A Christmas Goose
Dec 24th, 2007 | By Hank Shaw | Category: Wild Game | Comments | 2 Comments |
What is it about cooking a goose that has everyone all twitterpated? I can’t tell you how many horror stories I have read over the years about these fatty flying delicacies. David Leite just wrote an especially good one. My mum won’t touch them because she thinks they’re too greasy. And literally scores of people have widened their eyes at me when I tell them I cook geese all the time.
“You have? Really?”
“Uh, yeah. What’s the deal?”
“I have always wanted to, but, well, aren’t they terribly hard to cook? Greasy? Livery? Gamey?”
“Have you ever cooked one?”
“Well, no. But…”
But nothing. Roasting geese isn’t as easy as roasting a turkey or chicken, but it ain’t rocket science. I recently weighed in on the topic over at Serious Eats, but I will recap it here.
First, you must thaw it slowly in the fridge over a few days, then open up the cavity and strip out all of the internal fat, which is, I must say, delicious. Here is what I do with it. Then roast the bird in a slow oven, something like 325 degrees, until the breast meat gets to be about 135 degrees. Take goosey out, and with a carving knife cut off the breasts whole — you can cut them in serving slices later. Put the breasts skin side up under foil to rest, then put the breastless bird back into the oven. Serve the medium-rare breasts (which, incidentally, is how they should be. Gray breast meat is as icky as mum remembers.) It will serve four fully. If they are still hungry afterwards, by the time the breasts are et, the legs and thighs will be done. (They will serve two more people.)
If you are serving six, which is how many bellies a goose will adequately fill, then hold the breasts under the foil while the leg-thighs cook for another 30 minutes or so, then put them back in the oven skin side up for 10 minutes, just to heat up again. Or, you could do what I always do, which is serve the goose two ways: Braised legs and pan-roasted breasts. Here is a bit on that topic.
And don’t forget to make stock out of the wings, giblets, neck and carcass.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Howdy!
Thanks for the Goose recipe; now we can finally have a goose dinner! It has been one of those things that I always have wanted to try.
Regards,
Albert A Rasch
I just had to comment that there is nothing like a goose for Christmas dinner. One year a very dear friend of ours (who was Mexican and raised beautiful very spoiled geese) brought us a beauty wrapped in white paper, cleaned and ready to bake. I pricked it all over with a fork and salted and peppered it well. I stuffed it with dried fruits, prunes and orange segments. I baked it every so slowly on a rack over a deep pan. It was so delicious and sad to say the last time I had one. The ones in the grocery store – YUK!
I am enjoying your blog site very much.
Karen