While I was writing my duck cookbook, I reached out to a few purveyors so I could get my hands on some quality domestic geese. One of them, the Schiltz Goose Farm in South Dakota, sent me some smoked goose. I told them I didn’t really need any pre-made products, but they insisted. “Just try it,” Jim Schiltz told me. “I think you will really like it.”
Boy did I ever. It was roll-your-eyes-back-in-your-head good. There was a creamy layer of smoky fat on top, then perfectly cooked, perfectly pink meat. Sliced thin, the fat melted on your tongue. It was insanely good, and I wanted more. But Schiltz holds his recipe for smoked goose close, so I was going to have to reverse engineer the recipe. A tall order.
I was at a loss until I read a throwaway line in an old book on German food, The Cooking of Germany by Time-Life Books. It is a very difficult to find book these days, but it is worth every penny if you are really into German cuisine. In its pages is a reference to something called spickgans, a style of smoked goose breast from Pomerania, on Germany’s Baltic coast.
Spickgans is, apparently, a point of pride in this region’s cookery. It is a domestic goose breast, cured and smoked over a combination of juniper boughs, beech, alder or oak, and peat moss. Like a lot of regional specialties, each household’s version is slightly different.
Interestingly, this style of smoked goose has always been a cut above regular smoked goose.
A menu from New York City’s Metropole Hotel and Golden Rod Rathskeller from November 1900 shows both Pomeranian smoked goose, selling for $0.70, and regular smoked goose, selling for only $0.20 an order. Adjusted for inflation, that means an order of Pomeranian smoked goose would set you back a hefty $18.62 today. In 1906 over at Stauch’s on Coney Island, you could get an order of Pomeranian smoked goose with asparagus and hollandaise sauce for the equivalent of $18.50 in today’s dollars.
A contemporary book written by Elizabeth van Arnim, “Elizabeth and Her Garden,” contains an amusing reference to how revered spickgans was in Germany:
“A man must be made comfortable before he will make love to you and though it is true that if you offered him a choice between Spickgans and kisses he would say he would take both yet he would invariably begin with the Spickgans and allow the kisses to wait.”
Clearly this is no ordinary cold cut. But was this the origin of Jim Schiltz’s smoked goose? At that point, I didn’t care. I just had to make spickgans.
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Fortunately, I had one more domestic goose on hand, this one sent to me by my friend Ariane Daguin, doyen of D’Artagnan Fine Foods. I broke the bird down and used the legs to make prosciuttina d’oca, an Italian cured goose preparation. That left me with some badass goose breasts. Whoever supplies Ariane with her geese knows what the hell they’re doing. Look at the marbling in the meat of this bird:
Pretty amazing stuff, considering that waterfowl are not known to accumulate intramuscular fat they way beef does. Reading further about spickgans, I learned that one of the keys to this smoked goose is to truss the breast or stuff it into sausage netting. This keeps the meat compact and results in an almost salami-like cylinder of goosey goodness that is far easier to slice than a typical smoked goose breast. A brilliant idea that I am sorta angry at myself for not having thought of it earlier.
So I cured my goose, stuffed it into the netting and smoked it over alder wood for seven hours. It smelled wonderful. I sliced into it and was immediately taken back to that smoked goose that Jim Schiltz had sent me: The seasonings were a little different, but the smokiness of the meat as well as that melt-in-your-mouth texture were identical.
If you have a smoker, I urge you to try this. If not, this might be reason enough to buy one. Of all the charcuterie recipes I have on this site, this is right up there at the top. It is relevatory. I promise.
To make this correctly, you will need to do a few things you might not normally do:
- You need to truss your goose breast or stuff it into sausage netting, which you can buy online. While not absolutely necessary, it does change the end result in a subtle way.
- You will definitely need to use nitrites (Instacure No. 1) for safety and to get that pink color.
- The safety factor comes in with another thing you need to do to make this recipe — you need to start the goose in a cold smoker and bring the heat up to temperature very slowly. This is easy to do in a Bradley smoker, and it can be done in a Camp Chef smoke vault or in many other smokers. It is, however, very hard to do with a classic smoker; the kind where you start a fire near the meat.
