Goat: Four Courses at Fork

Look at these two cuties. They’re Bruce Weinstein (right) and Mark Scarbrough, the authors of 18 cookbooks, including my latest fave, Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese. On Friday, they descended from the Berkshires to eat and greet at Fork, where Chef Terence Feury took on an all-goat challenge. Four courses. Goat, goat, goat, goat.

You may recall that two weeks ago, I attempted a similar feat. I met toughness and fatigue, but it was great fun. My friends have heard me gush about Goat, and so they joined me for dinner out. Party of seven. What a treat.

“I always say that goat tastes like a cross between pork and dark meat on a turkey,” Weinstein said as we tucked into our beautiful braise – a succulent round of rolled goat meat, served on a bed of bitter greens.

Bruce’s description was perfect. The meat was buttery, tender as turkey, but the texture called to mind roast pork. (Pork+Turkey=Porkey?) The flavor wasn’t the least bit gamy. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I would have bet both my arms that I was eating pulled pork.

Why eat goat? According to Weinstein and Scarbrough, most people do. In fact, 70% of the red meat eaten in the world comes from goat. It’s lean and healthy, and the same goes for goat milk/cheese – it’s much easier to digest than cow’s milk, and it has 13% more calcium and 137% more potassium.

At Fork, Chef Feury made a beautiful soft goat cheese to top some gnocchi. But the best course of all was the goat yogurt panacotta. Gorgeous. Light as cloud cover.

Have you ever eaten goat in a restaurant? Or do you cook with goat’s milk or goat meat? Do tell. Turns out I'm not just a goat-cheese lover. I love it snout-to-tail as well.