Tia Cristina’s Goat Stew

Mom has often told me that goat is delicious, but in fifty-plus years, I never had a good opportunity to taste goat. That finally changed tonight.

It was a gorgeous Summer evening in Sonoma. I came home a bit late from work, mom had written a long shopping list and was a bit stir crazy waiting for me. “Let’s eat out,” I suggested, but neither of us had a strong idea what to eat. Instead, we went for a stroll around the plaza to read menus and whet our appetites.

We ended up at Tasca Tasca, a Portuguese tapas bar. The menu prompted us to pick five items. We immediately choose a bunch of seafood dishes and figured the last selection should be meat, but what to choose? Mom’s eyebrows shot up, ‘oh my God, they have goat stew!’ She gasped. Now it was around 90 degrees out, so not an obvious choice, but she was so excited, we had to order it.

We stuffed ourselves on cod cakes, ceviche, and shrimp until we were ready for the finale. It came in a tiny Le Creuset pot, piping hot. From the first spoonful, mom was rapturous. ‘This tastes just like Tia Cristina’s stew.’

We spent the rest of the meal talking about Cristina. She was the eldest of Rafael’s sisters, and the only one who stayed in Mayari. The younger girls married and moved to Santiago and beyond, Cristina remained a guajira- a sweet country girl who took care of her father after her mother died, and was famous in the family for her epic goat stew. She even made it for my parents when they visited before their wedding, and apparently dad was a big fan.

We have no way of knowing Cristina’s recipe, but I have read a dozen recipes online and this seems to be a fairly traditional method. I can’t wait to try it out this winter, assuming I can even find goat meat at the local Mexican grocery. If not, seems lamb shoulder is a common substitute.