Celebrating the entire animal

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Bridging the information gap between on-farm production and consumers at the table is something Jason and Heidi Benson have been tackling for several years.

The Bensons milk 60 goats on their Chippewa County dairy farm, Lymett Farms and Idle-A-Wile Dairy Goats, near Colfax, and ship their milk to LaClare Creamery. During summer months they typically peak at about 85 milking does. Their herd consists primarily of Sables, Saanens and Alpines.

Connecting with consumers has been part of the Bensons’ business model for several years. They host on-farm events, giving people the opportunity to meet their goats up close.

This year, the Bensons decided to take their efforts to the next level, hosting a farm-to-table dinner featuring goat cheese made by LaClare, along with meat from dairy goat wethers raised on their farm.

“We’ve been thinking about doing this for a while,” Jason Benson said. “We feel like we are on the cusp of an increase in interest in goat meat. As the Chippewa Valley continues to grow and diversify, combined with rising beef prices, we feel like goat can grow in popularity and use.”

The Bensons hosted Goatoberfest Oct. 15 at Wild: A Feral Kitchen by Live Great Food, owned by culinarians Tony Chavez and Tyler Thelen.

“We’re all about supporting small, local Wisconsin farms, so we’re honored to work with Jason and Heidi for this event,” Chavez said. “We’ve been able to utilize a lot of the goat cheese curds and other goat cheese products in our food truck, which offers something different and unique. We’re hoping to help build some respect for the entirety of the animal.”

Through the Bensons’ involvement with youth livestock projects at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair, they had become acquainted with Chavez and Thelen and the food truck they operated, after their purchases at the fair’s youth livestock auction.

“Their Live Great Food food truck has been one of the best in the Chippewa Valley for several years,” Jason said. “We had invited them to be vendors at our on-farm goat-cuddling events because we love their food truck. They had the idea of serving deep-fried goat cheese curds to tie into the event.”

After several on-farm events, the Bensons, Chavez and Thelen began discussing the idea of a farm-to-table dinner utilizing dairy goat meat and cheeses over several gourmet courses.

While the group discussed ideas, Chavez and Thelen secured a location to open a new venture, Wild: A Feral Kitchen. The group decided to utilize that space to make their farm-to-table dreams blossom.

Because of space limitations, the Bensons typically sell their buck kids to another farm that finishes them for market. In preparation for their event however, they kept back four to raise. Those four finished wethers, along with a cull doe from their milk herd, provided the centerpiece for a goat-centric meal. Chavez and Thelen picked the whole carcasses up from the butcher, doing all the cutting themselves. Chavez said he has been butchering and cutting his own meats for 12 years.

“The beautiful part of butchering ourselves is that we have the whole animal to work with,” Chavez said. “We’re able to utilize the trimmings when we’re cutting the belly, which offers the opportunity for a lot of different textures.”

The small gathering of a dozen people, ranging from dairy industry members to non-farm vacationers from the Madison area, was presented with a variety of dishes of caprine origin, with a side of knowledge from both the Bensons regarding dairy goat farming and from Chavez and Thelen about the culinary intricacies of serving goat.

Chavez and Thelen presented a 6-course meal to their guests, beginning with deep-fried goat cheese curds, served with a trio of complementary sauces.

“One of the most common questions I get asked is what the difference is between cow curds and goat curds,” Chavez said. “It’s really in the texture — the cow curds have that traditional pull, but the goat curds are just that much more creamy. They melt in your mouth.”

The second course Chavez and Thelen served was a meat and cheese board, with an herb goat cheese and a pâté made of lightly cured shoulder and belly, along with a thin layer of tenderloin, served with an assortment of homemade sourdough discard crackers.

“When we were breaking down the animals, we used all the best parts in this pâté that we made ourselves,” Chavez said. “We felt the best way we could utilize the tiny tenderloins was to showcase them in the pâté.”

The next course featured potato gnocchi covered with a mixture of braised shoulder and a goat soup made of ground meat and braised red tomato sauces and topped with a drizzling of lemon and garlic herb cheese.

The fourth course featured what Chavez referred to as the saddle, or the waist section of the goat, served with lightly poached and roasted radish, carrots and Brussels sprouts and a cauliflower and potato sauce.

“You can’t give someone a goat steak, because it’s tiny,” Chavez said. “It’s like a New York strip on beef, but we kept the two pieces together, wrapped it and stuffed it with a meatball mix. We kept the vegetables as soft and delicate flavors because that sauce and saddle, that is where the flavor is.”

The first of two dessert courses featured pumpkin butterscotch toffee cheesecake made from goat cheese, drizzled with local honey and topped with a bit of honeycomb. The cheesecake was served in custom-made dessert cups, with false bottoms, allowing Chavez to bring the dinner full circle from pasture to plate, using alfalfa as a decorative garnish. The final dessert course was comprised of fresh apple fritters, deep-fried in goat tallow.

“As you’re breaking down an animal, sometimes you have little bits left,” Chavez said. “This tallow is rendered down. We used it like you would in a flaky pie crust.”

Throughout the dinner, while Chavez and Thelen educated diners on the cuts of meat and the cheeses used, the Bensons shared tales of their goats, the milk they produce and what goes into the husbandry of caring for them.

“Goat milk is a popular alternative to cow milk because of the difference in the protein structures,” Heidi said. “People who can’t digest cow milk can often handle goat milk.”

Milk quality is a focus of the Bensons’ daily operations, Jason said.

“Our creamery will be the first to tell you that the root of a great cheese starts in the milk,” Jason said. “Quality milk makes quality cheese. (And) the fresher the milk, the better the cheese.”

Chavez said the farm-to-table approach fits his and Thelen’s palette of skill, offering unique cuisine while showcasing local products.

“Jason and Heidi raise some very beautiful goats, absolutely gorgeous animals,” Chavez said. “They care for their animals tremendously. Goats are often thought to be one of the first domesticated animals, and we’ve been eating them for centuries. However, it does get a bit of a bad rap in American kitchens, so we wanted to celebrate the entire animal and what it can offer — a lot of milk and a lot of meat in beautiful, small pieces.”