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Birthday feast planning for 12th Jan


jackal10

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The title says it all really.

I need help planning and suggestions for my birthday feast on 12th Jan. Its a number ending in zero.

The fixed parameters are two geese and 14 people, two of whom are vegetarians.

We will be eating in the (large) kitchen.

I am going to cook my goose, 9 ways

Thoughts so far:

Nibbles and starters:

Goose crisp (HB had this on his Perfect Christmas, with the throwaway line "made like a prawn cracker". I know how to make a prawn crackers, but I guess with some goose part or Foie instead of prawn) ( 1)

Crisped goose skin ( 2)

Finley sliced smoked goose, cornichon (3)

Foie gras on sourdough toast (4)

(something for the veggies: nuts, olives etc)

(maybe a caviar service (with grey goose vodka), or oysters)

Soup

Black goose soup (consomme style with goose etc garnishes) (5)

Cream of artichoke (for the veggies)

Pirogi (?) (Inspired by the thread here, with goose gribines/potato, plain potato or saurkraut for veggies) (6)

Main

My original idea was to fairly plainly roast one goose, and process the other.

That way I can present the whole roast goose, but carve the breasts from both

Also some shredded confit from the legs of the second goose, and a slice of stuffed neck (7,8.9)

However logistics suggest instead boning and making one into a ballotine, with the breast of both, and presenting and carving that instead. Not sure what to do with confit in this mode

Accompaniments

Red cabbage

Apple sauce

Servietten Knodel

Chestnuts (custard?)

Roast things: potatoes, parsnips, sprouts, shallots, garlic

Veggies can have the vegetables, and the chestnut custard...

Puds

Something light and probably with citrus.

Buttered oranges?

Desert

Cheese (Vacherin?)

Chocolates and mints

Fruit

Coffee

I wondered about gooseneck barnacles, or gooseberries, but they are out of season and too much...

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The goose skin could be served like Peking duck with scallion on pancakes, and the veg people could be served mushrooms the same way

And speaking of gooseneck you could stuff them...... :wink:

tracey

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

"It is the government's fault, they've eaten everything."

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Well, for the "light" pud, you might use frozen gooseberries (Iceland? Sainsbury Savacentre?) to make a gooseberry fool or similar creation...

I'll take this opportunity to wish you well both for the feast, and the birthday!

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch ... you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan

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Jack, what's the difference between the two goose skin nibbles?

I like the Peking duck/mushroom idea. If you could find some matsutake mushrooms and have guests who'd be happy to roll up their own pancakes, that might work very well. Gotta be careful about those pancakes, though, which dry up quickly and work best with lard (erp).

Roasted winter vegetables is pretty limited main for vegetarians. You could whip up something fairly easy but still intended for them, like a meatless stuffed cabbage, maybe with a substantial starch like barley or wild rice and stuffed with onion confit, with a brown veg braising liquid.

Chris Amirault

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Goose crisp is not the skin, but a tapioca starch based crisp flavoured with goose, like (US) shrimp chips.

I like the idea of spring rolls, but not sure how they would work as nibbles

The veggies for main have lots of things:

chestnut custards, serviette dumpling, red cabbage, roasted veg (inc sprouts)

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And there's vegetarian goose...very tasty. It's crisp on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside.

Picture (last pic of series)

Ingredients

8 pieces beancurd skin

Seasoning - mix all together :

2 pcs red fermented beancurd cubes (nam yue)

2 T light soya sauce

3 T sugar

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp five-spice powder

2 C water

2 T plain flour

Soften beancurd skin with a damp cloth.

Brush on the seasoning, fold. Do this alternately till you get a rectangle of around 8" x 4".

Secure pieces together with a satay stick or toothpicks.

Marinate for a minimum of 2 hours.

Shallow-fry.

If needed, I can do a demo. Can be made in advance and frozen. Shallow-fry to revive.

Edited by Tepee (log)

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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Things are firming up.

