Rocky Mountain Goat

A plain hunter's braise: acid marinade, hard sear, long moist cooking. The instructions assume you already have the animal, so most of what needs saying is about handling meat that is leaner and older than anything sold in a shop.

• What "French dressing" meantIn a mid-century American kitchen this is simply oil and vinegar beaten together with salt and pepper, roughly three parts oil to one of vinegar — not the sweetened orange bottled dressing sold under that name today. Made "with plenty of vinegar" it tips closer to equal parts, which is what you want for a marinade.
• Spice quantitiesNo amounts are given for the cloves and cinnamon. Use whole spices — four or five cloves and a stick of cinnamon for a marinade covering three or four pounds of meat — so they can be fished out before browning. Ground cinnamon in the marinade will scorch in the hot fat and turn bitter.
• What the marinade doesAn overnight soak in vinegar flavours the surface and mutes strong game flavour, but it penetrates only a few millimetres and does very little to tenderise. The tenderising here is done entirely by the two to three hours of moist heat; do not shorten that on the strength of the marinade.
• Dry the meat properly"Wipe it dry" is the hinge of the recipe. Oil-and-vinegar-wet meat will steam rather than brown, and the vinegar carried into hot fat spits badly. Blot every surface, then brown in batches in fat hot enough to sizzle on contact.
• Liquid and vesselOne cup of water is very little: it suits a heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid over the lowest heat. The recipe says nothing about an oven, but a tightly covered pot in a low oven behaves the same way. In a wider or looser pot it can dry out quickly — check periodically and top up with a splash of hot water or stock.
• The vegetable timing is shortTwenty minutes is only enough for root vegetables cut small. In larger pieces, add turnips and carrots around 40 minutes before the end and the cabbage in the last 15, or cook them separately and combine at the table.
• If you are using domestic goatSupermarket and halal-butcher goat is younger and moister than a mountain goat taken in autumn. Shoulder or leg cut into two-inch pieces braises tender in about 90 minutes, and the overnight marinade can be cut to a few hours.
• The closing suggestionsBighorn lamb and bear cub are effectively off the table: most US states and Canadian provinces prohibit taking lambs or cubs, adult bighorn is generally a limited-draw permit animal, and mountain goat likewise. Bear of any age also carries Trichinella, which is why guidance calls for the meat to reach 160F throughout — a long covered braise does that, a rare sear does not.
• YieldThe recipe gives no quantity. On the three to four pounds of bone-in meat assumed above, with the vegetables, expect four to six servings.