Curried Goat with GBD Potatoes

Look at this. Look at this. Hello, hello, hello. This is an amazing setup. How you doing today? Oh my goodness.That’s my favorite. [Host] So this is the curried goat? Wow. Thank you so much. All right. Wow. Curried goat. Aw, man. This is one of my favorite Jamaican dishes. It has so much complexity, so much history. It really comes from India. You know, a lot of the Indians came to the Caribbean and spread their culture, their influence and their food. Curry means sauce in India. It has a hundred different meanings and a hundred different variations, but here it’s distinct to this curry powder, a bright yellow powder that is flavored with aniseed, coriander, fenugreek, and a couple other things. So first, we’ve already marinated the goat for 24 hours. Now we’re gonna sear it and develop those flavors. So I’m gonna get my goat out. And you can see… this goat has this bright yellow tinge to it. That’s from the turmeric. That’s what gives it its signature color. So I’m gonna scrape all the aromatics off of this and then sear it. So the first thing I’m gonna get is a pot out. Gonna put this on high. We wanna sear this meat. It’s gonna help lock in some of that flavor, keep it really, really juicy. So I want to sear this meat for a couple different reasons. That Maillard reaction and the caramelization of the proteins, it’s gonna develop flavor. All this marinade that I put on there is gonna stick to that meat. If I were to just throw that in some broth, it would dissipate into that broth, but now it’s gonna continue to stay really, really seasoned. So, curried goat is my earliest food memory. My grandfather, he’s from Trinidad, which has a really big Indian influence, as well, gave me a bite of curried goat wrapped in Roti, which is this thin flat bread. And you can only imagine as a kid the explosion of flavors in your mouth at that time. I was two years old and I will never forget it. I was on my grandmother’s hip, and she put it into my mouth. And ever since then, I’ve always been on a quest to really find out what food really means, like what these flavors are, what makes these things taste so good? So I don’t want any of the aromatics in here. I don’t want them to burn, ’cause we’re gonna use this to develop our sauce. So I just wanna sear this. That’s why the oil is so hot. I don’t want to cook the meat all the way through. And as you can see, there’s bone in it, and the bone gives this a lot of flavor. There’s a huge connection from the food from West Africa to the Caribbean and to the world. You really can’t talk about any cuisine around the world without talking about West African cuisine. If you think of even the national dish, Aki was brought from Ghana in the 1700s. So, there’s a lot of practices that we still see today from the West Africans that were spread throughout the world. It’s important to me to know the story of dishes. For me my lineage really talks about how people of color were spread across the world. My family’s Nigerian, family’s Jamaican, family’s Trinidadian, and they’re from the south. So it shows how far the tentacles of the diaspora has gone across the globe. So I don’t want to put all the goat in the pot at the same time, ’cause I don’t wanna overcrowd the pan. I don’t want it to sweat. I really want it to caramelize and create this like coating around the goat. If you put all the meat together, then a lot of condensation will form, and you won’t really get a proper sear. You pretty much would just be steaming the meat at that point in time. So I’m scraping off all the aromatics from the goat, and aromatics are normally vegetables that are very fragrant. They have a distinct flavor profile, but they’re not the main star. They’re in the backdrop. As they cook, they continue to develop. They loosen their astringency that they normally have in their raw form, and they just add a lot of flavor to dishes. We’re just gonna keep doing this process until all the meat is seared beautifully. So you’ll see, it’s already starting to brown. And as it browns, those spices, they toast a little bit more. Almost like gently frying the meat. This is gonna add so much flavor to this. My family in general, we love food, and I come from a long line of chefs. So food was always the way that we gathered. Food was always the way that we were brought together. When you have a big family, there’s a lot of laughing. There’s a lot of arguing. There’s a lot of crying, but food is that constant thing that you can sit down and really share some of yourself. We’re gonna sweat these onions, the scotch bonnet, scallion, thyme, ginger, garlic, all in here, to make this beautiful sauce. So it’s inevitable that some of the aromatics got in here, and this isn’t a brown stew. This is a curry. So I’m gonna take some of this out. I don’t want all of this in here. And we’re gonna start with some new oil. So I’m putting this pan directly back on. I’m gonna add a little bit more canola