Starters:

Goose cracker

Goose mini Peking pancakes

Smoked goose

Foie

Caviar

Goose soup /Cream of artichoke

Ballotine of goose

Mock goose

veg etc

Buttered oranges

Some sort of Galette du Rois (as it Epiphany)

Cheeses etc

Still uncertain as to the second pudding. Suggestions?

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no birthday cake with stiff white icing and piped flowers? :sad:

Tracey

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

"It is the government's fault, they've eaten everything."

My Webpage

garden state motorcyle association

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Thanks, Chufi and Abra you must come and visit...

The chestnut custard is from the Larousse article on goose, a recipe by Marc Pralong. In the end it got forgotten. I paraphrase.

Mix 300 cl cream, 3 eggs, 150g chestnut puree (tinned), 100g diced cooked chestnuts (bought peeled and vac packed) Butter 8 dariole moulds, divide the mixture between them. I was going to use a a sheet of silicone rubber half sphere moulds. Cook in a bain marie at 170C.

Edited by jackal10 (log)
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The goose feast:

These pix are raw, since I don't feel up to processing them yet today

Also many were taken after the food started to be eaten. Its hard to remember to photograph as well as cook, host, serve and eat...

The request, after 14 courses last year, was not so many courses this year, so its a simple three course meal (soup, main, pud) plus nibbles before and cheese and coffee after..

=================Nibbles===============================

Smoked goose breast with figs:

gallery_7620_135_121655.jpg

Foie Gras with Gewurztraminer jelly:

gallery_7620_135_101773.jpg

(one I forgot to take until it was half eaten - there were two full platters of these - 30 pieces)

Chopped goose liver on toasted seeded wholemeal sourdough:

(I forgot to photograph this - like chicken chopped liver, but from the goose liver)

Caviar on Blini:

gallery_7620_135_52442.jpg

(Baccari - french farmed sturgeon caviar. Grey Goose (French) Vodka for those who wished)

Egg and Onion for the vegetarians:

gallery_7620_135_84158.jpg

=====================Soup:============================

Goose Giblet Soup

gallery_7620_135_90873.jpg

Loosely based on the Danish Kraasesuppe, or the Scandinavian Black soup but without the blood.

Goose stock, reduced and clarified. Giblets (gizzard, heart etc) confited sous vide cooked at 85C for 8 hours, Garnish leek, carrot and sliced prune, chives, a little sugar and vinegar.

Pierogi/Kreplach filled with potato, onion and gribines, the crispy bits left after rendering the goose fat.

Cream of jerusalem artichoke for the veggies

gallery_7620_135_89605.jpg

Pirogi filled with sauerkraut and mushroom, fried.

Seeded wholemeal sourdough rolls

==========================Main========================

Remains of the ballotine of goose:

gallery_7620_135_147559.jpg

gallery_7620_135_51680.jpg

Goose, boned out, except for wings and legs

Stuffed with a mousseline forcemeat (puree chicken breast, egg white, cream), studded with foie gras, truffle, pistachio, dried cranberry plus extra duck breasts and the breasts from the other goose.

Cooked for 12 hours at 60C end temperature 58C, browned in a hot (220C) oven before for 30 mins and after to crisp. Far too much meat, would have fed 50..

Although a lot of fat came off, the end result was not fatty at all.

Lower part of the platter: Legs confitted (salt, thyme, then sousvide at 85C for 8 hours).

Vegetarian goose (thanks TP!):

gallery_7620_135_94567.jpg

gallery_7620_135_50255.jpg

Bean-curd skin, shitake mushrooms

Forgot to picture the sides:

Roast potatoes (goose fat and butter_

Roast parsnips

Roast brussel sprouts (excellent)

Caramelised shallots

Apple sauce

Red cabbage

Baby sprouts

Baby carrots

Goose gravy

=======================Pudding=========================

"Goose Breast"

gallery_7620_135_20762.jpg

Thanks Marianne! This is a delicious Danish confection, brought by an exceptional cook. Layer of puff pastry, layer of prune filling, layer of cream, layer of unsweetened marzipan, Yum!

