Here is a dish you won’t easily find, but is it ever worth trying. My good friend visited the Dominican Republic and came back raving about this dish. So much so, that when he was married there several years later, having this dish at the reception was his only ‘demand’ on the wedding planning. I attended that wedding and tasted ‘chivo’… and all I could say is “Wow!” The flavor was amazing – earthy and intense, spicy but not overly so, and just plain old lip-smacking delicious. Now, three years later, I find myself married to a wonderful Dominican woman and she has taught me a few dishes – staples – in the Dominican cooking repertoire. But chivo isn’t one of them – sadly she never learned to make this dish. So I turned to the internet to research this dish and came across numerous recipes, but one interesting and what I think is an important aspect. Dominican goats are flavored from within! They eat the wild oregano that grows abundantly in areas of the island and since we all know ‘you are what you eat’, these goats are self-seasoned. The recipes I found call for hefty amounts of dried oregano to be used in the marinade, so that makes sense to me. To shorten the overall time to prepare, I am going to try something different. I am going to use a chamber vacuum sealer to marinate the meat with the oregano to ‘infuse’ it – hopefully replicating to a certain degree the meat from goats that ingest oregano as part of their diet. Are you ready to enjoy a flavorful dish that will transport you directly to the Dominican Republic? I am!

Drain the goat meet and rinse with cold water well.

Add the lime and orange juices along with the salt to the goat meat. Toss the goat meat in the juice and salt and drain. In a mortar and pestle, add the dried oregano, salt, garlic, allspice, and peppercorns. Grind these ingredients into paste.

Add the paste to the goat meat and massage it in thoroughly. Add the Anaheim peppers, red onion, and half the cilantro, toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or preferably overnight.

Or you could use a chamber vacuum sealer’s ‘Marinate’ mode to pressure infuse the meat. I used a 1 hour marination with the Vesta Precision Vertical Vac Elite.

When ready to cook, heat a dutch oven or similar vessel over Medium heat. Drain the meat, reserving any liquid. Add the oil and when shimmering, add the sugar.

Cook the sugar until it is brown being careful not to burn it. Increase the heat to Medium-High and add the meat in batches, lightly browning it. When all the meat is browned, add it back into the pot, adding the tomato paste, stirring to incorporate. Add the tomatoes and stir to incorporate.

Add the bay leaf and bouillon/water mixture, bringing to a heavy simmer. Reduce the heat, cover and cook at a low simmer until the meat it tender, approximately 1 1/2 hours.

Check periodically and add water if needed. When the meat is tender, uncover and increase the heat. Add the remaining cilantro and fresh oregano, stirring to incorporate. Cook to reduce the sauce to a thick gravy.

Remove the bay leaf before serving over white rice with tostones (fried green plantains). Garnish with fresh oregano, if desired.

Enjoy!