Cooking my Goose

[jackal10]

You can always do HFW's good three ways:

(neck stuffed, legs confit, breast roast)

http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/wine/ma...4/ixedmain.html

"The goose is a silly bird; too much for one, and not enough for two"

(Samuel Johnson)

[Kim Shook]

Made a goose with a friend as a cooking project a couple of years ago with Julia's recipe. We were all underwhelmed by the flavor, but agreed that it was worth the trouble of roasting a goose just to get that incredible rendered fat to roast the potatoes in. They were the BEST roasted potatoes that I have ever eaten. As a sideline, we also made a wonderful red cabbage dish that I have made time and time again. Here's the recipe for that, if anyone is interested:

Red Cabbage Braised with Vinegar and Bacon

[budrichard]

DO NOT braise your goose. Roast as before without any stuffing. What you need in the cavity is aromatics such as your fresh herbs, onion, apple, celery et al to give flavor to the goose. No need to crisp the skin at the end as it should have been crisp if the fat has been rendered. If not roast at higher temperature for your next goose. It is almost impossible to ruin a good domestic goose as it has so much fat unless you way overcook and succeed in drying it out.-Dick

[divalasvegas]

Thanks for the advice so far.  After letting this practice roast goose rest for a bit, I have cut into it and the meat is really very good -- tastes like prime rib, which isn't really what I was expecting, and nearly all of the fat seems to have rendered off -- I have saved that.  However, one whole breast yielded only maybe four slices of meat, so I'll probably end up supplementing the meat part with a bit of ham or something.

What are people's thoughts on the prospect of braising the actual Christmas goose versus roasting it just the way I did it this time?  This meat, though not terribly juicy, is very flavorful.  Perhaps brining and then roasting (which is what I do with duck, turkey, and chicken) would be the way to go?

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Hi bleachboy, I'm planning on roasting a goose this year as well. I've done it before and loved it. I must vote for roasting since one of the loveliest, tastiest things ever is the crispy skin. Also if you braise it would you be able to successfully recover rendered fat? Would any fat the rose to the top be on the same taste level as fat that slowly rendered in an oven? My instinct tells me recovered fat from a roasted goose would be far superior. Actually, until my recent electric deep fryer malfunction, I was thinking of deep frying the goose. But that's another story.

Anyway, when I last roasted a goose, I made gravy with the defatted drippings and giblets (simmered giblets, liver removed, for a bit of goose stock for the gravy) and it was so rich and delicious, as you said almost prime rib like in it's intensity. Perhaps the addition of wine or cider or such would lighten it up, but I liked it the way I did it. Also, I plan on having a ham since the meat is not as bountiful as that of a turkey.

I concur with what others have said here: don't stuff the bird since any stuffing will end up pretty greasy. I think I've settled on a dried fruit based dressing that will be baked on the side. And make sure you prick the skin all over before putting into the oven.

Best of luck.

BTW, I think your practice bird looks gorgeous.

[Anna N]

We celebrated an early Christmas yesterday and I cooked the best goose of my life. It was a frozen supermarket goose, about 11 1/2 lbs. After thawing in the 'fridge, I removed any lumps of fat that I found then I pricked the skin all over with a skewer. I trussed the goose and covered the legs with foil. I roasted it on a rack, unstuffed, in a 350F oven, breast side down for 1 1/2 hours then flipped it, removed the foil from the legs and continued to cook for another 1 1/4 hours. It rested for about 20 minutes and it yielded wonderfully tender, tasty flesh - rather more than I had expected. I removed the breasts whole and sliced them across the grain to serve. I would do this again in a minute.

[bleachboy]

Thanks for the sound advice, y'all!

So I suppose I'll just be roasting again (after removing the quills with a pair of pliers), with maybe some herbs and aromatic vegetables in the cavity, but no stuffing.

Is there an opinion on brining? I believe I'll probably brine the goose, probably for 5 hours or so.

The goose fat rendered beautifully and yielded about three cups of pure fat from my goose, so roasted potatoes with goose fat are a certainty.

I also got about a gallon of goose stock from the carcass. I'll be reducing that today and will probably make a sauce of some sort with it, probably port or red wine based.

Will probably also make glazed carrots and some sort of apple something, to bridge between the goose and the supplemental ham.

[mikeycook]

Made a goose with a friend as a cooking project a couple of years ago with Julia's recipe.  We were all underwhelmed by the flavor, but agreed that it was worth the trouble of roasting a goose just to get that incredible rendered fat to roast the potatoes in.  They were the BEST roasted potatoes that I have ever eaten.  As a sideline, we also made a wonderful red cabbage dish that I have made time and time again.  Here's the recipe for that, if anyone is interested:

Red Cabbage Braised with Vinegar and Bacon

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I tried to Julia recipe a couple of Christmases ago and found that steaming before roasting, while good for rendering fat, made the bird very tough. I would definitely not use that recipe as written again. Not to say that steaming then roasting can't be done effectively.

