Special hybrid goat is great ‘lechon ’alternative
By Reggie Aspiras
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:14:00 04/02/2008
MANILA, Philippines—There was a time when old McDonald just had a farm and on that farm he had some cows and chicks. I couldn’t recall if goats were included but just for today’s column, let’s presume they were.
With today’s technology much had changed. Animals are bred and raised according to breeder specifications for either meat, milk or what have you.
The Puentespinas of Davao, owners of the famed Malagos Garden Resort, are prime movers in agriculture. They are flower-growers, cheese-makers, pumpkin and vegetable farmers, ostrich- and goat-meat raisers.
(The first property in the Philippines and the 39th in the world to be certified by the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program, Malagos Garden Resort is also an accredited wildlife farm.)
For my 40th birthday, my friend Olive Puentespina gifted me with a whole cabrito (young goat).
Not wanting to cook, I phoned butcher/grill master Robert Aquino, the man who does excellent spit-roasted lamb on the spot, to marinate the cabrito for me. With the kind of work he does for lamb and his kebabs, there could have been no better choice. He opted to marinate it the Middle Eastern way.
The result was meat so tender that it melted in your mouth. None of that goat-y taste. It was exemplary! Milky, creamy, flavorful, tender, absolutely delicious!
It was the highlight of my buffet spread and a perfect alternative to the usual lechons—baka, baboy or manok!
New goat hybrids
I asked Olive what kind of goat it was—it was a bo-ang, a hybrid between the Boer goat, the meat-producing breed, and Anglo Nubian, a milking breed.
“Ours, though, is more Anglo-Nubian than it is Boer, simply because of our need for milk to make cheese.”
So what makes their cabritos so different from everyone else’s? “We separate our young males at three months of age. From birth, they stay with their moms for milk and not once have we substituted their nourishment with any kind of milk replacement.”
While still with their moms, “they get introduced to fresh grass planted organically to get them used to this kind of feeding when they come off milk. They are also introduced to a specially formulated feed concentrate given to their moms.
“After they are weaned, all males are grouped together and fattened until they are about five to six months, not older and slaughtered for meat.
“Maybe those result in tender meat. The other factor is the way they are cooked or treated by the chefs. Cooked properly, treated well, given the right marinade, they should remain tender and moist.”
And Robert Aquino did just that, splendidly!
Olive sells her cabrito plain or marinated and ships them to Manila weekly. Call 0917-7001205 or Robert Aquino at 0906-8404323.