Flavorwise, you are getting a lot of character from juniper berries, black pepper and Scotch. What’s with the Scotch? Well, unless you have some means of smoking over peat, the best way to get a little of that peaty flavor into the meat is to soak it overnight in a peaty Scotch. I used Laphroaig. Can you skip this step? Sure, but if you a) like to drink peaty Scotch and b) have it around, by all means use it.
German Smoked Goose Breast
Ingredients
- Skin-on breasts from 1 large goose, about 2 pounds
- 44 grams of kosher salt, about 4 tablespoons
- 3 grams of Instacure No. 1, about 1/2 teaspoon
- 25 grams sugar, about 2 tablespoons
- 4 grams crushed juniper, about 1 tablespoon
- 10 grams freshly ground black pepper, about 1 tablespoon
- 1/2 cup peaty Scotch whisky (optional)
Instructions
- If you are using the Scotch, put the goose breasts in a bowl and coat them with the whisky. Put them into a closed container just about large enough to hold them and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, mix all the remaining ingredients in a bowl. Drain the goose breasts, or just pat them dry if you have not done the Scotch soak. Massage the spice mixture into the meat, making sure every bit of the goose is covered. Put the goose breasts into a closed container that just barely fits the meat. Pour in any excess salt/spice mixture, cover and refrigerate for 3 to 4 days. Every day during the curing process, turn the goose breasts over so they are evenly coated.
- When the meat has cured, it will be dark red and slightly firm to the touch throughout. Rinse it off briefly under cold running water and pat it dry. Let the meat sit out in a cool place for 2 to 4 hours, preferably with some sort of breeze or fan on it. Or you can leave it to dry in the fridge uncovered overnight.
- Truss the meat as you would a roast, or stuff it into sausage netting. If you do the netting, wear an apron, as you will need to manhandle the goose breast into the netting. Take your time and do it little by little. Tie off the ends of the string or netting, leaving enough at the end with the most fat -- this should be the thick end of the breast -- to hang. You want the fattiest part of the goose breast at the top, so the fat can drip down and keep the meat moist.
- Hang the breasts in an unheated smoker and smoke over beech, alder, oak or cherry wood. Apple is a good substitute, too. Start the smoke cold and gradually bring the temperature up. Your goal is to have the thickest part of the goose breast reach 140°F to 150°F by the end of cooking. Move the goose breasts out of the smoker and allow to return to room temperature before refrigerating.
- The smoked goose will last 10 days in the fridge, or a year if well sealed and frozen.
Notes
This is my go to for fat Canada Geese.
Here’s a tip to avoid this: “If you do the netting, wear an apron, as you will need to manhandle the goose breast into the netting.” – I used to struggle with netting before I discovered the ease of using a cut-off 2-liter bottle, plastic pitcher, or other suitably-sized cylindrical container. Stretch the netting over the outside of the container. Drop the meat in the container. Pull off an initial tail of about 2-3 inches of netting from the open end. Turn container over. Work the netting off the container as you slide the meat out. Done, with minimal mess.
I have been making duck/goose prosciutto curing my duck/goose breasts for 2-3 weeks with Instacure #2 then dry aging in my temperature/humidity controlled cave to approximately 30% loss over a month or two before vac-bagging. I have acquired a pellet smoker tube and I have a large smoker in which I can truly cold smoke with zero heating above ambient outdoors temperatures. Would you recommend that I smoke them before or after dry aging?
Hi Hank – I have DDG, and just shot a limit of specs. i have a freezer full of breasts (legs and wings are headed for the sous vide) but inspired to try my first smoked goose breast. Im new to smoking achieving average results with salmon and herring (cast nets in SF Bay) but not really a pork eater. The Masterbuilt electric smoker is what I am working with, and would really appreiciate some times and temperatures schedule, at least to get an idea of what your recipe needs!
tia Darren
Darren: I generally will smoke a goose breast around 200F or even a little lower, for about 3 hours. You want the center to get about 150F. Put the goose breast into the smoker cold.
I can’t wait to try this with Canada geese! Can you give some time frames with the smoke? Overall time from start to finish? How long would you say you cold smoked the meat?
Thanks so much for your great site, wonderful recipes, and for sharing your hunting and cooking adventures.
Kay: I smoked the meat at a cool-ish temperature for about 2 hours. I would not go more than 4 unless you can truly cold smoke the meat, which would be below 85F.
Spickgans. This is my absolute favorite use for Canada goose breasts. I make it every year, and have some on hand at all times. Relevatory indeed.
