I have always wondered why we don’t eat more mutton in the US. I loved me some mutton pie when I lived in Scotland when younger. As mentioned by others no strange procedures needed. But I suppose it might be gamier than beef, so maybe America’s Puritanical tastebuds just never took to it? Seems odd since we ate deer all along the frontier.
Goat is good, at least prepared the “Mexican” way – “birria” is the word, me thinks.
Okay, my fellow 'Dopers will know this – what the hell is the difference between a “chivo” and a “cabra”? No cabron jokes, thank you. To me a goat’s a goat, but apparently in Spanish it ain’t so, and it’s been intermittently bugging me. This thread seems like a good place to ask.
For the most part the words are interchangeable here in Jalisco but to be specific I believe chivo is an adult male, cabra is a female and cabrito is a kid.
Birria is a regional specialty here. It is made with a young goat of around 30 kilos. Roast cabrito is a northern Mexico specialty, especially in the Monterrey area.
My dad always called it chivo and his dad always made it by roasting in a pit. I thinkit’s delicious and doesn’t have the filmy tallow of mutton.
I don’t think mutton is very popular in Australia, certainly my halfhearted attempts to find it haven’t provided anything. Lamb is amazingly popular here, mutton, far less so.
Haven’t seen any around here, but over the river in Arkansas we had some aquaintances who raised goats.
There are different breeds of goats, used primarily for different purposes. The cheap ones bought to keep the grass down aren’t really that good eatin’. Others can be very succulent.
They castrated the males at an early age, with a copper wire wrapped around their nuts, for either quality or quantity of meat. Like a steer. It’s red meat, after all 
Call PETA :eek:
The females were kept for milk or sold.
Yes goat tastes pretty good. Grilled, fried, barbequed, smoked, etc… Then again we also enjoyed a lot of deer, elk, rabbit, quail, bear etc… so “gamey” wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Enjoyed it while on vacation in Jamaica too, usually with a lot of curry.
<anecdote>In Jamaica, often the young children will be in charge of a goat, which they must tether to a new tree twice a day. The goat will eat the vegetation in it’s general vacinity. This pays for the child’s education.<anecdote>
When I lived in NZ I usually bought mutton chops and other cuts at the butcher’s rather than lamb because it was substantially cheaper. It wasn’t bad. I am very surprised that you would have trouble finding it in Australia. I recall it being fairly common when I visited in the 1970s. Even if mutton is less common than lamb, and less popular, I would think it would still be relatively common compared to the US. It may be more typically used in stews and curries rather than as cuts of meat.
The mutton I’ve had has been fairly greasy and nasty. Ba-a-a-a-ad. Me no likey.
I was in Uganda a few weeks back and the meat we bought on sticks through the bus windows was always goat or chicken. The goat was amazingly good; the chicken was equally tasty, far superior to anything back at home.
The country’s big enough to support large-scale beef production. There’s less of a need for smaller grazing animals like sheep and goats.
There’s got to be more to it than that. Australia’s plenty big to support cattle, and mutton is more popular there than it is in the US.
Isn’t a large portion of Australia desert, though? The U.S.'s percentage of arable land is about triple Australia’s and irrigation is far more widespread.
Hmmm. I had never considered this aspect. Could it be as simple as economies of scale and beef being cheaper to produce, and thus cheaper to buy?
Hmmm. Seems Australia had a relatively flat growth of cattle raising from 1900 till the mid 60’s when new breeds were introduced and cattle numbers jumped.
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/29550f34fee00fc5ca256f7200832fda?OpenDocument So the whole issue of Australia not being proper land to land cattle may not be quite right, but perhaps it was just culture and farming habit. But nonetheless, the relative lower numbers of cattle may have made mutton more price competitive.
BoringDad’s link. Ah done fixt it.
I think cattle is big in the US to the exclusion of most other red meats for a few reasons, including tradition (Americans have a longstanding cultural attachment to beef), economics (Beef production in the US is a science, right down to feedlot design and slaughter technique: Henry Ford would be proud.), and marketing (Beef: It’s What’s For Dinner).
None of that stops people from raising and eating goats, but it prevents large-scale adoption of anything that didn’t moo when it was alive.
Marvin Harris goes into detail on why goats and sheep are not eaten as commonly in the United States as cows and pigs are. Part of is has to do with the historical enmity between ranchers and herders.
He also notes that beef did not gain its definitive ascendance over pork in the United States until the mid-20th century. Fast food hamburgers and back yard cookouts were key.
Based on personal experience, dog is better.
[QUOTE=DerlethI think cattle is big in the US to the exclusion of most other red meats for a few reasons, including tradition (Americans have a longstanding cultural attachment to beef), economics (Beef production in the US is a science, right down to feedlot design and slaughter technique: Henry Ford would be proud.), and marketing (Beef: It’s What’s For Dinner).
[/QUOTE]
You forgot one.
It tastes so gooooood. (Seriously – I love lamb, pork is great, young goat is good too, but a nice beef filet can’t be beat.)
I’ve only had goat one time and that was in a Caribbean restaurant. It had a strong flavor and while I managed to finish it, I wouldn’t order it again.
Given our Initiation Ceremony, do you mean this question in an “intimate” sense?
I never realized that goat meat was so popular. Near here there is quite a herd of goats, and just a few big dogs to keep them herded, I guess. I always wondered what the heck all the goats were for. Meat came to mind, but I’ve never seen it for sale (this is an area with huge feedlots and cattle ranches).
I have an Agouti pygmy goat, but he’s a pet. I’d never think of eating him!