Goat Stew

Wash thoroughly, in plenty of water, the meat and the bone of the goat.
Fill a pot with salted water, add a whole lemon cut in halves, add the goat’s meat and bone inside and boil them.
With a ladle skim the surface constantly. Boil for around 2 hours, until the meat has softened.

Next, remove the lemons and the bone from the pot, leaving just the pieces of meat and the broth in the pot.
Add enough water for the soup and the olive oil.

Place the potatoes, carrots, onions, celery in the pot and add the juice of 2 lemons. Simmer in low heat for 45 minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste in the end.

In ancient Greece, Archestratus, a cook during the age of Pericles, mentions that during Symposia, Greeks loved the consumption of meat. Their main dishes mainly comprised of boiled sheep or goat meat. They boiled the heads of lambs and kids along with the animals’ offal, thus making a recipe that resembles today’s traditional Greek Orthodox Easter dish, “Mageiritsa”.
During the Ottoman occupation of Greece, reports say that sheep owners of that era, traded the animals for their milk, cheeses and meat.
Cuts of the animals such as the necks, shanks and heads were less popular with the buyers, even more so, if the latter had more money to spend.
Therefore, the shepherds who were poor in their majority, made use of almost everything, leaving almost nothing to go to waste. They boiled these cuts with vegetables from their garden during the period that they could cultivate the land, whereas during wintertime, the boiled them with the addition of large amount of fat, as a method of preserving the meat inside the cold fat.
Shepherds of the areas of Central Greece, Roumeli and Sarakatsani, selected Attica for their winter quarters and grazing fields, for the climate in Attica is mild, as the region is surrounded by the sea. Another reason for their choice, is that the hills of Attica, being that close to the sea, provide all the best foods for the lambs and kids: grass, herbs, wild olive trees and carob trees.
Next follows a timeless recipe of goat stew, cooked all over Greece, in the mainland as well as in the islands, since lambs and kids are available everywhere. From antiquity till now, the recipe remains as simple and delicious as ever.

Boil the deboned meat and the bone separately in order to avoid the process of passing the broth through a sieve or having to debone the leg of the goat after boiling, as it is usually done. This results in having a richer taste, left from the bone broth.
For better results, it is preferable that the bone of the goat has its joints.
From the beginning, boil the goat’s meat and the goat’s bone with the peels of a lemon, since they help lessen the strong odors of meat.
Add salt and pepper only in the end. If this step is not followed, and salt and pepper is added in the beginning, there is a high risk of the broth resulting too salty, after boiling is completed.