In many Asian cultures, goat meat is consumed traditionally with the skin left on during harvest and fabrication. However, the exact reason why is unknown. We hypothesize that the Asian consumers prefer skin-on goat meat because collagen in the skin will gelatinize through moist heat cookery and create a lubrication effect similar to the intramuscular fat, resulting in improved juiciness and tenderness.
In order to test the hypothesis, we harvested 14 goats in two different harvesting techniques: seven with skin left on the carcasses (skin-on) and seven with skin removed (skin-off). In the skin-on harvest group, carcasses were scalded and dehaired at 61oC for 3 minutes to remove most of the hair after stunning and exsanguination. The skin-off harvest group was harvested the same as the traditional lamb harvest, using the fisting technique, which the fist and arm were placed between the fell membrane and skin to assist the pelt removal process. All goat carcasses regardless of harvesting techniques were fabricated into four primals: breast, leg, loin, and shoulder and cut into 2 in. x 2 in. cubes for a total of 8 treatments (2 harvesting techniques x 4 primals). The goat meat was stewed for 90 minutes in water at 93oC.