oil to this. And let it heat up gently. I’m gonna grab some marination. And I’m gonna add that directly to the pot. The oil doesn’t have to be really hot for this. It can come up together. We’re really sweating this out as well. And I’m gonna add some curried powder to this too. And this is part of like adding layers of flavor to your dish. A little bit goes a long way. So you don’t need too much. I’m also gonna add some salt at this point in time. I like to season as I go, and this develops the flavors for any dish that you’re making. So you want to cook this out. This smells really, really fresh. You have all of those ingredients that are already in here, but they’re in a pureed form. So it’s gonna help build that sauce. Add a little bit more curry powder. I’m looking for a yellow tinge to start to form. And as this cooks, the oil’s gonna release those colors and all those flavors from this curry powder. So I’m gonna add my aromatics to this now. So I’m adding all the things that marinated this meat. So it has a flavor of the meat, but it also has a flavor of the vegetables and some curry spice and a little bit of the all-purpose seasoning that I’m gonna add to this. A Dutch oven or a German pot is like really quintessential to Jamaican cuisine. It cooks things really evenly for a long period of time. A lot of these things stew. So you want the heat to be evenly distributed throughout the pot. This smells so good right now. Like, you could really just eat this. You can put this over rice, and we’re gonna bump it up by adding this goat. So I’m gonna grab some chicken stock, and that’s what we’re gonna use to cover the goat. So at this point, the vegetables are translucent. They release some of their natural juices. I’m just gonna give this a taste just to see where it’s at. See if I need to add any more salt at this point in time, ’cause if you really think about it, at the end of the day, like this is going to be the base of your curried goat. We’re gonna reduce this liquid down. So if you taste it at this point, you can really taste where it’s gonna be at the end. Wow. Huh. That’s really good. The curry powder is gonna continue to develop these flavors. All like the bitterness from the fenugreek and the raw coriander is gonna cook down. So I want to taste how salty it is. That way I know it’ll be seasoned perfectly by the time it reduces all the way down to this nice velvety sauce. So, now I’m gonna add my goat back to this. Now, the goat is only seared on the outside, so it needs some time to cook. And I want to simmer it gently. I’m gonna also add the pan drippings to this. Give it some of that flavor. Now I’m gonna add this chicken stock. And you know the chicken stock that I make is super gelatinous. It’s almost like chicken jello. That’s all the collagen in there from the chicken feet and all those bones. It’s gonna melt super quickly once it really hits that heat, though. When this cooks down it’s gonna create this beautiful sheen. This beautiful glossy sauce, already it’s really, really glossy and nice. But all of this is gonna come together and create, it’s classic curried goat. If a dish is too salty, people say throw some potatoes in there. Maybe reserve half of it out, and then add your liquid, but it’s really tough to take that salt away. Taste as you go, baby, taste as you go. That should be the motto. Taste as you go, season as you go. And if you’re seasoning as you go, you’ll have a less chance of over-salting it, because you’re seasoning it in layers and stages. So I’m gonna put this in the back, put it on a low simmer, now that it’s up to a boil. I’m gonna put a lid on it and start working on my potato. So my curried goat is simmering, it’s beautiful. I’m gonna work on my potatoes, which are gonna be crispy, coated in a green seasoning aioli and steamed white rice, which is a perfect accompaniment to any curry dish. So I’m gonna grab my potatoes first ’cause I wanna get them boiling, and I’m gonna put my water on. So have fun with it. Gonna add a little bit of salt to this. So now I’m gonna make steamed white rice. So it’s usually two to one, liquid to rice. I’m gonna add a touch of stock to this. The vegetable stock. You always want to use stock when there’s water. I’m gonna add some salt at this point in time. Some thyme. My potatoes need a little bit more time. But they’re almost there. Still got the steam. This is going right into the fridge. So, while we’re waiting for the rice to cook and the curried goat to get all tender, I’m gonna make my aioli for my potatoes that are cooling. So I’m gonna grab some marination, and I’m gonna grab some mayonnaise. It’s gonna be a quick aioli. Last time we made it from scratch. This time we want to eat. We have this food cooking, we have this food stewing. It’s time to go. So I have some mayo, I have some marination. I’m gonna grab some limes and some salt. And then my all-purpose seasoning. All right, so I’m gonna add some mayo to this. Little