"cabrito"

Well, I cooked the goat I killed last week. It turned out great. We had a great party and I met a bunch of the other farmers here. The goat was easy but did take a few days to put together. First it went in a brine for twenty-four hours. Then a spice rub for another day and then finally on the smoker. I guess having a smoker is pretty important for this recipe. I was going to do it over my fire pit but the smoker is much easier to control, and we have one, so I used it. The guests being farmers were pretty well acquainted with cooking whole animals. One gentleman told me he likes to do goats in the Argentinian way. He explained to me he builds a big fire and then pokes two big skewers in a cross shape through the animal and props it vertically next to the flames to roast. That sounds pretty easy. Anyways, I smoked the goat for about six hours.

My recipe is a combination of two techniques. Layne (my boss and owner of Quail Croft Farm) told me the best way she had ever done it was with low smoke for three hours and then in a low oven for another three and covered to create a wet cooking environment. This sounded good to me but she didn't tell me about any seasoning. Octavio who bought a goat from Layne (wish I had a photo) a few weeks ago, told me he used a brine and then a spice rub which was the traditional way to cook cabrito (I mentioned this before, it is a goat that has only been milk fed and never pastured.) Apparently, the most tender. So I followed both recipes. I used a basic brine and mixed my own"very, extra special spice mixture," blah, blah, blah whatever. I don't know why there has to be such a mystery sometimes to cooking. You know, pick your spices to your taste, it's not very hard. I used a lot of coriander, dried chili, cumin, black pepper, sugar and I skipped the salt because I used a brine. I toasted the coriander and ground it in a spice grinder. Is that a recipe.


I guess some sort of recipe would be useful

For the brine
Use these proportions and make enough to cover
1 gallon water
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
I also threw in some other stuff I had around a bunch of garlic and bay leaf, but honestly I don't think it really adds much flavor.

For the dry rub (approximately)
1/2 cup coriander toasted and ground in a spice grinder
2 tbs cumin toasted and ground
1/2 cup dried chili (I used the korean stuff not local but not super spicy and nice flavor, kind ok like paprika which would be a good substitute.)
1/4 cup sugar

Procedure
1) Cover whole goat in brine for one day
2) Pull it out of the brine and let air dry for an hour
3) Apply spice rub, refrigerate for one day
4) Get smoker ready or fire pit or webber
5)Smoke for three hours at one hundred degrees
6) Raise temperature to around three hundred degrees and continue to smoke for three more hours until an internal temperature reads 160 Also put a pan of water in the smoker to create a wet environment to help keep the meat moist.

P.S.
With the liver and kidneys I made chopped liver. Good recipe. Baby goat liver is really good. Very mild.For next time, maybe.