Goat takes center stage on more

On a Friday before dinner service, Cavan Patterson of Lawrenceville's Wild Purveyors parks as close as he can to a delivery entrance for Legume in Oakland. As he rolls up the door of his truck, he's greeted by executive chef Trevett Hooper.

Mr. Patterson hops into the back of the truck and drags a box toward the opening, lifting first one then a second young goat that he passes to Mr. Hooper. He slings a pair over his shoulders and jumps to the ground.

Wrapped like mummies in clear plastic, the goats' limbs touch hoof to hoof as Mr. Patterson and Mr. Hooper talk and walk through an alley toward the kitchen.

Approximately 50 pounds apiece, the goats had been slaughtered and skinned about a week earlier.

It's the first year Mr. Hooper has offered goat as a regular menu item. Legume sells at least 20 plates a day that feature it.

And it's the star of not one, but several dishes. No longer just the meat of ravioli and soup, goat can be the kidneys that are served in a "surprisingly delicious" dandelion salad. Riblets are smoked and glazed with goat demi-glace and served with rhubarb chutney.

Goat isn't just a dish for epicures. At Butterjoint, Legume's front-bar restaurant, ground goat shoulder is listed as a "fancy burger," a smoky-sweet patty on a brioche bun, also dressed with rhubarb chutney. Served with tallow fries, it's more flavorful than the beef burger made with house-ground meat, often cited among the best in town.

Perhaps what's happening at Legume is also occurring at restaurants in small and large cities around the country: The U.S. is awakening to the many reasons goat is the most widely eaten protein in the world.

Pam Adams, head of the Maryland-West Virginia-Pennsylvania Meat Goat Association, said that goat production has increased 20 percent in the past five years. There were 64 goat farms in the region in 2011. There are now 115, with each farm maintaining larger herds than in the past.

That we're eating more goat meat speaks to a quest for a culinary adventure. As Pittsburgh diners get to know their chefs, they're more apt to try dishes such as those that glorify goat, a meat that had been shunned a few years ago.

This trust builds an appetite for discovery, which allows and perhaps compels chefs to introduce new ingredients and preparations, whether it's sweetbreads or sirloin, lamb hearts or liver.

The quest for discovery also explains why Indian, Jamaican, and Middle Eastern restaurants are seeing a more diverse clientele of Pittsburghers who are open to international cuisine.

That goat moves toward mainstream seems logical. Restaurants serving strange cuts and local, wild edibles have been de rigueur for quite some time now. Chefs such as Mr. Hooper show diligence by cooking nose to tail and waiting until fava beans or strawberries are in season before serving.

Which brings us to the tale of why goat sells at Legume.

Unconventional cravings

"I was worried customers would get bored," said Mr. Hooper, citing his decision to bring quail onto the menu in March. "Adding goat was an effort to give customers more selection."

But the more compelling reason is because he is curious about it.

His enthusiasm has been fueled by Abdullah Salem, owner of Salem's Market and Grill in the Strip District, which also supplies many restaurant in the area -- particularly ethnic ones -- with goat meat.

In the shop midweek, it's a butchering day. The unmistakable smell of meat assaults the entrance, as the carcass of a cow and a goat hang near the walk-in on giant hooks. Goat chops are $7.99 a pound; shank is $6.99 a pound; and ribs are $5.99 a pound, among the most popular cuts here.

At Wild Purveyors, chops, ground, kebab-cut, roast and shank cost from $7.75 to $13 a pound.

Some goats served on Pittsburgh plates are raised by 24-year old Brad Thoma, which is where Mr. Patterson procures it. Mr. Thoma has been ranching Boer meat goats since he was 8 years old, when he kept them in dog runs in his backyard in Butler. Now, he raises 300 to 400 animals.

When he was a kid, he noticed a demand for goat, while working with his father and family members in the meat business.

"We've always had Italian customers who wanted baby goats for Easter," he said. For these customers, he slaughters goats when they're three months old. It's more common to process goats when they're eight to 10 months old and weigh around 60 pounds.