Having Spickgans on Christmas Morning is my German family tradition / secret! There is only one place here in Chicago that sellers it. My Grandmas family tradition was to prepare the meat a week prior to Christmas and then they would smoke it in a smoke shack for 7 days at very low heat and all the relatives would take turns taking a shift to watch the fire and turn the meat. Having this receipt is priceless since the smoking recipe and process was lost when the Spickgans were available for purchase. Now that there is only one butcher who sells it in the whole city it is a treasure to know how to make it. We have tried for years to search for native Germans who know what this is but since it is a meat from a specific area of Germany many think we are crazy to love it so much! Thank you!
How would this work with wild goose breasts. Is there anything that you would change or adapt?
Ed: It works well. Make sure the skin is on and the bird is fairly fat.
Could this recipe be adapted to a whole goose?
Carson: I have another recipe for whole smoked duck or goose: https://honest-food.net/how-to-make-smoked-duck/
What size netting do you use for this?
Are you placing the 2 breasts together in the netting skin side out? or 1 breast per net, rolled as tight as possible to get as much skin around it as possible?
Greg: I am rolling each side as tight as I can.
Is this something that I’m going to want to slice as thinly as possible? I’ve got my cured, smoked breasts in the fridge ready to go. Can’t wait to try them tonight!!!
Bill: Not really. Just a normal slice you’d like to eat. Doesn’t have to be prosciutto thin.
Hank,
Quick question on your goose and duck recipes… Can you define “2 goose breasts”? Is that 2 halves of a one gooses breast or is it breasts from 2 geese? Some recipes say one goose or duck and others say 1 breast or 2 breasts. Now that i am going to try some of your recipes with instacure i want to make sure i have the measurements correct. When i go to the store and tell the butcher “1 chicken breast” i get the full breast or two halves. Great recipes!
Thanks,
Jase
Jase: Breasts from 1 goose.
Thanks Hank,
I got to figuring some and since my weight was at three pounds I adjusted by another half of what you had called for. In the cure now and am excited about a completely fat wrapped piece of meat 🙂 . Thanks for a great informative website,
Marty Horn
Hank and Holly,
This is a winner and have done it once but getting ready for another batch. I have a question though. We are waterfowl fat lovers. Nice big Missouri local resident birds. On these two breast halves they are from separate geese and I have added the skin from the other half of each bird so I can wrap each side completely with fatty skin. So I have three pounds total. Should I need to adjust the spices and salt? I know the pink salt is critical and want for it to be spot on. Adjust it too? Have good scales and am using exact grams and want it right. Got the goose in good peaty scotch right now!
Marty and Pat
PS enjoying all three of your books.
Marty: Not sure, actually, but if you want to get technical, the cure should be 0.25% of the total weight, meaning one-quarter of one percent.
This has become my new favorite smoked goose method, and I have done many. I have to push the guys I hunt with to pluck the breasts and not just skin them, but as I bring them some of this smoked goose they are coming around, hard to change years of habit. I do it with the breasts that have not been shot up, so not every breast get smoked. A trick I use to get the netting over the breast is to cut the bottom off of a plastic water or soda bottle, put the cured breast inside the bottle and pull the netting over from the drinking end. Pull an inch or so of netting past the breast and open end of the bottle. Then pull the breast out of the bottle with the netting, clean and easy. The nice round shape smokes evenly. Thanks Hank.
So I am a rube. We breasted our geese out but didn’t keep the skins on. Would something like this be possible if the goose was covered in rendered fat or wrapped in a thin but fatty layer of something?
Becky. Kinda. It’ll smoke, but it won’t be nearly as good as with the skin on. Smoke adheres to fat much better than lean meat.
Hi Hank, this is not a recipe comment but is a caution on the endorsement of Schiltz smoked goose breast. Upon your rave review I ordered 10 (shipping cost makes a few uneconomical). They arrived quickly, and partially frozen. It was obvious the breasts had been frozen prior to shipping. Sadly, the quality of the product was very low. When cut, the fat layer was only 1/4 of that shown in your photos here, which in fairness may not have been Schiltz. That was disappointing but the sad part was the texture. Frozen raw meat thaws and prepares well. Not so much when its been cooked and these breasts truly demonstrated that. When those small particles of water freeze and crystalize, moisture separates from the meat creating an “empty” texture and a watering down of the flavor. I expected a smoked goose breast to be rich in texture and full of flavor. These were neither, in fact, salt was the predominant (only) flavor. Hank, if they were offered to me for free, I would refuse them. As so often happens, be it hunting guides, restaurants, you name it, when a celebrity or writer shows up, the service and quality do to. I think you got what Schiltz is capable of, but not what we ordinary folk receive when we order. Sorry to report that. BUT, now I’ll just have to go capture my own wild goose and use your recipe!
