Goats around the world are famous for their milk, and of course, cheese, but it is rapidly becoming popular as it is classified as one of the "Health Meats of the 21st Century" because its meat is considerably lower in saturated fat compared to skinless chicken and has high protein content. It is now competing with lamb and venison or deer meat because when prepared properly, it is not as gamey as the other meats mentioned above.

In the Philippine setting, goat or kambing is relished for its taste and texture; it plays a big part in the culture of Filipino cuisine. Almost all regions in our country feast on goat, and only the horns and hair are not used for cooking.

The meat has much use, mainly for stews like kaldereta, with tomato sauce, bell peppers and sometimes

potatoes and carrots. The skin is used for the unique dish we call kinilaw where the skin is grilled, chopped up, then tossed with vinegar, black pepper, chili, ginger, and shallots.

For the head and feet, it is famously made into a sour soup called sinampalukan where the key souring agent is tamarind or sampalok, boiled for long hours with onions, garlic, ginger, and young tamarind leaves and some fish sauce and best enjoyed after a long bout of drinking.

My favorite of all is the papaitan, a bitter-sour soup that uses all the internal organs of the goat and made bitter with the addition of bile. A good papaitan is a play of ginger, onions, and green finger chili flavors with a distinct gamey character from the innards plus that light pleasant bitterness that plays in the mouth.

Recently, I was invited by my good friend Dr. Ruel Reyes of ATR Torres Wines when he opened his wine shop-slash-restaurant called "Capretto" with a tag line "house of kaldereta." Capretto literally means "young goat," about four to five kilos, and when it starts browsing on grass, it is passed on and called cabrito. The restaurant specializes in chevon, and they take pride in that all the cabrito they butcher are born and raised on their farm.

Located at the heart of Rizal Street in San Pablo City, Laguna, Capretto offers a wide selection of drinks and great wines and brandy, mostly from the Torres Vineyards in Spain, and you can enjoy all of that with the best quality prepared chevon.

We kicked off with a Sangre de Torro 2001 Vintage, which went excellently with the house’s area of expertise, the kaldereta. The meat was extremely tender and it almost fell off the bone; the texture of soft meat was complemented with crispy water chestnuts with a rich dark red tomato sauce in the palate. This evidently shows it was braised slowly until all the flavors from the garlic, onions, and peppers blended, bringing out a deep chevon meaty flavor.

The kinilaw was also exceptional; the skin was chewy rubbery unlike those you buy elsewhere with tenderized skin. The vinegar used also gave another dimension in flavor--I think it was suka tuba or vinegar from fermented coconut sap, and with the addition of grilled goat liver, finely chopped ginger, and shallots, it was all heaven.

Other chevon items like tapa, adobo, sinampalukan, and papaitan are up on deck for my next visit. You can even order raw meat; take note that these chevons are not native, but are Anglo Nubian and Boer breeds that they grow, which came from Australia and are classified as breed meat variety.

Goats are mentioned many times in the Bible. A goat is considered a "clean" animal and is slaughtered for an honored guest, so next time you try goat, feel special and enjoy it; it’s a feast made for you.