"Now we're getting more and more ethnic groups that arrive, groups that eat goat year round. They're Hindi, Muslim, Jamaican, Nepalese. There are holidays that you've never even heard of that come up and that's when I'm busiest," he said.

With sales that range from 10 to 35 animals a week, he said he's noticed that more Pittsburgh natives are eating goat, too. At least one a week is sold to home cooks who shop at Wild Purveyors.

Mr. Thoma also notes the health benefits of goat. A lean meat, it's naturally high in protein and iron. It's also cited for its sweetness from its diet of primarily grass.

"Goats are meant to eat grass, hay and roughage," he said. "A goat that eats grass and poison ivy vines is going to offer some really beautiful meat."

Back at Legume, Mr. Hooper chronicled his experimentation with goat on his blog, "Notes from the Kitchen."

"It had never occurred to me to age goat meat before," he wrote.

He had assumed that goat should be used quickly and relegated the meat to pasta and soup. "But after butchering a bunch of lamb ... and learning the subtleties involved in aging it for best texture and flavor, it dawned on me that we could be doing the same things with goat.

"When I told Salem I was going to be dry-aging goat legs on the bone for several weeks, seaming out the individual muscles and cooking them to mid-rare, he looked at me like I was nuts. But we did it and it's good. Really good. As good as high- quality lamb. Seriously."

In the past month, he said people have been surprised at how good it actually is. "I had a regular customer text me from the dining room: 'This is amazing.'"

Diners are still skittish about dropping a bunch of coin on goat meat. Mr. Hooper said he's charging $29 an entree, while lamb fetches $34. "I can't price goat for what I sell lamb for," he said.

A year 'round dish?

This spring isn't the first time Mr. Hooper has added goat to the menu, though in previous years, he waited until August and September to buy an entire animal.

"If you're going to go through the trouble of doing a shoulder braise, it's easier," he said. "I'd do one goat and it would last us a couple of days. We'd cook it all at once and make soup or ravioli for the weekends."

Though places such as Casa Rasta and Indian restaurants such as All India offer goat year round, few other fine dining chefs put goat on their daily menus. Over at Toast! Bar and Kitchen in Oakland, chef Daniel Vosler orders a goat or two a week during the spring.

"I think the flavor lends itself to brighter flavors that come with ramps, fiddleheads and spring greens," he said. For now, he offers a goat ragout he seasons with cumin and coriander and serves on house-made pappardelle. His dishes will change throughout the season.

"Whether or not it's accurate, I always associate goat as a late summer dish," said Chad Townsend, chef de cuisine at Salt of the Earth. Though he's not serving goat, he cites the introduction of lamb heart and sweetbreads as proteins Pittsburghers would not have eaten with gusto a few years ago. Now, they're among his best sellers. He said he may consider adding goat to the menu in the future.

Over at Casbah, chef de cuisine Dustin Gardner said the restaurant featured goat several years ago from Clarion River Organics but has since abandoned it because it did not sell.

"Not even Bill Fuller, who's my man, could sell goat a couple years ago," said Clarion River Organics' Nathan Holmes, who had briefly raised goats for cabrito, when they're slaughtered at 20 to 25 pounds for a more tender meat. He got the idea from chefs who his brother works with out in San Francisco, where young milk-fed goat gained popularity a few years ago.

"When it comes to goat, people may be more open to it now," said Mr. Holmes. "The environment may be changing."

When he does get a whole goat, he sells it to Crested Duck in Beechview, which sells it as a roast for $14 a pound or ground for $7 a pound. It's also used in a number of sausage products.

Back in the kitchen at Legume, a cook plates an order of "Thoma Farm goat three ways," which on this day is a braised shank, merguez sausage and a 3-ounce loin, served with rhubarb chutney, creamy polenta and wilted greens.

"We have so many goats around here," said Mr. Hooper. "We really should be eating them." Yet he acknowledges it will be awhile before it will be as common to menus as lamb.

"There are so many preparations to try," he said. "But goat, by itself, is already out of the box."