How to Cook Goat Meat in a Crockpot

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You usually don't find goat meat in supermarkets, but it is prolific in the Middle East and North Africa, where it's popular in curries and other slow-cooked dishes. Goat requires the same low and slow cooking method used for all tough, lean meat. It benefits from a lactose- and enzyme-rich, yogurt marinade, which helps tenderize the collagen-dense meat and counter the grassy notes in the flavor. You can consider goat meat one of the "set-it-and-forget-it" dishes that slow cookers were made for.

Simple Stew

Trim as much connective tissue as you can from the goat meat and cut it into 1.5- to 2-inch cubes.

Mix a marinade for the goat meat using an 8 to 1 ratio of yogurt to acid, or 1/2 cup of yogurt to 1 tablespoon of lime or lemon juice. Add herbs and spices to the marinade, if desired, and season it to taste with salt and pepper.

Place the goat meat in a sealable food-storage bag and pour the yogurt marinade over it. Turn the meat over in the bag to coat. Marinate the goat meat in the fridge for about 2 hours.

Fill the slow cooker 1/2 full of chicken, beef or vegetable stock. Add 1 tablespoon each cornstarch and water for every cup you of stock you used and whisk it in. Remove the excess marinade from the goat meat and add it to the slow cooker.

Add roughly chopped mirepoix and diced potatoes to the slow cooker. A basic mirepoix, or two parts diced onion to one part each chopped carrots and celery, is standard for stews.

Add a can of stew tomatoes to the slow cooker for flavor and to help tenderize the meat. The acid in tomatoes works with the low, moist heat to tenderize. Canned tomatoes have more acid than their fresh counterparts, which gives them an advantage when it comes to tenderizing.

Cook the stew for about 2 hours per pound of goat meat and check the seasoning. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as needed and transfer the stew to a serving dish, if desired.

Basic Curry

Trim as much connective tissue as you can from the goat meat and cut it into 1/4-inch-thick strips.

Mix together a yogurt-based curry marinade using yogurt, lime juice and a curry spice mix or paste. Combine the marinade with the goat meat in a sealable food-storage bag.

Marinate the goat meat for 2 hours in the refrigerator and transfer it to the slow cooker. Add mirepoix and canned stew tomatoes.

Add ingredients for the curry sauce. Scallions, garlic, chili peppers and tomatoes all fit into a basic curry sauce.

Fill the slow cooker 1/2 full of stock. Add curry spices and coconut milk and stir to incorporate.

Add lentils to the slow cooker, if desired. Lentils act as a natural thickener for the curry sauce and add texture.

Cover the slow cooker and set it to high. Cook the goat meat for 2 hours per pound and transfer it to a plate while you finish the curry sauce.

Blend everything in the slow cooker using a stick blender until homogenous, but still a bit coarse. If you didn't use lentils, add 1 tablespoon each cornstarch and water per cup of sauce and whisk to incorporate after blending.

Return the goat meat to the slow cooker, stir and cover. Cook until the goat meat heats through, or about 15 minutes, and adjust the seasoning as needed with salt and pepper. Serve the goat curry over a bed of rice or as is with a flatbread, such as chapati roti.