[divalasvegas]

Thanks for the sound advice, y'all!

So I suppose I'll just be roasting again (after removing the quills with a pair of pliers), with maybe some herbs and aromatic vegetables in the cavity, but no stuffing.

Is there an opinion on brining?  I believe I'll probably brine the goose, probably for 5 hours or so.

The goose fat rendered beautifully and yielded about three cups of pure fat from my goose, so roasted potatoes with goose fat are a certainty.

I also got about a gallon of goose stock from the carcass.  I'll be reducing that today and will probably make a sauce of some sort with it, probably port or red wine based.

Will probably also make glazed carrots and some sort of apple something, to bridge between the goose and the supplemental ham.

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Hi bleachboy. THREE CUPS OF GOOSE FAT AND A GALLON OF GOOSE STOCK? You are my hero!

As I said upthread, I'll be making a goose for Christmas as well. I think I've settled on what dressing I'll make on the side. I found the following recipe online. Really looks good to me, although I always tinker with recipes.

Dried Fruit Dressing Recipe

Now, how to coax a cup of goose fat out of you......................

[judiu]

Bleachboy, having never done a goose in any way, shape or form (culinarily speaking ) I may be talking out my a$$, but I think that if you brined the goose the fat may be too salty to use in other cooking? I've had brined turkey before and the pan drippings were WAY to salty to use for gravy.

[rich]

Jacques Pepin has a Roast Goose recipe in the December issue of Food and Wine. It calls for separating the skin from the bird, steaming it for 45 minutes, letting it dry uncovered, overnight in the fridge.

It's roasted the next day. He claims it's a variation of a Chinese technique that helps the bird baste in its own fat and ensures crispy skin.

[TarteTatin]

Hubby wants to do a Thanksgiving goose.

(There's 6 of us, it'll be an 8-10 pounder)

We ordered a free range one from Lancaster, Pa.- at Reading Terminal Market, Halteman's.

He's thinking about stuffing it with cornbread and Merguez.

He's the cook, and a really good home cook, but I thought I'd ask your opinion about other recipes.

Not just for stuffing, but for the actual cooking process.

This is probably more for me than him!

(But I'll definitely pass this on!)

[michael_g]

The girlfriend and I are considering the Christmas goose, but being Jews, neither of us really know where to begin.

First, we're having trouble sourcing one. I live in Providence, she lives in Boston. We've found an okay price for mail-order at Finger Lakes Gourmet; any ideas for where we can get one locally?

Second, we need to decide on a recipe and a menu, but the suggestions in this thread seem like enough reading material to come to a decision. It's difficult to decide between the elegance of a whole bird and the deliciousness of a confit of the legs and the rare breast. Either way, potatoes in the fat, cabbage, a berry jam (cranberry, red currant?) seem like they'll be part of the main. Any ideas? It'll probably just be the two of us, so we'll either end up (a) enormously fat, or (b) with a lot of leftovers.

[phatj]

The girlfriend and I are considering the Christmas goose, but being Jews, neither of us really know where to begin.

First, we're having trouble sourcing one.  I live in Providence, she lives in Boston.  We've found an okay price for mail-order at Finger Lakes Gourmet; any ideas for where we can get one locally?

Second, we need to decide on a recipe and a menu, but the suggestions in this thread seem like enough reading material to come to a decision.  It's difficult to decide between the elegance of a whole bird and the deliciousness of a confit of the legs and the rare breast.  Either way, potatoes in the fat, cabbage, a berry jam (cranberry, red currant?) seem like they'll be part of the main.  Any ideas?  It'll probably just be the two of us, so we'll either end up (a) enormously fat, or (b) with a lot of leftovers.

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I think if you try a few different grocery stores you should be able to find a frozen goose, at least. I've had good experiences with frozen.

If you have your heart set on fresh, I can't really help you, unless Wegman's has made its way to New England (Wegman's is an upscale supermarket based in upstate New York but growing rapidly).

As to recipes, I can only tell you that if you're planning to toast the bird whole, you shouldn't plan on having potatoes roasted with goose fat at the same meal. Roasting goose releases a ridiculous amount of fat, but not necessarily in a useful timeframe for also roasting potatoes.

[unixfan73]

Wow, what a great resource.

One question I have though.

There appears to be a school of goose-cooking that says you 'boil' it for a quick spell and then dry it out. Most recipes I have seen have suggested this...is there a drawback to this approach?

[markabauman]

A hunter friend just dropped off a large, de-boned, apparently skinless goose breast sealed in plastic. Any suggestions for how to cook it? Some sort of braise?

[JEL]

A hunter friend just dropped off a large, de-boned, apparently skinless goose breast sealed in plastic. Any suggestions for how to cook it? Some sort of braise?

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goose jerky is awesome................

with a cold beer and pickled egg..........