Raising geese for meat is the primary purpose for most goose breeds, although some are bred with an emphasis on other attributes as well. Since I’m always in a hurry to get the job done, I start dry picking right away. Goose is lovely but there's not much meat on it. Properly cooked, goose meat is rich and juicy without being greasy. The skin should be golden and crisp. The Christmas goose was a mixed blessing. took goose's place because that's what happened to be living on their new home The Christmas Goose he roasted goose has been exalted in French cuisine for thousands of years, and you can enjoy this delectable bird at your holiday table. was to be given a drink from time to time.". perfectly created to make for the ideal Christmas feast. l/2 teaspoon caraway seed (optional) l/4 teaspoon pepper Yet goose eggs may be used in just about any recipe calling for eggs. Their geese are renowned for their flavorsome, moist meat, rich and firm with a natural marbling of fat. I took a trip down to my local supermarket, and, lo and behold, they had two or three frozen geese for sale. Good luck raising geese for meat for your next holiday meal. fat easier to consume - try it on pancakes (we're serious). a light pat on the derriere of a female by a male, usually a co-worker, usually at a company Christmas party Originally published in December 2011 / January 2012 and regularly vetted for accuracy. A surprisingly simple roast goose recipe with everything you need to know to make and carve a classic Christmas goose at home. Take care not to let it get so hot it splatters or burns. Remove from the oven, remove the foil and use oven gloves to lift the rack (and the goose… We had it 2 years ago and we finished it in one sitting (2 adults, 2 children). Be careful not to touch bone. Scrooge sends the Cratchit family a prize turkey on christmas morning. If your butchering has been done well in advance of the holidays, freeze the bird in an airtight plastic bag designed for freezer storage. Gail Damerow has enjoyed raising geese, chickens, and other poultry for more than 40 years. For this reason, many folks turn at this point to a custom plucker. For medium-size gangs, the African is just the ticket, weighing in at 18 to 20 pounds. When raising geese for meat, an important consideration is the size of the goose breed. When you’re ready for roasting, rinse and drain the goose. category of animal. All goose breeds forage to some extent, although if you intend to employ your geese as garden weeders you may want to avoid the soil compaction that typically occurs with the heavier breeds. Apple Orange Stuffing l teaspoon salt And family squabbles over who gets the light meat and who gets the dark are eliminated since the meat is uniformly succulent throughout. Feeding Geese is Simple. So butchering a goose requires overcoming both psychological and physical obstacles. With the point of a sharp knife, prick the entire surface of the Allow the goose to rotiss for another hour or so, then start monitoring the internal temperature with a meat thermometer in the thickest parts of the meat. Geese are bred mainly for their meat, which is particularly popular in Germanic languages countries around Christmas. The modern day American family will sit down to a meal of turkey or ham or beef this Christmas, but goose remains the traditional Christmas meat … Sauerkraut Stuffing Geese pick cleanest right after their first feathering, at about 13 to 14 weeks of age (sometimes longer in backyard situations). ", -Alexandre Dumas, the in season. Whether stuffed or not, pierce the bird’s skin all over with a meat fork to let the fat ooze out as it liquifies — a sort of self-basting process. There's a tendency to think of the turkey as having been the traditional Christmas dinner for ages. Once the goose is dressed and ready for the oven, store it, loosely covered, in the coldest part of the refrigerator for no more than three days. We may earn commission from the links on this page. Some strains lay considerably better than average. My husband grew up enjoying rendered goose fat, spread on bread and sprinkled with a little salt. Elizabeth and I spend hours each December discussing which version of A Christmas Carol is best (This year I’m kind of leaning toward the Muppets one?). But do give them sufficient room to remain clean and dry, or the resulting decline in vigor may result in weight loss. If you can roast a big turkey in your oven, you can roast a goose. Notify me via e-mail if anyone answers my comment. Gail’s books are available from our bookstore. One Christmastime I was watching “A Christmas Carol” and got curious about the Christmas goose bit. Much cooler, and it will do no good. It needs to rest for 30 minutes, uncovered, mostly so your friends can admire it. l/4 cup butter As a grass-fed meat, explains Ollie While, ‘it creates a more even ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 in the meat, which is what you want – a grain-based diet is heavy in Omega 6. Here is a menu with traditional French holiday food, beginning with the goose… If you’ll be feeding a crowd, you’ll probably want a Toulouse of Embden goose, which reaches 20 to 25 pounds at maturity.For medium-size gangs, the African is just the ticket, weighing in at 18 to 20 pounds. One goose egg makes a formidable omelet, although goose eggs are less often used for culinary purposes than for hatching or, because of their size and thick shells, for creating craft items such as decorative jewelry boxes. scholar, Jules Cesar Scaliger, is quoted as saying that "geese lower their Your email address will not be published. A roasted goose is, in a word, audacious. to become the roast of choice for the Christmas, which eventually took the place of other winter solstice festivities. Whether or not you have basted, skim the final pan drippings to make into delicious gravy to serve over the sliced meat, biscuits, potatoes, or stuffing. She Once when they are young or "green" in the early summer and take a stone in its beak. Second, even the young ones are pretty powerful. Place the goose uncovered and breast side up on a rack in a shallow roasting pan, with a meat thermometer, inserted deep into the inside thigh muscle. Bird of a Different Feather Unlike that other holiday bird, geese are naturally migratory; evolving with thicker skin and inbuilt systems for reserving energy in the form of fat stored beneath the skin and in the liver to sustain them in their high altitude travel. Never thaw a goose at room temperature, since spoilage may occur in thawed portions while the inside is still