Goat Chops

Serendipitous find today. Bit of a backstory in that the lamb I had been talking about during Obama's inauguration was finally delivered late today. So I have more meat than I can use in several months. OK. Lane and I had lunch and it was my turn to pick, but the first Japanese place I suggested was closed. So I remembered this other Japanese cafe said oh! Let's try it and see. It was fine but nothing worth blogging about, except that it happened to be located right next door to Rockville Gourmet Halal Meat. So I said Oh! Let's go there after lunch! And there was no need to twist my fellow foodie's arm.

Once inside I could let my inner zombie go......"brains....brains" and tongues and tails and a prominent sign that said "lamb's head." I was in heaven. Walked out with veal cheeks and a nice plate of goat chops (see pic above. Bit more backstory. My entire conversation with goat as a food involves "curry" or "stew" right after. So I had to have these). And the guy at Rockville Gourmet Halal Meats (phone is 301.424.4444 if you're in the area) was incredibly sweet and gave me a couple of pounds of liver as lagniappe, partially, I think, because I was so happy at seeing offal on offer.

Back to dinnernoms.

Decided to make the goat on Minizawa-chan (the small egg), high heat short time both sides. Steamed the carrots and made a 3G (ghee/garlic/ginger) glaze. Instructions for Goat: Start the grill and warm it up. Grill the goat 4 min or so on both sides until it has a nice skin on the outside but still is very rare (room temp or so) on the inside. Instructions for Carrots: Steam the carrots for about 7 min. Heat 2T or more ghee until hot and add 1 clove garlic and 1/4" piece ginger (both chopped). Saute until just starting to brown and add a shy 1T of san on tou or 2t of light brown sugar and the carrots. Saute 5 min or so until the carrots are glazed and done to your taste.

Eating Notes: Another ZOMG. The goat chop is the same size as a lamb chop, but it's a grown up animal. The muscle fiber is more chewy (but not gamey, the way goat stew is) and has a somewhat metallic (to Phil) or complex (to me) taste. The fat (thanks, Phil) has a more unctuous taste to it. It's really good. We both liked it better than traditional lamb chops because of the more complex and mature taste. So I'll definitely get them again.