Goose Recipe

My friend just returned from a hunting trip and needs a good recipe for the four geese he bagged. Thanks

HI,

I cannot help with a goose recipe. Though you may want to check these threads later:

What to do with leftover goose

Pomme frites in duck fat?

Goose fat popcorn

Bratkartoffeln

If do you do a search on goose and select only from Cooking and Shopping, then you may find more ideas.

Let us know the outcome on your friend's goose adventure with pictures a bonus!

Regards,

Goose, like duck, should be thought of as two different cuts of meat- the breast and the leg quarters. Roasting the whole bird looks pretty but doesn't taste that good.

The breasts need to be cooked medium rare. So, breast out the goose and cut off the leg quarters. Remove the skin from the breasts and butterfly them to get an even thickness. Then cook to medium rare. Put the carcass and skin in a heavy pan and roast for hours at 275 to render out the fat. It will be done when the skin turns into cracklins.

Now, you have enough goose fat to confit the legs and for any other purpose your heart desires. Don't forget to make stock from the bones.

Kit

The very best roast goose recipe I have foundis from James Beard in the "James Beard Cookbook". He's got several other great goose recipies in his other books (including "Beard on Birds") and I'd bet they're all good.

Just curious - a question my wife asked me after we'd dined at Chez Joel recently; Why can we eat duck breast rare without consequence, but not chicken breast? Do ducks not carry salmonella like chicken?

Did they pluck or just skin the goose? Sometimes hunters don't want to be bothered with the plucking if they are doing it themselves, but it makes a difference in how you prepare it, though prinicipally if you are going to roast it whole rather then deconstruct it.

First is that salmonella is on the surface of the meat, not in the tissue. The only safety reason to cook all the way through is to kill parasites but that is not really a concern with any animal other than bear.

Second is that red meat tastes better and has better texture medium rare. Undercooked white meat, on the other hand, is slimy and tastes awful. If you have ever bitten into undercooked chicken, you will know.

Kit

Just curious - a question my wife asked me after we'd dined at Chez Joel recently; Why can we eat duck breast rare without consequence, but not chicken breast? Do ducks not carry salmonella like chicken?

Here is Consumer Reports' article on dirty birds.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/food/chicken-safety-1-07/overview/0107_chick_ov.htm

Kit

Goose type? (Canada, lesser or greater? Snow? It makes a difference mostly because of the amount involved! )

There are two things I love to do when I get lucky and bag a goose. First, if you get a Canadian, smoke, smoke, smoke that sucker. Gary W. probably has someting esp. for your standard wild goose but me, I just cold smoke for hours then gently finish it off at higher temp.

A snow goose is exactly the right size to make the best enchilada verdes in the known universe. Really. Trust me on this. Poach it really gently in not very much water, then use the broth in the enchiladas.

Geo

I'm picking a fresh one up on Saturday that I'll cook on Sunday.

Thanks,
Jonah

Well, I don't know as I'd actually cook a goose following the recommendations on this recipe card from 1977:

http://vintagerecipecards.com/2012/12/1 ... orgasbord/

... but your post does give me an opportunity to tout Vintage Recipe Cards, a daily email/website that those of us who grew up in a certain era can identify with ... and perhaps chuckle over, or be horrified at the memories brought up the menus contained in them ...

Actually, though, in reading the recipe, it sounds like goose is very fatty and takes a long time to cook through. Good luck!

Sharon

I am also about to make a goose and am looking for ideas.

Cooks Illustrated has a recipe where they first boil it for a minute, then let it sit uncovered in the fridge for a day to dry out the skin. They cook it at 325 degrees; breast-side down for 90 minutes, then breast-side up for 75-90 minutes (until the leg meat was very tender). Then they crisp the skin at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, and then let it rest for 30 min. before carving. [They note that even when the internal temperature in the thigh is 170 degrees, the meat is still tough and needs additional cooking.]

