Mesquite Grilled Goat Fajitas W/Q-Vue

[rivet]

Young goat, or "Cabrito" as it is called in the SouthWest and in Mexico, is traditionally cooked over wood. It's a tasty meat that goes goes hand in hand with tortillas, salsas, guacamole and icy-cold "cerveza".

Goat is sometimes hard to find. If you can locate a farmer, get in good with them, it's worth it! Around here, there are plenty of folks who raise Boers for meat.

Here's the hind leg for today

 




Mrs. Rivet cleaned out the kitchen's freezer and found a pair of salmon filets and chicken breasts to grill as well. The leg was covered in CBP only. The salmon and chicken in olive oil and lemon pepper. Here they are over mesquite chunks smelling nice.
 




The salmon and chicken cooked off fast. The leg continued to barbecue offset from the heat. Tossed in a couple jalapenos to snack on. The neighbours dogs were going loopy.

 






Meanwhile, the sides and sauces were being made. Here we have homemade salsa, guacamole, canned pickled jalapenos, chopped cilantro, Modelo beer for me and a South African Shyraz for Mrs. Rivet.

 



Once done, onto the chopping block to get cut up for the fajitas. Foiled for about 20 min to let it rest first.... The limes were put on the grill about 15 minutes before pulling off the leg.
 




Here's a flour tortilla, meat, salsa and guacamole....

 



And here's the full-monty on a corn tortilla~ All the way with everything....including shredded lettuce. All I was missing was frijoles refritos!

 



Thanks for taking the time to look at my cooking! Hope you enjoyed it and may the TBS follow you wherever you go, friend.

 

[the_selling_blues_man]

Looks Great!

 

[fire it up]

Damn Rivet! Pardon the language but damn that looks great!
Seriously, my mouth is watering over that one.
I want to drive out to Taco Bell and throw rocks at them as they are the only "quick fix" meal that would compare, though obviously there is no comparison to that tasty looking dish.
Points go without saying.

 

[tasunkawitko]

good lord, that looks good ~ absolutely perfect and i find myself wishing that goat were a little easier to come by up here! the texican theme is perfect and even without frijoles refritos you ahve created a masterpiece.

VERY nice, or should i say MUCHO MAGNIFICO!!

 

[cajunsmoke13]

That is some awesome cabrito. Wow, send some my way. points for that one...

 

[sumosmoke]

Folks, I think we have a culinary smoker on our hands ... that is really a fine meal you prepared, Riv. Something I haven't seen yet on the site. Great idea, worth points for sure!

 

[mballi3011]

Swwwweeet looking goat. I love goat we used to get it in jamacia usually jerked but i have to get me some of that stuff. Great job rivet

 

[old poi dog]

Great looking spread Rivet!! I want some!!

 

[waysideranch]

Nice smoke. Goat, the other meat.

 

[bassman]

I never thought I'd like goat, but I would certainly give that a try! Excellent looking plate. Thanks for the qview.

 

[old poi dog]

Rivet, I had to view your pics a 2nd time...and I'm hungry again. By any chance would you have a recipe for smoked goat? A friend of mine has offered me some wild goat meat. I like goat so the gamey taste doesn't bother me. I just need a recipe for a brine of some sort. Thanks ....

 

[rio_grande]

My dad has goats a plenty,,, I need a bigger smoker though to do it justice... He has been after me for some time to cook him one.

Rivet did you go right from slaughter to the smoker or did you chill first?

 

[tasunkawitko]

>>>Rivet did you go right from slaughter to the smoker or did you chill first?<<<

not to speak for rivet, but i'll add my experiences here.

i've never cooked goat, but i've shot and eaten plenty of pronghorn antelope, which i figure are similar. with all of my wild game, i hang it in our shed out of the sun after field dressing in order to stay cool and age a bit. with deer, this is 10 days to two weeks at temperatures that are at or below 40 degrees about 90% of the time (usually far below!), but because antelope season is a bit earlier in the year here and because the emat is more delicate than deer, i hang them for only a couple or three days to achieve the same results.

the reuslts? tender, flavorful meat that is better than anything you can buy.

 

[rio_grande]

Normaly agree,,, but we are gonna do one in july when they hit 60lb and at 85-90 deg we will have to chill it somehow.

Usually with hogs we clean out a watter tank and fillit with layer of ice, layer of hog, layer of Ice overnight. then cook next day..

 

[tasunkawitko]

>>>Usually with hogs we clean out a watter tank and fillit with layer of ice, layer of hog, layer of Ice overnight. then cook next day..<<<

taht sounds like a good way to go ~ only thing i can add to that is to (if possible) have some sort of drain at the bottom to let water out as the ice melts.

i have heard of folks taking crushed ice and adding rock salt to it in order to "super chill" meats, fish etc. it works quite well and the ice lasts a long time when done this way as ice forces a lower melting point. if you'd like, i can look up the information on this or it can probbaly be found with a quick google search.

 

[rivet]

OLD POI~ thanks for the kind words, and you are a lucky man! Wild goat meat from a friend...good to go! My wife and I both agree that you brine it in milk. In Mexico, older "cabras" or goats, are brined in milk to smooth out the ranginess and age. it's called "cabra con leche". Some folks there brine youg goats in milk and there is "cabrito con leche" but usually done for city folks or children who aren't ready for the gamey taste. Just go overnight in whole milk and you will be good to go. Don't fall prey to the urge to add anything to the milk. Just go with that for 24 hrs and you will be surprised.

RIO GRANDE~ nope never go frpm slaughter to grill...always chill it down at least overnight at minimum. In this case, the goat was a Christmas gift from my son- and daughter-in laws. Thye bought it last fall, raised it until the holidays, then slaughtered and cleaned it and cut it up for Mrs. Rivet and me. We got 4 packages of chilled goat that we put in the deepfreeze. It stayed at zero Fahrenheit until thursday when I put it in the fridge to start thawing.

TASUNKAWITKO~ as always, you are right on time, my friend! No worries on speaking for me, you know your stuff- especially the game hunting part. Good to go!

 

[rio_grande]

I pull the drainn the bottom... Can't say I know why but that is how it has been done since I was a child.

Funny you mentioned the salt cause that is how dad did it when we butchered a hog and took it to my brothers house. We had a 12 hr drive and we only added a couple bags of ice for the whole trip. There were a few sections of that hog still frozen when I put her in the smoker.. Not good but it worked out!!

I never mentioned how impressive this dish was Rivet,,, good show

 

[meatball]

Wow, Rivet, that's one heck of a meal you have there! Tip back another cerveza, you definitely deserve it!

 

[old poi dog]

Rivet,

Thanks for the "cabra con leche " brine recipe. I will follow it to a T, then refrigerate 24 hours and smoke on Kiawe (mesquite).

 

[mgwerks]

Rivet - you're a true BBQ brother! Cabrito is at the top of my fave list, I just don't do it enough. I can take or leave the older ones bu not the kids...

Your photos and presentation are spot-on. Points to you for this great effort!

Mark