Smoked Canada Goose Sausage
December 21, 2007 | Updated October 28, 2020
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Goose sausage is a must if you happen to hunt geese, especially Canada and snow geese, which are often skinned.
Canada geese are especially good, as they are large and meaty and the devil to pluck — I typically only pluck the nicest of my Canadas — you end up with a lot of skinned meat, mostly from the breasts and those big ole’ legs.
You really can make any sausage designed for beef, lamb or venison using goose or duck meat, and you can cut pork 50-50 with goose in those sausages and not lose a lot of character.
One tip if you use pork is to try and find never-frozen pork belly or shoulder to cut in with the goose. The reason is because unfrozen pork will bind to itself better than any other meat, and so will give your goose sausage a better bind.
Like most dark meat sausages, many of which come from Northern Europe, goose sausage loves smoke. Use whatever smoker you have around, but I use a Traeger Timberline. As for wood, anything goes, but I prefer cherry or apple.
Making these goose sausages requires some equipment, however. You will need:
- A meat grinder. If you have a KitchenAid mixer, buy the grinder attachment. It works OK. Weston and The Sausage Maker both make excellent grinders.
- A sausage stuffer. You can get them special order from a restaurant supply store, or over the internet. Buy no smaller than the 5-pound version.
- Casings. Regular hog casings are fine here, but you could use narrow sheep casings or some of the thinner diameter beef casings, if you wanted to.
- A smoker. If you can’t hang these sausages comfortably, they will not be right. You can of course not smoke them. They will be good, but not the same.
Once made, these sausages will keep a week in the fridge, and for years in the freezer if you vacuum seal them.
New to making sausage? You can find my detailed tutorial on how to make sausages at home here.
Smoked Goose Sausages
Ingredients
- 2 pounds duck or goose meat
- 1 pound fatty pork shoulder or pork belly
- 17 grams kosher salt, about 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon
- 3 grams Instacure No. 1, about 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
- 4 cloves garlic, minced fine
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1/3 cup chilled red wine or ice water
Instructions
- Dice meat and fat into about 1 inch chunks. Toss in salt, pepper, rosemary, garlic and marjoram. Mix well.
- Soak casings in tepid water. You will need about 6 feet worth.
- Make sure all meat and fat is cold. You can even keep it in the freezer until it get a little bit frosty. When it is 40°F or colder (but not a sold rock), grind through the small die of your grinder. If it is hot out, or really if your kitchen is warmer that 68°F or so, grind into a bowl that is set in another bowl full of ice. The cold is critical to bind the meat and fat nicely. If it gets too warm, it will break and feel crumbly when you eat it, which isn’t very nice.
- Put the meat mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the wine and mix on the lowest setting of your mixer for 1 minute to 90 seconds. You can do it by hand with a wooden spoon, too. You want it to look like a paste.
- Put the meat in the fridge and set up your stuffer. Put a casing on the stuffing attachment, leaving about 6 to 8 inches free on the open end. Fill your stuffer with the meat and crank it down. Let the air come through the casing first, then when you see the meat coming through, hold the casing to let the meat totally fill it, then release as you go. You want it reasonably tight. Let the casing fill completely without twisting it into links.
- When you are done, twist into short links. I do short links with this sausage because it is so rich you don’t need that much to be satisfied. Make the links by pinching the casing down, then twisting away from you a few times. The next link needs to be twisted toward you a few times. Alternate down the whole length, twisting away from you, then twisting toward you. (This video shows how I do it.) Tie the ends in a knot. You can tie again with butcher’s string if you’d like.
- Hang for at least an hour in a cool room. This lets it dry off.
- Smoke for about 3 hours, or until the interior gets to be about 150°F. Shock in a cold water bath, then pat dry. They are now ready to be stored, cooked in your favorite dish, or eaten right away.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Great recipe, they turned out amazing. I love this website!
Just wondering what temp you held your smoker at. Thanks
Bryan: For this recipe, about 200F and no hotter than 250F.
Hank, I gave this recipe a try and think it has a great flavor to it, but my links came out a little dry. Did I over smoke it or do you think I should have added a little more fatty pork? Thanks!
Michael: Hard to say. Could be both. Hard smoking can cause fat to render out. I have moved in recent years toward less smoking rather than more, like 2 hours instead of 4. And yes, if the pork you used wasn’t fatty enough, it could get dry.
Can you suggest a hanging rack I can use in my Traeger?