Here's another recent thread on Goose that has some cooking tidbits:
What does goose taste like?

I called around a few stores yesterday to compare prices: Paulina has 10-14 lbs geese and they are $7.50/lb. Gene's in Lincoln Square has them for $7/lbs. I don't know what varieties these are. Publican Quality Meats has a smaller goose (perhaps 5 pounds?) that sells for $110, so much more expensive per-pound than the others. They told me it would probably feed four people.

I recently did a cater that featured roast goose and I was trying to source the best price. It was literally a wild goose chase. After a mind numbing run around with Restaurant Depot who sporadically stock a frozen domestic, free range, antibiotic free product at a very reasonable price, I ended up empty handed. I did a little research and found that their product is from Schlitz Farms in South Dakota. A little more research led me to a list of local carriers and low and behold one of my least favorite grocery stores, Dominick's carries it. I found an abundant quantity of them in the $5 range in the freezer cases of their meat department. I'm not sure if PQM carries a more artisanal product, but I doubt Paulina does.

In terms of cooking the suckers- I scored the skin real well and liberally salted. I roasted on racks at 325 for about 2.5 hours, diligently draining the fat (yielded about a quart per bird, delicious for frying frites). They came out way better than any duck I've ever roasted, moist with crisp skin. Oh and 3 X 10-12 lb. geese fed 20 with lots of picking meat/ carcass to play with later. And that fat.. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the research Jefe, I was just contemplating cooking a goose and was wondering what my options were for free range and antibiotic free. I'll put your info to good use.

I spotted frozen goose at Fresh Farms, Wheeling earlier this week at $4.99/lb. I hadn't noticed this thread, so I had glanced at it only out of curiosity.

I have no clue as to whether the goose is free-range, organic, antibiotic free, irradiated, kreusened, farfegnugen or other qualities.

mbh wrote:Thanks for the research Jefe, I was just contemplating cooking a goose and was wondering what my options were for free range and antibiotic free. I'll put your info to good use.

Thanks, but I can't take the credit. I remembered where I did my research:

Cynthia wrote:In a nice bit of synchronicity, I had just been contemplating goose, having had it in cassoulet, but never having had it on its own, in classic, roasted, Dickens Christmas Carol fashion.

I found a site that raises and sells lovely, free-range geese, goose eggs, and "fatty liver" (i.e., foie that has become gras without force feeding). I emailed them and asked where their products could be purchased, and while the fatty livers have to be purchase from their website, just about every store in Chicagoland either carries or can order their geese (I haven't checked it out yet, to see who might have them on hand).

Here's their web address: http://www.roastgoose.com/

The company is called Schiltz (not a typo -- the "l" follows the "i"). Here is the email I got from them today as to where we could get their geese.

You should be able to find our frozen whole geese locally, below is a list of retailers for Illinois. As for the liver, currently it is only available through our website or by calling the toll-free number listed below. To Illinois we can use UPS Ground shipping and still get products to you in 2 days, so shipping to your area is relatively inexpensive.

Affil. Foods
Butera Finer Foods
Certified Grocers
Dominick's
HyVee
Jewel
Meijer
Safeway
Traderite Food
Treasure Island Foods
Walmart Supercenter

877-872-4458 toll-free

From this thread: What Does Goose Taste Like?
Worth noting is that I did check Jewel first to no avail. The Dominick's that I scored at was the one on Chicago just west of Damen.
Also, looks like I misread (prolly with beer on my mind) the company's name is Schiltz not Schlitz.

These Threads should not be combined because a wild goose and a domestic goose are two vastly different products seperated by a few hundred years of breeding and are cooked entirely different.
A domestic goose should be fat laden, cooked slow so the fat will render.
Personally, I think the domestic goose has gone the way of the domestic turkey and is most often available frozen. A source such a John's Live Poultry used to be able to obtain them fresh but I haven't purchased one of any type in years. -Dick

My goose was purchased from Gast farms, a Michigan farmer who is a regular at the Evanston's Farmer's Market. It is being slaughtered this week and will not be frozen. It's too late now for anyone else, however, as they had to be ordered and are set for pickup tomorrow. I'm still a bit uneasy about the best way to cook it.

