Goat, Three Ways: A Video Guide to Goat Meat

We then visited Cambridge's Formaggio Kitchen, famous for its cheese cave and exquisitely curated artisanal foods, where the staff had ordered us a kid from Pennsylvania's Amish country. Chef Jason Lord whittled down the carcass in five minutes flat while explaining the different cuts and best ways to cook them.

Got that? In case you missed anything, here's a handy outline:

Foreleg: Braise, stew (bone in for flavor!)
Chops: Quick grill, broil, sauté (carefully remove all connective tissue first)
Ribs: Slow grill or smoke
Hindleg: Roast
Neck: Braise, stew
Head: Do you really want to know?

A word from the wise: goats evolved in hot, hilly places, which means they tend to be lean and sinewy. For melt-in-your-mouth succulence, add fat, remove larger pieces of gristle, and dissolve smaller pieces of connective tissue with low, slow cooking.

Our final stop—and by far the most economical one (think four dollars per pound or less)—was Foodland, a South Asian grocery, also in Cambridge. The place was thronged by women in saris and hijab who shouted their orders over the screeching backdrop of a basement table saw.

When we finished filming at 7:00 pm, I was so excited by everything I'd learned that I raced home to make my favorite goat recipe, seco de chivo, Ecuador's answer to beef bourguignon. Foodland had cut my goat leg into small disks, and after several hours in my antique Dutch oven, the meat and marrow melded into something ineffable. Something soft and rich, with a faint flavor of grass. Goat.

Film crew:
Catherine Giarrusso, Ana Traynin, Benjamin Reichman, Bryan Margaca

Goat recipes from Formaggio Kitchen:
Jamaican Jerk Braised Goat
Goat Kofte
Spit-Roasted Goat

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