Goat Brisket Rice Bowl
If you can get your hands on some lamb or goat breasts, they make a great tasting, thrifty alternative to more expensive loin chops, legs and racks. Here’s a little tutorial on one way I cook them: braised, until tender, with the meat removed and fried up into a healthy, delicious rice bowl. It’s a great lamb or goat breast recipe.
It’s easy to see why breast isn’t as popular as the luxury cuts of lamb and goat: they’re fatty, and have irregular pieces of bone. Fatty, bony hunks of meat are usually some of the best tasting cuts on the animal, but they can require some special treatment to turn them into something great. Read on and I’ll explain.
This recipe is by James Beard Award-winning Chef Alan Bergo. He’s a chef from Minnesota and author of The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora. Learn more about Chef Alan at foragerchef.com.
Looking to buy lamb or goat online? Shepherd Song Farm: Grass to table. We raise lambs & goats traditionally, humanely and sustainably. 100% Grass Fed, Pasture Raised, Never Confined, no Hormones, Grains or Animal Byproducts. Born, raised and processed in the U.S.A. Good for you and good for the environment.
How to Cook Goat Brisket
First, know that breast/brisket can be sold boneless of bone-in. This recipe is for bone-in breast, which takes more work than boneless. If you want to buy boneless lamb or goat brisket we sell it-supply can fluctuate so if you don’t see it send us a message. Besides the rice bowl I demonstrate here, one of the best things to make with bone in breast or brisket is breaded, fried goat brisket.
Trim the goat brisket to fit into a baking dish by cutting them in half and cracking the bone with your hand or a cleaver. Each goat breast will be about 2-3 lbs total, meaning each half is about 1.5 lbs.
Season the breasts with some salt to taste, allow to sit for 30 minutes or up to overnight, then put in a baking dish with a couple inches of water and cook at 325 for 1.5-2 hours. This is where you can really get creative with adding flavors, especially if you cure it overnight with some seasonings.
Make sure that there isn’t so much water in the baking pan that it would remove the seasoning since it can make a nice crust.
Chill the lamb breast to make it easier to handle, then cut into roughly bite-sized pieces. Cook the meat over medium high heat to crisp some of the fatty edges a bit, then serve. I really liked it as a little wild rice bowl with turnips and their greens, a little yogurt, serrano chili and basil.
The fat can be combined with water and simmered until the lard renders out. There’s a caveat though: lamb fat is strong tasting, has a kind of waxy texture, and gets very firm as it cools, it won’t be soft and mild like duck, chicken or pork fat. Sometimes I save it for baking where liquid fat can be added (rye bread), or use it for frying up some hash browns, the big prize here is the meat, but I was able to get about 3 solid cups of fat and 1/2 cup of gelatin-rich stock from each 4 lb batch of breasts I cooked.
More Goat Brisket Recipes
How to Cook Lamb Breast / Brisket + Recipes
Goat Brisket Rice Bowl
Equipment
- 1 Large baking pan with high sides
- 1 aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 3 lbs Bone-in goat brisket
- 2 tsp kosher salt
Wild Rice
- 1 cup natural wild rice or manoomin
- 2 tbsp fresh torn basil leaves optional
- 2 oz scallions, sliced 1 bunch
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 12 oz turnips or other vegetables peeled and diced 1/2 inch
- 1 small serrano chili, thinly sliced optional-these are spicy.
Yogurt Sauce (Optional)
- 1/2 cup thick Greek yogurt
- 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic
- 1 handful turnip greens or spinach, cut into rough squares optional
Instructions
- Cut the brisket slices in half using a heavy knife.
- Season the goat brisket with salt and herbs. You can also use a dry rub.
- Allow the brisket to rest overnight in the refrigerator for the best flavor.
- Put the brisket and water into a baking pan and cover with foil. Bake until the meat is tender and removes from the bone when pierced with a fork, about 2 hours.
- Allow the brisket to cool to make removing the meat easier.
- Pour the cooking liquid into a bowl and cool. Remove the fat and save for another purpose. Add any liquid to the cooked ribs after picking the meat to make goat stock.
- Remove the meat and cut into large bite-sized pieces. Remove extra pieces of fat and save the bones for making stock (optional).
Yogurt
- Mix the yogurt with the garlic and lemon juice. Adjust the seasoning for salt and reserve.
Rice
- Cover the rice with water, add a pinch of salt, cover and cook until the rice is tender, about 22 minutes.
- Heat a tablespoon of the reserved goat fat and brown the pieces of lamb until golden. Add more fat if the pan gets dry. Remove the meat to a plate, then cook the vegetables in the pan until tender. Add the goat meat back to the pan with the turnip greens.
- Add the rice and scallions, toss to combine, double check the seasoning for salt and adjust as needed, then toss in the basil leaves, mound into a bowl and serve. It's great with a fried egg and dashes of hot sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
