Rendered Goose Fat Confusion

[agray]

I cooked a goose for Christmas dinner and it was excellent, but I'm a little unsure if I rendered the internal fat correctly and would love some feedback.

I gathered a nice jar full of fat rendering out of the bird as it cooked - this was slightly golden when warm, quite clear and with a pleasant, very mild aroma. There were also 'pods' of fat in and around the cavity of the bird when we first got it. I removed these and rendered them separately. This was my first time attempting to render fat, and following some advice online I placed the fat in a pot with about 3/4 cup of water and simmered it until it appeared that the water had all evaporated. The bubbles changed and there was a sizzling sort of sound after 45 minutes or so, so that's when I stopped. I removed the pieces of skin (I think it was skin), one of which was fairly large and strained it through cheesecloth.

The fat was much less golden in colour, a bit cloudy and had a not terribly pleasant smell that's hard to describe - a bit dark and funky. I wonder if that's due to the skin, etc. which was rendered with it? Or did I not render it long enough?

Here's a picture of the two jars of fat before they cooled (they've both solidified in the fridge and are fairly white now). Left is the pot-rendered one.

[Mikels]

I haven't done goose fat, I do chicken fat, although using a microwave. When you rendered the fat pads and skin, you may have heated the fat too high. In any case, to "clean" the fat I suggest you put the into a pan with water and heat it till almost boiling. You should see the water turn a brown color and the fat clear. Then, cool it until the fat becomes solid. Remove the fat, discarding the water, and either put it in a pan over low heat or in the oven at 300-350F. The idea is to remove the water at a low heat.

[budrichard]

Goes to show how good on-line advice can be!

You have an emulsion and burnt fat.

The roasting temperature was too high for rendering.

If I want duck/goose/chicken fat, I skin and using a large saute pan, SLOWLY render the fat at low temperature until I am left with liquid and crunchy skin. I use NO water. You do have to move the pieces at first to keep them from sticking until you get some fat actually rendered but its well worth it.-Dick

[Shalmanese]

Are you using the fat for savoury or sweet applications? Personally, I see nothing wrong with animal fat tasting strongly of the animal it came from. I like to keep cooking until the cracklings are well browned for flavoursome fat. Poultry skin tends to have a musty funk that needs to be cooked out. If I were you, I would take the white fat and heat it up to 250F or so for 10 minutes and then cool it down again. That should get rid of the funk.