This is now the only way we cook our geese. THANK YOU! We never had found a recipe for goose meat that we all liked, but we love hunting them. This has filled a great need.
One question. I’m thinking of experimenting to make a hot variation. Do you have a suggestion for adding spice? Dried crushed red pepper, or cayenne, or something of the sort. How much? Thanks.
Charlie: Glad you like it! I’d start by adding 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes.
Great recipe! My ground Ed meat needed only more faat use double amount on mayoran, and I liked for the first try!
This turned out great!! Just the perfect amount of red wine. I’ve gotten plenty of compliments on this sausage. Been searching for a good goose recipe for a long time and I’m finally satisfied. Thank you!
Having never made sausage of any kind previously, I gave this recipe a shot to consume some of the Canada goose breasts we have in the freezer. Due to my lack of experience, I had marginal expectations, but this recipe turned out really well. Mine doesn’t look quite as consistent as the pics due to issues with my stuffer, but flavor and texture are very good. I will be doing this again soon, just as soon as we’ve eaten the first batch.
Brad: That will work just fine. Go for it!
I know this is an old thread but thought I’d check in anyway – I’m wondering what you think about combining the meat from geese and ducks into a single grind for sausage making. My hope is to make some spickgans from the goose breast, smoke the duck breasts or make prosciutto, and then use all the leftovers to make some sausage.
It seems like the flavors would meld well together but I don’t have much experience with duck and goose. Whaddyathink?
Peter: I would not in this sausage. Goose fat had a much lower melting point than pork fat, and is usually not suitable for charcuterie. The exception is when you make an emulsified sausage, like my duck hot dogs.
Hi! Very much enjoy your blog. I wonder if you’d include a Canada’s own skin/fat in these sausages?
I found this recipe on your website after my husband brought home 11 Canada Geese and I was overwhelmed! it ended up very good but this being my first time butchering wild geese and first time grinding wild geese and first time making sausage I had a lot to learn!
1) the meat must be just shy of frozen, seriously!
2) when working in bulk you are buying a Massive amount of fresh rosemary
3) do not over stuff the sausage it will burst, you, will cry
but thank you so much for the recipe
Not sure if you’ll see this comment or not, but what temp should I set my smoker at? And do I use water, or am I dry smoking them? (Forgive me if these are stupid questions. I’m still learning how to best use my smoker!)
You’re my hero. I’ve loved your site for some time now, but this takes it to a new level. I’ve been struggling with exactly what on earth to do with the breast meat of 25 snow geese for a couple of months now. Had always wondered if I could make sausage out of it, and you answered my question! I can’t wait to get started – snow goose isn’t my favorite. Maybe this will change that feeling!
Easy way to clean geese nicely is to take to Amish neighbors and give them a buck per goose to clean and pluck and let them keep the feathers for pillows.
Just found your site, I like it! Will try the smoked sausage this season. I have always used the legs in a stew, but will try them your way, just so much work for so little meat. I too am spoiled, in Massachusetts we hunt the golf course, always our limit of 10# birds so we only breasted them out. Up here in “Down East” me. I have a blind 60′ from my back door & call-em in, from the bay, these too are 9-10# birds, & breasted, the rest go to the eagles! I don’t think its worth it to pluck & roast. An avid duck/goose hunter from the S.S. of Ma. passed his recipe to me & its a hit with everyone I have passed it to. If you would like it e-mail me. RAY.
I am planning to do a detailed step-by-step this weekend…if I get some ducks! Short version: Use a thin-bladed knive (this is what your boning knife is for) or a fillet knife for this. Your general thinking is to “free the meat from the bones.”
Do you know how to pluck a duck or goose? We use wax and scalding water. Believe it or not, this is what “The Joy of Cooking” recommends – if you have an old version of the book. Basically you drop a few blocks of paraffin wax (at most stores in canning section) into hot but not boiling water, let it melt, then swish the bird in it after you have rough-plucked it. Dunk waxed bird into a bucket of cold water to set the wax, then pick away slowly. Makes ’em look pretty!
Thanks for the inspiration. I’ve bagged two Canadian geese this year but can’t figure out how to clean them to get the most. I must confess that I’ve only breasted them out. Do you have step by step directions? Cut here, pull all these off, now cut hear? I would love to do more with my birds but can’t find enough info about cleaning them.
They do indeed look fantastic!
I feel for you on the goose hunt. Makes me realize how spoiled I am.
Thanks for doing this. I’ll be giving the duck version a go sometime early in the new year.