Goosed!

[ladypurr]

So, my dad bought me a frozen goose with the instructions, "Make it taste good for your mom." I have cooked goose twice before so apparently, to him, it makes me a goose guru. This could not be further from the truth. I made it once and it was delicious, the second time it was too greasy and had little to no flavor. I'm doing a Chinese glutinous

Comments

[quietchildae]

I personally have never made goose, so I don't know how it is, but I've found, in general, the recipes in The Joy of Cooking have been pretty solid. And I know they have several recipes for goose. Might be worth thumbing through a copy to see what they have to say. Good luck!

[sandypawozbun]

Our family special treat dinner is roasted goose with mashed potato, onion and sage stuffing.

I cook and mash spuds but don't add any butter or milk. Add a finely chopped onion and a few chopped fresh sage leaves. Bung it all in the cavity and roast the bird as normal. I also prick the skin on the legs and thighs of the bird and raise it in the roasting dish so the bird doesn't get fat-logged. Goose fat is a closely guarded commodity in my family for roasting spuds later on.

I roast the veg separately in other oil or fat and reserve some of the fat for the gravy.

I do a fairly simple chicken stock based gravy using a little oil from the veg pan, plain flour and so on.

Good luck with your bird. :)

[ladypurr]

Thank you, I will definitely have to look into doing this. Do you rub any spices on the bird or baste it with anything?

[sandypawozbun]

I don't rub herbs or spices personally but you could. I baste with fat from the bottom of the roasting dish.

[tronochick]

I did goose for Christmas dinner. My husband, a Brit (which makes him eminently qualified to judge) said it was cooked perfectly but I did not enjoy the greasyness or the chewyness of the meat. Also, it's a funny colour which bothered me at the leftover point.

good luck, if it turns out well, you'll have to post what you did.

[cissa]

It sounds like it wasn't cooked long enough.

You can't really overcook a goose. I like to cook it for 3.5-4 hours at around 325F, pricking the skin and periodically removing the fat that renders, and then I move it on its rack to a rimmed cookie sheet, raise the oven temp to 450F or so, and crisp the skin. The long slow cooking renders the fat without burning it, so you can keep it and use it for cooking potatoes, and it gives it time for the connective tissue to dissolve and melt.

I do not stuff it with anything that can absorb grease, because it WILL.

I like this method better than the high-roast methods, because it cooks the meat more evenly; it renders the fat better; it doesn't burn the fat; AND it doesn't trash my oven by spattering grease all over it.