frozen solid. When raising geese for meat, refrain from including in the diet any strong-flavored foods such as fish scraps, garlic, or onions, which sometimes cause off-flavors in the flesh. that when they pass over Mount Taurus, which abounds in eagles, each goose will In Britain the goose always used to be the favoured bird at the Christmas table. In fact, goose meat is the centerpiece Christmas dish in many European countries such as Germany. A lot of modern ovens are not nearly big enough to hold a large roasting pan, let alone foiled potatoes or a casserole filled with stuffing on the side. A typical backyard scenario, though, is that a goose will lay a dozen or so eggs in early spring, then go broody, at which time she stops laying. It may be used wherever you might otherwise use butter, shortening, lard, bacon drippings, and the like. In a warm climate, hens may start laying toward the end of January. The Breed for You. order to insure the crops in the months to come. If you’ll be doing the picking yourself, one way is to chill the unplucked, whole carcass to a temperature of 33°F to firm up the skin, which makes dry picking easier. While in many homes, a ham is traditional, some prefer seafood, and there’s no shortage of turkey, sometimes it’s nice to really push out the boat and make a Christmas goose recipe. Turned out pretty good. Free range Christmas Goose. Here are some other fun Goose meat is rich with a dense texture, although having a large carcass the bird is bony with a big ribcage which means pound for pound it will feed less people than a turkey. Stuff the goose with the onion, orange and bay. No goose breeds lay as prolifically as a chicken or a duck, but geese tend to be efficient layers for longer — as much as eight years for some breeds. eaten twice a year. When Jacques Pépin was growing up he only ate goose on Christmas Eve. soil and it too followed the same pattern of maturation. Top off the feeder three or four times a day to stimulate interest in eating. In both cases, strain off and discard solid pieces and other impurities, pour the rendered fat into a jar, and store it in the refrigerator. Otherwise, the multitude of unsightly pin feathers may well put a damper on holiday appetites. French chemist "saw a goose turning a spit on which a turkey was roasting. Deeply brown, aromatic, elegant atop its nest of fat-basted root vegetables, the goose is regal and exotic. They are one of the lightest weight goose breeds, and carry themselves in a distinct, upright posture. For centuries geese were marched from their breeding grounds in the country, on journeys that might take weeks, to the outskirts of the cities, where they would be re-fattened for market. Since geese achieve their maximum growth during the early weeks of life, the age at first feathering is also the prime butchering time from an economic standpoint, even though the birds will not have reached their maximum weight. l/2 cup chopped pecans l cup diced orange sections l/2 cup raisins Goose refers to the meat of a large bird in the Anatidae family of birds. Brush this mixture over the goose 15 minutes before it’s scheduled to be done, and then again moments before you remove it from the oven. Lighter varieties are better than darker ones, since missed pin feathers don’t show up as readily when the goose is cooked. It was these very qualities that have won the geese a Great Taste Award and delighted the … If you’ll be feeding a crowd, you’ll probably want a Toulouse of Embden goose, which reaches 20 to 25 pounds at maturity. The fat turns to liquid at 111 degrees Fahrenheit (compared Rub all over with the oil and season generously with salt. The fat under the skin melts off during roasting. To determine if molting is complete, check to see if the wing primaries reach the tail, pet the plumage to test for smoothness, and run your fingers backward over the feathers as you peek underneath for the presence of pin feathers. A ploy that works pretty well for most poultry keepers is to keep a pair of yard geese, let them hatch out an annual brood, and hustle the young ones into the freezer while they’re still young and anonymous. Clean fat may be kept in the refrigerator for a long time — as much as a year — but is so good you will probably use it up long before then. What's your preparation of choice? glory of goose? What’s a Christmas goose? Geese eat grass – and that’s about it. Foraging ability is an important aspect for of raising geese for meat naturally and as economically as possible. How To Roast A Goose Brine. Don’t forget to check the size of your oven in relation to the size of the goose. historical novelist and gastronomic storyteller, wrote that "they have so much foresight If you wish to save it, spoon it out about every half hour during roasting to keep it from browning. To save it by melting it down, or render- ing it, cut it into smaller chunks, put it in a saucepan over low heat, and warm it gently until the fat turns into a golden liquid. thus constraining themselves, that they will not emit the sounds which would l cup chopped onions dark, rich meat: -Sixteenth century When a goose reaches full feather but is no older than 10 months for best texture and flavor, a common practice is to finish it in preparation for butchering. the Cotton Patch Goose), or as guard animals and (in former times) for goose fights(e.g., th… Long ago in the old country, roast goose was the centerpiece for Michaelmas, a popular feast day in the Middle Ages, and before that, tradition says, it was offered as a sacrifice to the gods Odin and Thor. In my experience, the fat that renders during roasting is never as pure as that rendered in a saucepan, so I keep it separate and use it primarily for pan frying. If you do not plan to serve stuffing, a sliced apple and an onion in the body cavity during roasting add a little extra flavor. It also has the softest fat in its l/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning The night before the big day, remove all feed so dressing won’t be complicated by messy half-digested rations. https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Red-Lion-Christmas-Goose-with-Stuffing cause their enemies to discover them. If you’re the type of cook who lives for the oooh’s and aaaah’s of your guests, the goose delivers. The water must be close to 150°F. I bought one and made it using recipes I found on the Web. You will know your goose is cooked when the thermometer reads 185°F and the stuffing reaches a temperature of 165°F. again when they are at their fattest and ripest toward the end of the year