Jonah

Jonah wrote:My goose was purchased from Gast farms, a Michigan farmer who is a regular at the Evanston's Farmer's Market. It is being slaughtered this week and will not be frozen. It's too late now for anyone else, however, as they had to be ordered and are set for pickup tomorrow. I'm still a bit uneasy about the best way to cook it.

Jonah

I've only done frozen domestic geese, but here is what I can offer.

Be prepared for lots of fat. The ones I've had, perhaps all from Schiltz farm, have had huge gobs of fat that needed to be trimmed before cooking. The first few I did turned out greasy. The skin must be scored all over to allow the sub-cutaneous fat to drip out. If I recall my last cook, I had 1 qt. of rendered fat from trimmings, and more than 1 qt from the drip pan. The fat is wonderful, save as much as you can. It will hold in the fridge for months.

I've roasted them in a stove, and in an Egg w. a small amount of pecan for smoke. At about 155F, I up the temperature from 350-ish to 400F. Finish around 170 internal. The skin comes out passably well cooked, and the meat has been moist. Not quite as tender as I would have liked, but not objectionable.

Jefe wrote:I recently did a cater that featured roast goose and I was trying to source the best price. It was literally a wild goose chase. After a mind numbing run around with Restaurant Depot who sporadically stock a frozen domestic, free range, antibiotic free product at a very reasonable price, I ended up empty handed. I did a little research and found that their product is from Schlitz Farms in South Dakota. A little more research led me to a list of local carriers and low and behold one of my least favorite grocery stores, Dominick's carries it. I found an abundant quantity of them in the $5 range in the freezer cases of their meat department. I'm not sure if PQM carries a more artisanal product, but I doubt Paulina does.

The goose I picked up from Gene's was indeed from Schiltz Farms.

Jonah wrote:My goose was purchased from Gast farms, a Michigan farmer who is a regular at the Evanston's Farmer's Market. It is being slaughtered this week and will not be frozen. It's too late now for anyone else, however, as they had to be ordered and are set for pickup tomorrow. I'm still a bit uneasy about the best way to cook it.

Jonah

Don't fret, it's very simple, some aromatics in the cavity, salt and pepper skin. prick the skin liberally because what your doing is rendering the considerable fat in and under the skin. Roast at 350F, frequently removing the grease and towards the end, turn your oven up to 425F for a short time to crisp the skin.
Removing the fat keeps the bottom from being submerged in fat and also lessons fire/spill danger of a fat filled roasting pan.-Dick

Well, here's the report on my goose experience.

The goose, unfortunately, was way overcooked. While the taste was good, the meat was dry. I had goose years ago in France, and it was the same taste, but a luscious, moist meat. The reason my goose was cooked (too much) was that, while I set the oven at 350, when I first checked the temperature after about 1 hour and 15 minutes, the temperature was already in the 180s in parts of the bird. It was an 8 pound bird, so I just wasn't prepared for it to cook in 45 minutes to an hour. If I were to cook it again, I think I'd separate the breast and the rest of the bird and cook the breasts like duck breasts, to medium.

That said, I suspected the goose fat would be the star of the meal and it was. I roasted carrots and turnips in the pan along with the great -- fantastic. The farmer who sold me the goose gave me a lovely head of savoy cabbage, and I cooked cabbage and onions in the goose fat. Also excellent. Finally I roasted potatoes in the goose fat. While I couldn't get them crispy, for some reason, the taste was, again, great.

So my advice to those cooking geese; check the temperature early and often, and make PLENTY of side dishes with goose fat.

Thanks to all who pitched in with advice.

