Cabrito or Carnitas Tacos Recipe

Being from South Carolina, I had never heard of the word cabrito until I moved to Texas, and all of the sudden, I see it on several Mexican restaurant menus. I’m a very adventurous eater and love to try new things. My favorite way to eat meat is probably roasted and shredded so cabrito definitely fit the bill! When I saw cabrito tacos on the menu at Horseshoe Hill, Grady Spears’ new restaurant, I had to invite him to the ranch to teach me all about cabrito. 

Although Grady is “The Cowboy Cook” and his restaurant is known for it’s chicken fried steaks, his tacos can be a great healthy choice! Cabrito is tender and best cooked slow roasted. It’s the leanest red meat on the market and is lower in fat than chicken but higher in protein than beef. Tacos can be super healthy and full of veggies from fresh pico de gallo and avocado. Grady’s recipe features a delicious, tangy Mexican crema and I made that healthy by substituting buttermilk and sour cream for 0% fat plain greek yogurt. Ahhh, so cooling with the spice of the meat!   

            So here is the story of looking for goat meat. The grocery store in Stephenville, TX was actually out of goat meat. My boyfriend, Ty Murray, bought his TY Ranch 21 years ago with the stipulation that the ranch manager, Heraclio, and his wife Maricela, get to stay. They are wonderful people, hard working, and treat the ranch like it is their own. They also happen to love cabrito. So Ty gives Maricela a call and asked where she gets her goat meat. Maricela tells us there is a guy down the road named Marco who sells goat.

            I got very excited and asked if we could just go buy a hindquarter off of him. Well, my excitement faded when she said “Oh no, he sells a live goat.” Time to call a few meat markets. We found goat in Weatherford, TX but they couldn’t sell only a hindquarter of goat. We had to purchase a whole goat, but this goat had been chilling in the freezer for a bit, still a little less work than buying a live goat! 

            Now why all the trouble when we could just use beef or pork especially when Ty always says “I’m a cowboy, not a chicken boy or a goat boy?” 

            What we want to eat is an accumulation of our experiences, the people we’ve met, the things we have learned, and where we have gone. I enjoy experiencing other cultures and food is one way to do that! So bring your sense of adventure to the table and try these cabrito tacos! They are absolutely delicious- one of the best tacos I’ve ever had. 

If you don’t want to try cabrito or can’t find the meat, then use my Crock Pot Carnitas recipe instead. The meat is spectacular, so so good!

This isn’t a quick recipe and it looks like a lot of steps but it’s fairly simple! You can use store bough pico de Gallo or just sour cream but the homemade versions just take these tacos to another level!

Cabrito or Carnitas Tacos

Recipe by Paige MurrayCourse: MainCuisine: MexicanDifficulty: Intermediate

Servings

18

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 goat hindquarter

• Paste

• 4 oz fresh chile powder, ancho chiles

• 1 cup cider vinegar

• 4 tsp cumin seeds

• 1/8 cup oregano

• 1/3 cup kosher salt

• 1 cup light brown sugar

• 12 cloves garlic

• 2 large onions

• Mexican Crema

• ½ Cup plain Greek Yogurt

• 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar

• Juice of ½ Lime

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

• Homemade Pico De Gallo

• 1 cup finely chopped red onion

• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped – or more to taste

• 2 limes, juiced

• 2 1/2 cups Roma (plum) tomatoes, seeded and chopped

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

• 1 teaspoon salt

• For Serving

• 6 avocados, sliced

• ½ cup queso fresco

• ¼ cup cilantro

• 18 corn tortillas

Directions

• Paste
• Place the paste ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Refrigerate until use.
• Cabrito
• Slather the seasoning paste all over the meat.
• Arrange in a large bowl (or any non-reactive container that’s large enough), cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours.
• Remove from the refrigerator about 2 hours before beginning the cooking, to let the meat come to room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 325°F.
• Place the cabrito in a roasting pan.
• Cover the pan with foil and roast 5-6 hours or until tender.
• Remove and let cool before shredding
• Pico De Gallo
• Mix red onion, jalapeno pepper, and lime juice in a bowl.
• Allow to stand for 5 minutes.
• Mix in Roma tomatoes, cilantro, and salt; allow to stand 15 more minutes for flavors to blend.
• Mexican Crema
• Combine greek yogurt in small mixing bowl with lime juice and vinegar
• Stir until creamy and smooth. If you prefer a looser consistency, slowly add more vinegar by teaspoon
• Add salt and pepper and stir
• Tacos
• If desired, heat the corn tortillas in a dry skillet or fry them up in a little avocado oil until crispy.
• Divide the shredded cabrito or carnitas into the tortillas and serve with avocado, pico, Mexican crema and cheese.