Bendrix: Wow. I am so sorry to hear that! To be honest, I haven’t eaten Schiltz geese on a couple years. Wonder if their quality standards slipped? Damn.
I’m about to try this recipe with a plump greylag I got some weeks ago. I do however have a question: I know this recipe is often made(traditionally) with two breast-halves that are still attached to each other, cured, rinsed, folded and then stitched together before smoking. How would you think this would affect the further procedure and the time required to smoke?
Kristine: No idea. I wouldn’t do that.
Made this recipe over the weekend. Had been meaning to try it for some time but was waiting for the “right” bird. I even had to rush the smoking time a little and only did about 3.5 hours. This was easily the best piece of charcuterie I’ve done. The texture and tenderness were awesome. I’m going to use this technique to make other goose breast recipes! Thanks!
I made this with 2 wild Canada Geese. I took both sides of the breast with the skin intact on both. It is Awesome!
I am going to try this soon. What do you think about trying it with some big fat Canvasbacks or Redheads. After they are here in Central Washington for a few weeks they get really fat. Also wondering about putting multiple breasts in the sausage string together.
Thoughts?
Really enjoy your site
Rafe: Yep. I’ve done it with cans before. Works well.
I used this recipe using our resident Canadian geese that I harvested this past winter. Absolutely the finest smoked goose recipe I have ever had. Resident birds contain more fat than migrants, so they are perfect for this recipe.
Be carefull not to over cook. I had one that I pulled when the internal temp was 150 degrees. The internal temperature continues to rise and I had one batch that was more done than the one I pulled at 140 degrees. I prefer the medium doneness, so my temp pull point is now no higher than 140 degreee.
This was one of the funnest recipes I’ve made to date. Thanks!
Some pics http://imgur.com/a/CrVhD
I found some 100% peat briquettes that are appropriate for smoking. Great peat flavor. http://www.amazon.com/Ireland-Earth-Peat-Briquettes-22-Pack/dp/B00CM2W8ZY
several questions, you smoke for 7 hours, what is the highest temp you want to use after the cold smoke at first? will never reach 150 with cold smoke. next how much smoke? do you use woodchips the whole 7 hours? I would think that would be overly smokey if so. thanks
Hi Hank, Can’t find anything about spickgans in the book Cooking of Germany ? Page ?
just got two Canadian Geese and im going to wing it (lol) with a marinade and then smoke it for a few hours with some maple wood chips while basting it with sweet tai chilli sauce.
Hi Hank thanks for this recipe it looks amazing . i put today 3 Breast in the dry rub as per your recipe just added garlic powder (i love garlic ) and i will let you know how did it go .
did you do the prosciuttina d’oca ? i will love to know how to do it . i don’t eat pork .thanks for the great blog .
Ahron
Awesome recipe! Tried it with one of the Canadas I got on closing day. It’s been cold, so they had a nice layer of fat. Rather than use Scotch, I actually put a small piece of Irish peat into the bottom of the smoker with my cherry wood chunks. Gave it a very nice peaty overtone…would definitely use sparingly, though, since I could see it getting overwhelming quickly.
I gave this a try and it came out very good.
Here is a picture of my out come
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ycLRiQZgSd8/URESSpAnAsI/AAAAAAAAFH0/RJXJ50vp2r0/s1024/DSC_0181.JPG
Hank – I have been dying to try this recipe. I have a bunch of fat Canada goose breasts from this season in the freezer. Just purchased an electric smoker/roaster. This is a very cheap model but I think it will work. It has two hoppers for wood chips and then you select he temperature, which ranges from 150 to 350. I am a little unclear from your recipe what I need to shoot for with cooking temps and times. What do you suggest?