Jonah

If you think about the shape of the goose, it's really different from a turkey or a chicken: kind of long and cylindrical. Hence, it cooks much more evenly, and the heat travels through it far more rapidly than the blocky-shaped fowl. I knew that, but had forgotten it, otherwise I would have warned you. I'll remember it next time--I way overcooked my first goose, too. But that was in a galaxy long ago and far away.

Geo

All the recipes had much longer cooking times, but I suppose that depends on the goose. This farmer lets his animals run around, so perhaps this was a leaner, sleeker bird. Good for the bird; for me, not so much absent prior warning!

The Joy of Cooking recommends 25 minutes per pound for an unstuffed gosling, 15 minutes a pound for an unstuffed larger goose, and 20-30 minutes additional minutes if the goose is stuffed. Geo, I am curious to know how this these times match with your experience, now that this thread and several viewings of A Christmas Carol have inspired me to roast a goose sometime soon.

http://ruhlman.com/2012/12/how-to-cook-goose/

Eric Rippert's take on cooking a goose. Sounds divine!

Katie:

I don't know if my bird was a gosling or what, but at 15 minutes per pound it should have taken 2 hours. But it was done in probably one. I think the take away is that there is great variation in these birds. I didn't mention the fact that I put the bird in boiling water for a minute and then let it dry for over 24 hours in the frig, per many recipe's suggestion. This is supposed to make the skin crispy, but mine was still quite tough.

Really sorry about your goose.
I have cooked many over the years, mostly fresh farm raised from a local farmer. I outlined the process but assumed that you would be measuring temperature. Geese are usually not stuffed, so the empty cavity contributes to faster cooking but they are not served under done as with less fatty birds such as pheasant. Cooking to about 170F and then resting for at least 30 minutes is about right.
But and this is the big but, it may be that the goose was just a tough bird especially if it was a 'barnyard' goose. Our local guy stills does chickens at about 8#'s and they walk around the entire growing period. It is not as easy as a 'supermarket' bird to seperte the joints on the his birds but they tastes great and thier is no water in them.
In terms of immersing in boiling water, many times when you find a commonality among recipes on the Internet it is because everyone has copied one same original recipe and often that recipe has no basis in fact or is for a different era or country.
KISS is my principle along with a consultation with Pepin because his stuff just plain works.
Unfortuneately his 'Art of Cooking' does not adress a whole goose but another classic by Bocuse does and nowehre is dipping boiling water mentioned but only singeing feathers.
For a 3# gosling, Bocuse sets the time at 50 minutes in a 350F oven.
His techniques for a larger goose is very involved so not relevant.
But don't be discouraged not every dish turns out the way you want it the first time or every time.
-Dick

Katie,

That sounds about right. Most of the geese I've done are supermarket specials c. 5-7lbs. They cook really fast at 325-350°F. And, as Dick says, a 30min foil-covered rest is good.

Geo

Evil Ronnie wrote:http://ruhlman.com/2012/12/how-to-cook-goose/

Eric Rippert's take on cooking a goose. Sounds divine!

I made a goose using Ripert/Ruhlman's method the other day and it turned out great. It's a fairly straightforward process: first you poach the goose for about two hours. Ripert poached it in stock. I used water and a variety of vegetables. My large canning pot is almost large enough to hold the entire goose, with just the ends of the legs hanging out. It's important to poach, not boil. Then I removed the bird, blotted it dry, and put it (uncovered) in the fridge overnight to dry. Then of course you have all of that nice goose stock and fat in the pan (fat went into potatoes; some of the stock went into a really nice braised cabbage dish).

The next day, roast the bird in a 375 oven for about an hour, until the skin is nice and crispy. The goose is already fully cooked, so you don't need to worry about hitting a specific temperature for food safety reasons. I pulled mine at 175, which was a little hotter than I intended, but it came out great. I pulled some of the skin off and threw it in the toaster oven to create light crackling. Following a Ruhlman suggestion, as I carved the bird, I put the pieces into a warm bath of goose stock to keep them warm until they were ready to be served.