bit of my green marination. It’s about two to one. Add some all-purpose seasoning to that. Pinch of salt. And I’m just gonna squeeze a couple limes into here. So the limes, where I come from, don’t have any seeds, but out here they’re small but mighty. So, if you are in a region that has limes with seeds, just make sure you strain it. I’m gonna add two small limes, about a tablespoon of lime juice. And I’m gonna just mix this up. Then you have this beautiful sauce that will coat these potatoes after they come out the fryer. Mm. So I’m just gonna transfer this to a bowl. Wow. So the aioli is ready. I’m gonna put it in the fridge. I’m gonna bring it out when it’s time to eat. So I’m gonna take the lid off my goat and check it out. I can tell the meat is tender. I’m gonna just press it with a spoon, just to make sure. You can see how tender that is, just falling apart. So, I wanna skim some of this oil off, and then I’m gonna let the lid off and let that sauce reduce and get nice and velvety. That chicken stock is gonna reduce down. The collagen is built up from the goat and from that chicken stock, and it’s gonna create a beautiful sauce. So I wanna get most of this oil off of the surface of this. And the last thing I’m gonna do, now that the oil is off, I’m gonna bust this scotch bonnet pepper, ’cause I want that heat in here. If you want it really spicy, you can bust the scotch bonnet pepper, or you can take it out. So I found the scotch bonnet. It tries to hide in there. It’s almost the same color as the sauce. So I’m gonna just press this on the side of the pan. You can see all those seeds are released. And I’m gonna mix that right back in. That’s gonna give this a nice spicy flavor. So the goat is stewing. The sauce is reducing. The rice is steaming. I’m gonna grab the potatoes, smash them, fry them and coat them in this aioli. I’m gonna grab my potatoes outta here. You can see the starch just started to develop on the outside of the potatoes. That’s gonna help it get really, really crispy. It’s also a lot drier than it was when it came in. This is gonna give it a really nice crisp. I’m gonna add my canola oil. You always want a neutral oil when frying them. We’ll let it get hot. Just smash in the potatoes. It’s gonna release some of these cracks in the potatoes, and the oil’s gonna get in those crevices and make it extremely crispy. So our oil is shimmering, so I know it’s ready to go. I’m gonna drop some potatoes in here. Kind of wanna separate them a little bit while they’re in here. We’re gonna do all these at once, so you wanna work a little fast for this. I’m gonna get a paper towel. You wanna break them up a little bit. Some of them are gonna break into these little bits, which is great. I love those crispy little bits of potatoes. We’re gonna let that get in there. You want it to be nice and gold and brown. So it has some time. You see how it’s broken up and the boil is penetrating the potato and getting it really crispy all inside. I’m gonna regulate our heat, so I’m gonna turn it back up, now that it is sizzling immaculately. I’m in Jamaica. So the starch content, the moisture of these potatoes is superb. It’s kind of like a Yukon Gold without the sweetness. So these potatoes are gonna have this soft buttery inside with this crispy exterior. So make sure, when you’re experimenting with different types of potatoes, you’re taking all that into consideration. So these potatoes look, what we call in the industry, GBD, golden brown, delicious. They’re almost the perfect color. This is honestly the favorite way that I like to eat potatoes. They’re just boiled, cooled and mashed. It’s kind of like a rustic French fry. It has all the same properties. It’s just a different shape. Look at that, golden brown, delicious. They’re just clawing on. You can hear them when they hit each other. That sound is what you want. And even these crispy bits at the bottom are awesome. Super crunchy, and have that nice deep potato-y flavor. Look at this. That’s the sound you want to hear when you’re frying potatoes. Very, very crispy. All right. You don’t even need to salt them. I salted the water so beautifully that the flavor is all the way inside. I’m gonna cut this off. It’s time to plate. So I have my beautiful curried goat, still simmering. Gonna plate these in this bowl. And I can’t resist every time I’m plating these is eat one of them. You know how crispy that is? You don’t even need to go to a restaurant anymore. I’m gonna bring over my rice. So fluffy. It’s so fluffy! Wow. Wow. Like, talk about layers of flavor. This is why this is my favorite Jamaican dish. I know I said that every single time I cook anything on this, but this one is my favorite right now. I’m gonna plate some of these potatoes. Gonna put this aioli right on top. And then I’m gonna just put some green onions on top, just because I feel like it. And here you have it. Classic curried goat with steamed rice, crispy potatoes with an aromatic aioli.