Dave, Look for McClelland’s Islay. It is about $25 for a 750ml.
http://www.mcclellands.co.uk/mcclellands-islay/
I loves my bourbon but just can’t get into scotch, and I’ve tried….
I have some Glenmorangie in the very back of the liquor cabinet that I’ll gladly use for this recipe, but is that “peaty” enough? If not, can Hank or anyone else recommend a scotch that’s both peaty & cheap? This recipe is all I’m gonna use it for, I’ll never drink it, so I’d like to keep it low price.
Thanks so much, Hank. Three more weeks left in the season…I just hope I get a few fat ones. Brats and this smoking recipe will be my new goose ventures this season. By the way I was given Hunt, Gather, Cook for Christmas. Amazing stuff. Thanks!
C Moisei: Yep. You can skip nitrite with hot smoking, but not with cold smoking. It’s a botulism issue.
I never used nitrites while warm smoking, is that just for the cold smoking ?
Tanner: It won’t work if your goose is skinny. If you can feel the keelbone through the feathers, it’s skinny. If you feel some cushioning around the keelbone, the goose is fat enough to pluck. You only need about 1/8 to 1/4 inch layer for it to be good.
As for getting it, pluck! If you are not used to plucking, it’s not that hard, especially if you are only plucking the breast and skinning the rest of the bird (the legs are great in stews and braises).
Here’s how I dry pluck a bird: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZfWnkFj27M
Hank,
As someone else has mentioned…would this really work with Canada Geese? I’ve got a few from this season, one actually hanging and aging right now. There just isnt much fat on these birds. How would you remove the breast and keep the skin on? I’d REALLY like to try this. Any info much appreciated!
Tanner
I’ve eaten commercial versions of this here in Germany – it is traditional for breakfast on Christmas morning – but the thought of making it myself sounds like a real adventure! I got curious and checked out some OL German sites and came up with a few useful looking tricks that you might be interested in. They are in German but the essentials are these: (1) Use whole breasts, spread the meat side with the curing mixture – then the real trick– fold the two breast-halves together and sew them closed so that absolutely no meat is showing out. (2) Vacuum-pack the curing breasts so that they really soak in the juice that they build. The other thing I read on most sites is that they are cold-smoked for – get this – a week! usually over beechwood with some juniper. So you can see the photos of the above-described tricks, here are the links. If you want any more of it translated let me know.
(1) http://oldeurope.blogger.de/stories/987669/
(2)http://www.grillsportverein.de/forum/raeuchern-und-wursten/gaensebrust-2010-2011-a-135812.html
Happy eating and a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Marsha
For those of you planning to try this on Canadas, I doubt very much that you would ever find the cover of fat that is on Hank’s goose breast. The goose that came from must have been on a pretty rich grain diet, and never flew an inch in its life. I was lucky enough to try Hank’s last week, and it was beyond delicious. I loved it.
Looks and sounds amazing. I’m always looking for something new to try in my smoker. “A day without the smoker going is a day lost” is what i say. Can’t wait to try this. I’m thinking eggs benny would be phenomenal.
Hank: Wow! If this works on CT Canada geese, your name will be enshrined with Louis Pasteur, Jonas Salk and Marie Curie.
Can’t wait to try it, thanks.
I agree about the Shiltz smoked goose… we used it for a movie and not only did it taste amazing but it looked great right out of the box.
Looking forward to trying the homemade recipe… and your new duck book
Happy New Year!
Hank that looks really good thanks for posting the recipe.
Here is a little trick I use to get the netting on different cuts of meat.
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-VtOdtGF47LE/UIqd4WDOIZI/AAAAAAAADuo/Rc1DbsSEayE/s720/DSC_0048.JPG[/img]
Don’t know if the image codes work here if not just copy and paste the link and the picture will show up.
Thanks for posting this. Perfect timing. I just bagged a giant honker on a duck hunt this morning-it will be perfect for this recipe.
Will give this a try wild some wild Canadian Geese real soon! Thanks!
Whoa – it may be time to end my goose virginity…
Hank, I am currently getting ready to some Canadian Geese leg, thighs and wings into a sous vide for confit, and have the breasts curing for prosciutto (all recipes from your site). Now I read this and I wish that I would have split the breasts…one for prosciutto and one for smoking.
Would wild geese be okay for this method or would them be too lean?
I’ll have to send the hubs out to get another one I think.