I was excited to discover that a little grocery store named Asia Foods in Culver City sells both lamb and goat for great prices. The last time I was there I saw the butchers haul in a whole leg of either a goat or lamb. Wow!
The store has all sorts of Indian/Pakistani foods and the shelves are chock full of goodies to explore. I have bought asafoetida, fine chickpea flour and fresh fenugreek from them. (Fenugreek is great in sag paneer.) Now, whenever I visit I stroll through the aisles eager to buy something for my already stuffed spice shelf.
The people working there are very friendly. They answer my questions about what things are and they will also cut the meat to customers' specifications. I tend to get a little timid if I don't know what something is, but I feel okay asking questions here.
The day I went in to buy the goat meat they had skinned head on the butcher block. I was quite fascinated. I had never seen anything like that before in real life. That sort of thing has only appeared in horror movies when some satanic scene is being depicted. Anyways, the butchers cut my meat directly off the leg since they didn't have any stocked on the shelf. Now that's fresh!! I bought a pound and a half of goat meat and cooked up a Caribbean-inspired stew. I served it over a bed of brown rice topped with fresh cilantro and habanero pepper sauce.
Funny thing is that the stew tasted almost identical to a Peruvian lamb stew that I made just a month earlier. I haven't done a side-by-side tasting, but I guess lamb and goat taste quite similar.
For those of you in the LA area and are looking for some fresh lamb and goat meat, visit Asia Foods located at 10200 Venice Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232 Just east of Motor. 310-836-6070
