Bode assado, in the manta de bode tradition

As tradition built it

Manta de bode, and bode assado

Ingredients

The tradition's method, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them.

• whole goat carcass
• to taste salt
• for frying pork lard, for bode à pururuca
• as available rice, for arroz caldoso

Method

1. Debone the goat carcass and open it flat like a sheet, in exactly the family of technique carne de sol and charque share.
2. Salt and sun-dry the flattened carcass, historically a specialised, apprenticed skill within a family.
3. From the preserved base, cook arroz caldoso, rice cooked with the reconstituted dried meat, or bode à pururuca, fried crisp in pork lard.
4. Where goat is eaten fresh rather than preserved, simply roast it, at any meal including breakfast.

Notes

Documented specifically among Fundo de Pasto communities of the São Francisco sertão.

What a modern chef changes

Portioned first, preserved or roasted by cut

Method

1. Portion the goat first rather than drying a whole flattened carcass over days in open sun, and treat each cut on its own terms.
2. Give leaner cuts a light, controlled dry-cure and dehydrator finish to mimic manta's texture and concentration of flavour without its real drying-time risk.
3. Give cuts better eaten fresh a straightforward slow roast, finished hard over coals.

Notes

The point of the elevation is not to abandon preservation as a flavour, since the concentrated, slightly mineral character of dried goat is worth keeping, but to get there by a controlled route rather than an open-air one.