HIX, Romy's Kitchen and River Cottage to launch inaugural #Goatober

Goatober is the UK’s inaugural month long celebration of the dairy billy goat meat industry.  Restaurants nationwide including ETM Group, HIX Restaurants, River Cottage Canteens, Shotgun BBQ, I’ll be Mother and Romy’s Kitchen will be putting a goat dish pride of place on their menus and urging diners to try the much under-used meat.

To mark the launch of Goatober, six competing chefs will each serve a goat inspired dish at The Jugged Hare, Barbican, London, on Wednesday, October 5, 2016. Dishes will be wine paired by ETM’s Group Head Sommelier Gui Mahaut, followed by petit fours and coffee.

James Whetlor from Cabrito Goat Meat, who decided to bring #Goatober to the UK, said: “As an ex-chef myself, there’s nothing that delights me more than seeing top chefs prepping our goat in imaginative, inspired and delicious ways. It’s now possible to sit down in fantastic restaurants to a pile of harissa scented goat chops or goat Soulaki, goat tacos or Indian style pulled goat shoulder or a British classic of boned and rolled stuffed saddle. Britain is finally waking up to what the rest of the world has known for some time; goat meat is delicious!”

The full line up of chefs and their dishes are:

Stephen Englefield, The Jugged Hare, London - Smoked Kid Loin, Goat Rustler’s Perk

Romy Gill, Romy’s Kitchen, Bristol - Pulled Shoulder of Goat with Puri and Glazed Onions

Scott Goss, The Twenty Six, Tunbridge Wells - Kid Faggots, Parsnip and Burnt Butter Purée and Cornish Ale Gravy

Jamie Guy, HIX Oyster & Chop House, London - Curried Chop with Rock Samphire Pakora

Charlie James, River Cottage Canteen, Bristol - Grilled Merguez Spiced Goat with English Quinoa, Rose Honey, Whole Lemon Dressing and Yogurt

Gill Meller, River Cottage, Devon - Kid Tartare and Fried Oyster

During the evening there will also be a silent auction with an array of top prizes, with all proceeds going to Action Against Hunger. Hosted by journalist and food writer Joe Warwick, prizes will include dinner for six at The Jugged Hare; a bundle of signed cookbooks from Quadrille Publishers including Gather by Gill Meller, Grill, Smoke, BBQ by Ben Tish and Deep South by Brad McDonald; an exclusive dinner for six cooked at the winner’s home by Romy Gill; a fish cookery course for two at River Cottage; dinner for two at The Twenty Six; a kid leather product from Billy Kid Leather,plus ‘Challenge HIX’, an opportunity for two people to experience the creative process of Mark Hix and his team for each new menu. Each Head Chef has 20 minutes to cook as many dishes with pre-season ingredients against Mark, and the best dishes will appear on the menu in the coming weeks. The highest auction bidder and a friend will get to watch this process, judge (and eat) the dishes and ultimately shape the new season HIX menus. They will also receive a signed cook book by Mark Hix.

#Goatober is the brainchild of Heritage Radio Network Executive Director, Erin Fairbanks, and renowned New York cheesemonger, Anne Saxelby. #Goatober is an annual campaign every year in October in the US. In 2010, Heritage Foods USA partnered with a dozen goat dairies around upstate New York and Vermont to purchase their unwanted males, who, as unable to produce milk for dairy products, are euthanized at birth. Over 50 New York City chefs agreed to feature goat on their menu for the full month of October including Gramercy Tavern, Babbo, Spotted Pig and Bar Boulud and the campaigns success has continued to grow.

Tickets for the event are £85 per person and go on sale today via 020 7614 0134