I had some trepidation when NB came home with a mountain goat. In my first attempt, I used some stew meat with one of my other venison recipes, setting it on the stove at 6 am. At noon, the spoon was still bouncing off the meat like a basketball. I guess those goats get pretty muscly climbing those mountains! It took another 5 hours of slow cooking for it to break down to tender, but it was terrific. Similar in flavor other venison, just a bit sweeter.

Because it takes so long for the goat to cook down, I used a technique for cooking the meat with a cheesecloth, veggie-packet (bouquet garni) for flavor which is removed and replaced with roasted veggies for the stew. I learned this technique from Jaques & Julia‘s Beef Bourguignon recipe. An enameled, cast iron dutch oven will give best results.

Ingredients

• 4 strips thick bacon, cut to 1 ” pieces
• 2 lbs venison stew meat
• 2 onions, chopped large
• 5 carrots, 2 chopped large, 3 sliced for stew
• 1 celery rib, chopped large
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 6-8 small red potatoes, quartered
• 5-7 thyme sprigs
• Handful of fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 red wine
• 16 oz beef broth
• Olive oil
• 4-8 T. flour
• Salt & Pepper

1. Brown bacon pieces in dutch oven. Remove and reserve bacon and fat.
2. Pat stew meat dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. Roll in 2-3 T. of flour
3. Use the bacon fat to brown meat on all sides in small batches.
4. Remove all meat and deglaze pan with 1/2 c. of red wine, scraping the bottom of the pan.
5. Tie up large chopped carrot, celery & onion with thyme, parsley and garlic cloves in cheesecloth. Settle veggie packet in pot with the meat, rest of wine and broth. Liquid should just cover meat and veggie packet. Add more water if necessary.
6. Transfer to 275 degree oven and cook until meat is tender (5-6 hours for venison, 8-10 for mountain goat). You could do this with a slow simmer on the stove top or even in a slow cooker, but I think the dry heat of the oven keeps the evaporation lower with more fond in the pot. Check every 2 hours and add more water if necessary.
7. When meat is tender, transfer from oven and return to stovetop. Remove veg packet. Strain juices from veg packet in fine mesh strainer, pressing with a wooden spoon to get all juices out.
8. Increase oven temp to 375 degrees. On baking sheet, drizzle potatoes, and remaining carrots and onion with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Roast until veggies are tender and browned. Onions may need to come out before others.
9. While veg is roasting, bring meat and liquid to simmer. Add 2-4 T. flour to 1/2 c. water in mason jar with lid. Shake until flour is well combined. Whisk flour slurry into stew and simmer until thickened as desired.
10. Add roasted veggies and bacon pieces to stew. Season with salt and pepper as needed.