Lusmore Mike - Goat: cooking and eating

Publishing Director and Editor: Sarah Lavelle
Designer: Will Webb
Recipe Development and Food Styling: Matt Williamson
Photographer: Mike Lusmore
Additional Food Styling: Stephanie Boote
Copy Editing: Sally Somers
Production Controller: Nikolaus Ginelli
Production Director: Vincent Smith

First published in 2018 by Quadrille, an imprint of Hardie Grant Publishing

Quadrille
5254 Southwark Street
London SE1 1UN
quadrille.com

Text James Whetlor 2018
Photography Mike Lusmore 2018
Image University of Manchester 2018
Image Farm Africa / Nichole Sobecki 2018
Design and layout Quadrille Publishing Limited 2018

The rights of the author have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

eISBN: 978 1 78713 279 5

50 per cent of the royalties from this book will be donated to Farm Africa.

Contents

Theres often a great deal to be sorry about in the world of modern food production. Indeed, there are so many serious problems, worrying issues and shameful practices that its easy to feel overwhelmed. But there are also innovations, solutions and great ideas things to be celebrated and enjoyed that offer a fantastic counterpoint to the bad news. These bright, good ideas offer the way forward and its imperative that we throw a spotlight on them which is why Im delighted to be introducing this, Jamess book.

I first knew James as a talented chef in the River Cottage kitchen. Hes now also proved himself a writer and a successful ethical businessman. Cabrito, Jamess company, was born after he took an uncompromising look at a tough problem within our food system the wholesale slaughter of the male offspring of dairy goats soon after birth. This euthanising represents an appalling and unnecessary waste. James came up with a canny and viable solution and, by working tirelessly to create a market for those billies as tender young meat animals, has already made a real difference.

As youll see from his articulate and vigorously argued introduction, James knows an awful lot about goats, about goat dairy products and meat, and about the food industry in general in this country. Id be lying if I said he and I dont have differing views in some areas I dont feel quite so sanguine as he does about zero-grazing systems for goats, for instance, and I will always prefer both milk and meat from animals that have lived outside and fed on natural forage for a significant part of their lives. However, I think James and I agree very strongly that we all, as consumers, have a collective responsibility when it comes to the food we eat. We are implicated in the entire story of the ingredients we buy and we have to break out of the what-you-dont-see-cant-hurt-you mentality that is the consequence of industrialised food production.

The good news is that, in some areas at least, we have. Our veal industry, for example, has enjoyed a renaissance as people have woken up to the idea that eating male dairy calves provided theyve been raised in a high-welfare system is a far saner option than having them slaughtered within hours of their birth.

A comparable sea-change is occurring with goats and James can certainly take much credit for it. In a very short time, hes transformed goat meat from a misunderstood, little-used ingredient to a highly desirable menu must-have. Suddenly, kid has kudos and chefs are flexing their creative muscles to find fantastic new ways to serve it. Thats a clear success story.

As our meat and dairy industries continue to grow, we so often lose our sense of what is at the very heart of them sentient animals. Time and again, welfare and ethics are sacrificed. But they neednt be and the goat dairy industry, precisely because it is, in its current form, still relatively young and relatively small, can be different. Like the goats themselves, it has the advantage of a certain agility. It can follow its own path.

I believe that people in Britain do care about ethics and sustainability in the food industry. And the more they know about that industry, the more they care. But when there are few alternatives to choose from, how do consumers register dissatisfaction with poor practice? Lets hope that the forward-thinking, positive example of Cabrito and the fine recipes showcased in this book inspire yet more creative, delicious and ethical solutions to the problems faced by the food industry. We can certainly all benefit from that. And so can the animals whose meat we eat.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

It wasnt meant to be like this. I was supposed to have a restaurant. I was a young and ambitious chef and the goal, like for most young and ambitious chefs, was to have my own place. Nothing fancy. Id learned to cook at The Landsdowne in Londons Primrose Hill, then The Eagle in Farringdon, and wound up as sous chef at Great Queen Street in Covent Garden, and they are all at the more relaxed end of eating out. Mishmash furniture, no tablecloths you know the kind of thing. I was going to be one of the many Eagle alumni to take co-founder Michael Belbens idea and put my own mark on it. Luckily (as it turned out) I was a victim of what Robert Burns described as the best laid schemes o mice an men, and I didnt end up with a restaurant, I ended up with a goat meat business.

Thats not to say that my time in those London kitchens was wasted. Far from it. What all these places had in common were great suppliers. Provenance was at the heart of the menus. In the words of David Eyre, the other half of The Eagles founding partnership: Buy the best produce you can and dont f *** with it. Its great advice for cooks of all abilities, and that experience of the chefsupplier relationship was to come in useful later on.

I have always been interested in the politics of food. I care about where it comes from and how it is grown or reared, so I suppose it was inevitable that I would sooner or later move back home to Devon and work for River Cottage. I spent a few years running the Canteen in Axminster not far from where I went to school and now live where the road to a goat business began. A friend of a friend was looking for someone to landshare with. They had an old, overgrown paddock and veg patch that needed looking after but they didnt have the time. My partner Sushi and I jumped at the chance and, like good River Cottage employees, we thought pigs would be perfect for the paddock. The neighbours disagreed. They were trying to sell their house and thought pigs would be smelly and noisy (which they arent), so what else do you do with a piece of land that needs taming? Goats are the obvious answer.

One of the great things about working at River Cottage is that if you have a question about growing, rearing or cooking you are never far away from someone who knows the answer, so I asked around if anyone knew where I could find some goats. As it turned out, the guy who sold his bread in the Canteen on a Thursday had a market stall in Taunton on a Friday, and next door to him were Will and Caroline Atkinson, goat farmers and cheese makers. Numbers were exchanged and soon we made the trip up to the farm to meet them and the goats.