Sourcing the Christmas goose.

[iamthestretch]

My friend's German in-laws are coming over to DC this week and his wife is determined to replicate a Christmas feast from the old country, complete with a roast goose as the centerpiece. Problem is, they cost a wing and a leg in the few places he's been able to find them so far. Dean and DeLuca want a fat $12/lb, and at a recommended minimum of 1-1/2lbs per person, that adds up pretty fast for a big festive dinner. I tried Arrowine and they were a little better at $10/lb. Wegmans, surprisingly, didn't seem to have them at all, despite stocking copious quantities of ducks, capons, heritage turkeys and whole swans pickled in aspic. OK, maybe not the last one. Anyone have any other ideas? Or should me and my mate just sneak down to the Tidal Basin with a slingshot one of these nights and "source" us some fresh government goose?

[JPW]

Would you really want a goose that has been swimming around in the Potomac?

[babka]

have I seen geese biding their time at the Eastern Market Butcher?

[hannnah]

You might be better off ordering directly from someplace like D'Artagnan - a lot of markets are going to buy geese from them anyway, and you pay less in shipping than you would in markup.

[FunJohnny]

D'artagnan Geese

You might be better off ordering directly from someplace like D'Artagnan - a lot of markets are going to buy geese from them anyway, and you pay less in shipping than you would in markup.

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Agree that D'Artagnan may be your best bet. My Thanksgiving Turkey was a D'Artagnan bird and it was excellent:

Geese

You might also try Balducci's (formerly Sutton Place), but they probably are priced like Dean and Deluca

[Busboy]

Rather than the Potomac I'd recommend Lake Liberty down on the mall. You can lure the beasts someplace discreet with a street-vendor hot dog and then do one in with a cricket bat or whatever and shove into a backpack. They're about the size of a three-year-old and so should feed quite a crew, and have been living on bread crusts as and tourist peanuts for years, so stuffing is redundant.

[mnebergall]

Rather than the Potomac I'd recommend Lake Liberty down on the mall.  You can lure the beasts someplace discreet with a street-vendor hot dog and then do one in with a cricket bat or whatever and shove into a backpack.  They're about the size of a three-year-old and so should feed quite a crew, and have been living on bread crusts as and tourist peanuts for years, so stuffing is redundant.

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Stretch, if you have a preference for a gander instead of a goose, Busboy's method could prove problematic as it is imposssible to discern one from the other while still on the wing. (However, somehow, they are able to figure it out)

[iamthestretch]

Search over. My friends ended up finding two 12 pounders, marked American Farms free-range, yesterday at the bottom of a freezer at a local Safeway for $2.95/lb. Many thanks, nonetheless, for the very generous offer to liberate a few prize honkers from one of Virginia's finest restaurant kitchens. Now, if anyone would like to help with making a dozen buckets of schupfnudeln?