How We Cooked A Goose; In Pictures

While traveling over Thanksgiving, we noticed this photo on the front of the latest edition of Saveur magazine in the newsstand. We were captivated and decided we'd like to change up Christmas dinner with something different and goose was going to be it. Never having cooked goose before we wanted to have a trial run before the big day and today was it.

Here's the goose as it came out of the fridge.  We bought it from Los Gatos Meats and they were extremely helpful.  We called on Thursday to order it and they moved it from the freezer to the fridge to make sure it was thawed and ready for us to cook.  This goose weighs 12 lbs.

Goose is very fatty.  

They left the skin from the neck attached.

Begin by removing all the extraneous fat.

Also remove the wing tips.

Wash the goose inside and out.

Make sure to dry it thoroughly.

Season with salt and pepper.

Cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the skin.

Then put the lemon halves in the cavity.

Add some sage and thyme.

Place the goose in a roasting tray on a rack and fill the tray with chicken stock.
Cover with foil and steam for an hour to render as much fat from the skin as possible.

In the mean time, prepare the stuffing.  Start with some quartered brussel sprouts.

Some celery.

Dice a medium onion.

Dice some bacon,

and a couple of apples.

Add the onion, bacon and brussel sprouts to a pan to saute for a while.

Dice up some cooked chestnuts.

Add all of the stuffing ingredients to a bowl with some wild rice and parsley, thyme and sage.

After an hour, uncover the goose, move it while on the rack to another tray.

Drain off the chicken stock and liquid fat from the roasting tray.

There will be a lot of fat.  Let it sit for a while so the fat can rise to the top and siphon it off.

Remove the lemon and herbs from the cavity.

Drain the rest of the liquid from the goose.

Stuff the goose with some of the stuffing; placing the rest in an oven proof casserole dish.

After you separate the fat from the chicken stock, keep it aside to roast the vegetables in.

Place the goose, breast side down on the rack in the roasting tray.  Add a carrot, some onion and celery along with some stock into the bottom of the tray.  Place the tray in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour.

Then start on the gravy.  Melt some butter in a pot.

Clean up the neck and giblets, removing the silver skin. Saute these in the pot with the butter.

Add the stock and bring to the boil; turn down the heat and simmer for 40 minutes until it reduces by half. Add a little more chicken stock if you don't have enough stock from steaming the goose. 

Prepare the roast vegetables.  We used carrots, parsnips and potatoes and cut them into similar size and shapes.

After an hour, take the goose out of the oven.

Turn it breast side up and put it back in the oven at 475 for another 70 minutes.
When there is just 15 minutes left, put the casserole of stuffing and roast vegetables into the oven too.

When the stock has reduced by half, remove the neck and other giblets .

Drain the gravy through cheese cloth. 

When the time is up and the temperature of the stuffing inside the goose reaches 180 degrees, take the goose out and cover with foil to rest for 15 minutes.

Take out the stuffing with it has browned a little on top.

Use a little of the goose fat and flour to make a roux in the roasting pan on the stove top.

Add the goose stock and bring to the boil,  then allow to thicken.

The Goose!

Carve the goose, first take the legs off.

Then remove the breasts.

Strain the gravy.

Serve.

The goose meat is very dark.

So, what's the verdict?  Well it took us 6+ hours of non stop cooking.  We didn't sit down from the moment we began at 12:45 until the meal was served shortly after 6pm. It smelled wonderful while we were cooking; wonderfully rich and intense. The gravy thick and tasty, one of the best ones we have made; the roasted veggies were delicious; the stuffing had great textures, it was crunchy and fruity.  But the goose was so very disappointing.  We managed to do what I thought was impossible for goose.  We dried it out.  The goose was dry and tough.  The skin was not crispy. We also tried the leg meat and it was a little better but still not enough to live up to expectations.

On review, we turned to our own bible of cooking (everyone has one don't they?) 'The New Best Recipe', by Cook's Illustrated.  They don't have a recipe for goose but they do for duck, where they suggest breaking up the bird following the steaming step so that the breast can be cooked for a shorter period than the legs.  If we ever try goose again, I think we'll do it this way.  Unfortunately though, our experience today has left us a little exhausted and disappointed so I don't think we'll try it for Christmas day.  The turkey is a tried, tested and much loved cheaper option that we'll cherish even more now that we know it's also better than other options.