Buttered Oranges:

gallery_7620_135_79767.jpg

Actually clementines. Apparently King James I favourite desert. A light orange cream.

gallery_7620_135_117889.jpg

(spice biscuits as well)

=======================Cheeses========================

gallery_7620_135_23696.jpg

(Isle of Mull Cheddar, Stilton, Epoisse, Goat)

gallery_7620_135_43204.jpg

Marianne's Danish Rye, my onion and sultana

====================Finally============================

gallery_7620_135_78558.jpg

Fitzbillie's Chelsea Bun Cake, with Pyrotechnic coloured candles

Edited by jackal10 (log)
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Wines:

Champagne Gallimard

Gewurztraminer Rolly Gassmann 1996

Nuits St George 1er Cru "Clos les Agillieres" Bertrand Ambroise 2003

Blandy's Bual Madeira 1948

Monbazillac, Ch. Le Caillou 1943

Amazingly the ancient wines were still all there, and in particular the Monbazillac was amazing. Heavily madeirised, of course, but essence of raisins. Still lots of fresh fruit. Will be drinkable for another 50 years at least.

gallery_7620_135_128401.jpg

gallery_7620_135_10485.jpg

gallery_7620_135_13194.jpg

gallery_7620_135_45499.jpg

gallery_7620_135_30225.jpg

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The things that did not go quite right and were not served.

Goose crackers:

Heston Blumentahl, in his Perfect Christmas Dinner, showed a goose cracker which he said "was made like a prawn cracker" (US Shrimp chip). So I tried.

25% puree goose meat (from the wings on the second bird), 75% tapioca flour, make into a dough with goose stock, salt and pepper. steam, dry, slice, dry the slices.

gallery_7620_135_139433.jpg

Damn things don't puff at all when fried, so come out hard and unappetising.

Any experts out there? Anyone make papads? What am I doing wrong?

Maybe the tapicoa flour was wrong somehow, although it works OK for prawn crackers

Servietten Knudel

White bread, egg, milk, herbs, wrapped in clinglim and poached. Wolfgang Puck recipe.

gallery_7620_135_45413.jpg

I think the clingfilm must have leaked, and not enough egg in the mixture, as it was a gloopy soggy mess.

Things forgetten (there is always some):

The chestnuts/chestnut custards

The spice biscuits

Baguettes got forgoetten in the oven and overcooked a bit. OK sliced but crunchy.

Too much already:

Over half the goose is left

Not much birthday cake got eaten

More pierogi filling and dough (not a problem)

More orange cream (the recipe makes about twice the volume of the orange skins)

about 2 litres of goose fat

Edited by jackal10 (log)
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[snip]...

Also many were taken after the food started to be eaten. Its hard to remember to photograph as well as cook, host, serve and eat...

[snip]

Well done! I didn't manage to take a single food pix during our recent christmas party.

Your nibbles look very elegant. Such an interesting goose themed dinner....another meal to remember. Are you able to steal Marianne's goose breast recipe, Jack? :wub:

Have a good rest.

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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Excellent. The wines look truly awesome. I've never tasted anything that old. The chestnut custard, though forgotten, looks good, and I'd really like to know more about the creme in the buttered clementines as well. I'm only sorry not to have seen a cross section of your gallantine.

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Wonderful! what a feast. I think you did really well with the vegetarian options...

and thanks for showing the 'things that did not go quite right' as well.. that's what makes reports like this all the more interesting..

oh and you can send me some of that goosefat you have leftover :biggrin: can one ever have too much goosefat...

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Hippo Birdy, Dearie!

That meal looks delicious. I wish that I could visit now, for the leftovers. I'd just sit with those hard crackers and some goose fat and leftover goose meat and have a nice fatty, tasty snack, acompanied by any leftover wine! Yum!

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