My Goose is cooked...
 

...or at least I hope it will be on Tuesday.

This year I'm trying for the traditional Christmas Goose for Christmas Dinner.

The local Chinese restaurant here is town is closed on Christmas this year so there is some urgency in getting the bird right the first time.

Now would be the time to share recipes, stories, suggestions, etc...

What's everyone else having for dinner?

I suggest watching the movie "The Christmas Story" by Jeane Shepard....:P

Tom W

If you've never roasted a goose before, then make sure you use a deep pan, at least a couple inches deep and use a v-rack to keep it out of the all the fat that will be rendered out of the bird. Don't use a non-stick pan if you plan on a pan gravy.

Preheat oven to 400. While oven is preheating, prep the goose. Remove all the packaged innards. Cut the neck into small chunks and put it in the bottom of the pan along with some onion and carrot pieces.

Use a fork to pierce the skin but try to minimize piercing the meat. The holes will help the fat to render and make for a crisper skin. Season, stuff loosely with quartered onions and celery. Bind legs with cooking twine.

Start roasting the bird at 400 for half an hour, then reduce to 325. You're looking for an internal temp of 165 at the thigh, which will carryover cook to 170-175 while resting.

With the goose out of the pan resting under a loose foil tent, drain the fat from the pan, remove the neck and vegatables. Make a roux with 1/4 cup of the fat with 1/3 cup all purpose flour. The roux should be ready in a bout 3 minutes, light brown and smelling slightly nutty.

WIth the pan on a stove top, deglaze the pan with a cup of white wine and a half cup of port, scraping up the brown crap in the pan. Add the pan wine mix to the roux and wisk till its thick enough.

The wife is doing one for Christmas Eve (we are going to a cousin for Xmas dinner)


MTI,
Thanks for the tips...

I will ask her if she has any tips to share.

2 specks and a snow today.

We have no Bumkiss's next door nor do we have hounds. And, the Chinese restaurant is closed on Xmas eve and Xmas (in the event someone else's random dog gets in). So, the goose better get cooked and cooked right to begin with.

I would like a Red Ryder BB gun though...

Yep, this is my first goose experience. Many turkeys; roasted and fried. Thanks for the above tips. We've got a new gas convection oven this year that I'm hoping will help make skin crispy and seal in the juices.

One question though, do you brine a goose similar to brining a turkey? I'm leaning towards not since a goose has much more fat content.

Cook it hot and fast in garlic, salt, pepper in a cast iron skillet, discard the goose and eat the skillet.

I have no issues with anemia.

Another technique, if you have a big enough pot, is to first poach the goose in some chicken broth, pat dry and then roast it to get the "golden brown & delicious" effect . The poaching gets most of the fat out and the meat is very moist. This method is especially good with duck, since the smaller bird can fit in most kitchen pots.

MTI- Are you a chef?

If anyone has had Michigan Canadian Goose they would understand how revolting the thought of eating goose is. I know the scale goes up from our flea/lice ridden leather breasts but the thought of eating goose is repulsive just thinking about it.

No useful suggestion here -- never cooked goose -- but rather a tale of what can go wrong. Heard on the radio once -- a family had a grand spread for Christmas dinner before them, the dad untwists the wire on the champagne and coaxes the plastic cork thingy upwards -- it flies out with a vengeance, striking the cheapo glass cover on the standard cheapo ceiling light fixture, shattering in into countless tiny shards of glass which showered down onto the turkey, the mashed potatoes, everything.

Lucky for them, the Chinese restaurant was open.

Beware plastic champagne "corks."

Nope, this is a farm raised goose specially bred for being et.

We've had about a zillion fly through here in the last month or so on their way to wherever they're going. We get it twice a year.

My Lovely Mrs. asked what she should fix for christamas day dinner and after reading that you were having goose I suggested that.

She said no right away.

no traction there!

Tom W