Curry Goat
Baaad… to… the… Bone.
The other red meat of the English-speaking Caribbean, curry goat, is so common that a party without this delicious, juicy, succulent meat would be a waste of time.
Your Goat meat had better taste delicious, or you will be the gossip of the community for quite awhile.
Goat can be cooked in many different ways. You can stew, barbecue, roast, kebob, pot roast, etc., etc., etc.
But the one popular style of cooking goat in the Caribbean for any occasion is… you guessed it… Curry Goat.
YAH MON!!! (3 times)
Curry Goat was the sole meat dish at every “big dance” I have been to since I was 12 years old. Ever since that time, few things have changed. Believe me!
Back in the day when Curry Goat was the king of the “big dance,” you had to hire a “specialist” to cook.
That person was usually a senior member of the village or town, who had notoriety, and was well recommended.
The “big dance” style of cooking was not easy to imitate, so to speak.
The “specialist” never revealed exactly what he was doing. And if anyone tried to “crowd the specialist,”that person would be kindly instructed to find something else to do.
So the Curry Goat cooking remained a guarded secret for quite some time…at least the “big dance” cooking style.
Now if you had a birthday party for a teenager, you were not expected to make the “big dance” Curry Goat, but the same high standard of cooking was demanded by your guests, indeed.
And if the host makes a mistake and serve an ordinary Curry Goat too many times, there would be murmur and gossip about the cooking… to say the least.
YOU KNOW how word gets around in small communities.
That’s how serious some Jamaicans are about their Curry Goat. You mess it up, and you become infamous.
Zeen? ‘Nuff Said!
CURRY GOAT
- 3 lb. Goat Meat (cut up in bite size pieces)
- 1 Large Onion (chopped)
- 2 cloves Garlic (chopped)
- 1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper (chopped and seeded)
- 4 oz. Jamaican Curry Powder
- 1 oz. Cooking Oil
- 1 oz. Ground Black Pepper
- 2 tbsp. Salt
- 4 sprig. Thyme
- 1/2 oz. Vinegar
- 6 Pimento Seeds (Allspice)
Method:
- Wash goat meat with vinegar and water. Rub in all the season with goat meat and let it sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Remove the meat from the refrigerator and then remove the seasoning from the goat meat.
- In a saucepan, heat the oil on high until it smells. Add 1 oz. curry powder to the hot oil. Stir curry powder in oil until the color starts to change.
- Put the goat meat in the saucepan now. Stir the meat in the hot oil for two minutes; be careful not to burn the meat.
- Add 1 oz. water to the pot, keep stirring until the meat looks like the muscles are tightening up.
- Now turn down the heat to medium and add 2 cups of water to the meat in the saucepan.
- Cover the pot and let this stew cook for about 1 hour. Check on the meat in the pot, stir again and add water to cover the meat.
- Simmer for another 20 minutes, and then check to see if the meat is medium soft.
If it is so, add the seasoning you removed earlier to the pot. Let the stew simmer for another 10 minutes on a slightly lower heat (between medium and low).
Optional) You can add potatoes to the pot the same time you add the seasoning. You can also add bread crumbs to thicken.
Note : Although this is a stew, it should not be dominated by watery type gravy. You should make this stew cook until most of the water is evaporated, and let the fat from the goat flavor the stew.
It takes practice and trial and error sometimes to get a perfect Curry Goat, so don’t give up on your first try.
YAH MON!!!
This Boils My Goat
You’ve heard that expression before, haven’t you? Well, I can tell you this, boiled goat tastes very good in soup.
And if you know what you’re doing, you’ll win favor with your friends with a soup called “Mannish Water.”You heard it right.
We’ve been making this soup called “mannish water” for many years. It is believed by some Jamaican men, that this soup makes you a “champion” in the bedroom.
You hear the hype from the “bedroom bullies” about how this “mannish water” enhances their prowess.
It makes you deliver on your promise to the ladies… mek yu back strong… stand firm for the third term…pump it up…wok gal hard…
WHAT-EVER!!!
You know, women drink “mannish water” too, but they never say anything about what it does for them. Mmm…I wonder sometimes? I think if you ask these women…never mind.
This delicious soup is made with the goat’s head, feet, and tripe. Other ingredients are added too, such as green bananas, yams, onions, salt, and scotch bonnet pepper.
I had to mention this soup because a party or "big dance" would never be the same without "Mannish Water" and Curry Goat together…Like Sea and Sand.
This is no joke...there's a song that was a hit in Jamaica called,
"RAM GOAT LIVER"...Yes Indeed!!!
The lyrics were sung by the Goat Man himself, Mr.Pluto Shervington.
Now you know, without a doubt that ...Curry Goat is the Holy Grail of Jamaican meat dishes.
You can get Goat Head and Feet from your meat/butcher shop where it’s cleaned, inspected, and prepared for sale to the public.
If you kill the goat by yourself, you will have to burn the hair off the goat’s head and feet before you cook it. Anyway you look at it, the hair must be removed: preferably with fire.
Do you remember back in the old days when you pluck the feathers from the chicken you were going to cook for dinner? And afterward you had to singe the remaining little baby feathers that grew close to the chicken's skin. It’s the same idea here.
Auntie Mae-Mae’s
MANNISH WATER
- Goat Head & Feet (cleaned and chopped)
- 1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 4 stalks. Scallions
- 1 Large Onion (
- Salt
- 1 Jamaican Red Stripe Beer (12 oz.)
- 4 Green Bananas (chopped in quarter pieces with skin on)
- 2 Irish Potatoes ( peeled and chopped in quarter pieces)
- 2 Cho Cho (Christophine) (chopped in halves)
- 5 sprigs. Thyme
- 10 Pimento Seeds (Allspice)
- ½ lb. Yellow Yam
- ½ lb. Flour
Method:
- Bring water to a boil in a stockpot and add a little salt to taste.
- Add meat to boiling water and allow meat to cook until medium tender.
- Now add the green bananas, potatoes, and yellow yam and garlic and pimento.
- While these ingredients are cooking, you need to make some small dumplings called spinners.
- Put flour in a large bowl and add a little water. Knead flour into dough, adding water as necessary, like you’re making bread.
- Pinch dough into small pieces, about 2” in diameter. Place pieces of dough into bowl and let sit for awhile.
- With your palms facing each other, roll a piece of dough between them until the dough looks like a big piece of spaghetti.
- Then form the dough so that the middle is wide and the top and bottom are small. This is a spinner.
- The length of the spinner (dough) should be no more that 4-inches, though. Repeat this process for all the pieces.
- When the yams become medium soft, add the spinners, wait 2 minutes and then add the other ingredients to the soup. Let this soup boil for another 10 minutes or so.
- Taste the soup now; it should have a nice flavor. Let someone else give you a second opinion about this soup. You can add more spices if needed.
CAUTION: If the Scotch Bonnet Pepper bursts in the soup, it will make the soup hot and spicy…it’s your choice.
Serve this soup hot in small cups.
YAH MON!!!
