It sounds like maybe we got about the same quality of meat, it was goat from Australia, which I could tell by the stamp on the skin. I can't imagine eating it plain, seared!
Yeah, when we inquired about goat at Perry's, the butcher seemed to have a vague notion that they had it. She asked around behind the counter, peaked around in the freezer and came out with a big hunk of goat. Danielle and I didn't have any idea of what kinda cut we wanted and the butcher didn't seem to be to familiar with the possibilities herself. Something tells me they know their way around a rabbit though...
The shy guy I am, I didn't want to go ask at the counter. I get really anxious in new situations when I feel that people are waiting on me.
A coworker of mine, who is Indian, goes to some local farm to get his goat meat, but I haven't asked him about it.
I cooked it plain like that because I had done the same thing some time ago with some lamb stew meat we got from Blakely Farms, and it was great. I would definitely be up to trying it again in some sort of curry or similar dish.
I've been buying goat meat at El Mercadito near 21st & Garnett in Tulsa for years. If you don't see it in the display case, ask the meat cutter. Sometimes he just hasn't gotten it cut up yet, but I've never been there when they didn't have any. Yes, it does have a gamey flavor, but is very lean with little fat, compared to lamb, which is very greasy. I use it for chili, or roast it on the grill.
Perry's is the best place to get rabbit. I use it in chili too.
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