Currently in Australia there is no grading system for goat meat. So, while our customers and suppliers can be confident of consistent excellent quality as our product is graded prior to sale, we’re rare (perhaps unique) in this regard.
That’s a BIG problem for our industry because customers looking to purchase goat of consistent quality are, more often than not, buying blind.
In my view, it’s the lack of consistent a grading system for goat that is holding our industry back and stopping it grow at the rate is should.
I believe we need a consistent grading system for goat to help assure our customers of the quality of the goat they purchase.
The goat industry is about 20 years behind the lamb industry. Consumers can’t generally buy goat meat with confidence and of consistent quality, due to the lack of a grading system in Australia.
The sheep industry back in the 80’s had a very similar problem. Consumers lacked confidence in purchasing lamb or hogget.
If I gave you a recipe to cook a lamb shank on the barbecue, what result would you get? A tough one!
Everyone knows that lamb shanks are delicious, if prepared correctly (slow, wet, cooking method). Cooked the right way, the lamb shank meat falls deliciously off the bone… maybe onto a bed of mashed potato. Mmmm I’m hungry now.
But how tasty would that same lamb shank be if you cooked it on the barbecue, with no moisture and at a high heat? It would end up as delicious as boot leather!
This is what irritates me so much.
Goat meat is awesome. It’s delicious, versatile and low in fat and cholesterol and high in iron and protein. It is truly a super food nutritionally.
Yet it not a staple of the Australian traditional diet – and many Australians would not have tried it. The name alone is enough to turn some traditional Aussies off.
So why is it, that something we produce in our country and export to the world, is so under-rated here?
I personally believe, that when trying something new, it needs to be a winner taste wise, or you never go back.
As consumers, if I go and get a rump, chips and gravy, and it’s tough and chewy (which happens sometimes) I don’t swear off beef forever. I think it must have been the wrong preparation or cooking. Or where they got the steak from. I don’t say, I am never eating beef again.
But that response is possible if you have a similar experience the first time you try something new – like goat.
We’ve been told stories of goat meat being of very mixed quality. Some terrific and some terrible –and that doesn’t inspire confidence in the consumer.