Pellet Smoker Cooking: Smoked & Braised Leg of Goat Gyros

July 03 2016

The 4^th of July has never been a big cook holiday for us. For about 40 years now we have went to the St. Joseph 4^th of July picnic. Most years we would get lemonade shake ups, fair fries with salt & vinegar and whole hog sandwiches. The pork burgers are fried on a flat iron griddle. I liked to drink beer and play showdown poker; the wife and kids played bingo then we watched the fireworks at 11 PM. They always have a great show. Since my back operation it’s too much walking for me.

My butcher had a leg of goat ready for me Fri. so I planned to smoke the goat leg Sunday. After getting some advice from LTBBQ forum Kevin (Stalag) and Cliff (TentHunteR) I knew about how I was going to do my first time cooking goat. I had the butcher saw the shank off so it would fit in a pan for some braising.

I seasoned it with kosher salt, a little cumin, white pepper, fresh ground black pepper and garlic flakes. It went in a plastic bag and in the fridge at midnight. After I got it in I remembered I didn’t rub it with olive oil like I wanted to.

I got up early this morning and sprayed it with some olive oil and added some more black pepper and garlic flakes. I smoked it for 3 hours at about 200 deg. grill level. I then took it inside and placed in a foil pan. I added carrots, 3 sticks of celery sliced 1 inch and cut up 2 Vidalia onions. I placed 4 sprigs of fresh thyme and 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary on the roast and a few more on the veggies. I poured 1 ¾ cup of Yellow Tail cabernet sauvignon over the roast.

It went back in the smoker and upped it to 225 deg. grill level for an hour. I then covered it with foil and went to 240 deg. grill level. That was after 4 hours total and the IT was 140 deg. I knew I didn’t need a temp probe for as long as I was cooking it. At 2:00 I went back to 225 deg. grill level. At 3:00 I took it inside and placed in a 195 deg. oven until we ate at 6:00.

I had some flat bread and Greek yogurt for making goat gyros; and I sliced up some cucumber. I steamed some baby Dutch yellow potatoes and added butter and parsley. I shredded up the goat some for everyone to make their gyros. It was fall apart tender. We had the carrots celery & onions with it on the side.

We all liked the goat meat. Next time I would cut it up some; it is very stringy and doesn’t bite through like stringy beef. The veggies had too much thyme and rosemary on for the wife and daughter. The next time I would just put it on the roast.

I didn’t note any strong smell before cooking. Since I did it outside didn’t note any smell; I might have if I did it inside. I didn’t think the taste was that much different than beef. I would definitely do this again but at $10 a pound not that often!

All ready for the smoker