In our search for ‘Holiday Meats’ to offer this
holiday season we decided to try roast Goose. We purchased a goose from the
good people at Country Poultry (same place we get our Omega3 roasters). The
test was a fun challenge as neither of us have ever tasted goose or knew
anything about cooking one.

Thanks to the internet and many great YouTube videos
we had the goose prepped, trussed and ready to go in no time.

We decided to try a Jamie Oliver recipe using 5 Spice for seasoning.

I highly recommend grinding your own spices if possible – the flavors come out much more intense than pre-packaged ones – AND – you get to know exactly what is in it!

Geese are known to be quite fatty so we tried the recommended cooking method of putting the goose directly on the oven rack with the roasting pan below to catch the drippings and fat. The bird was cooked using the ‘low and slow’ method at 350F for approx. 3 hours.

Your goose is cooked…

The goose turned out perfectly. After watching another YouTube video on how to carve a goose we had the 2 prized goose breasts. I really enjoyed the taste which was different than anything I have tried – lots of flavor and quite rich with a beautiful crispy skin. The leg meat was a bit too tough to eat so we braised it in chicken broth for about an hour till tender. We made a broth with the bones and used the leg meat in what turned out to be an awesome goose and sausage soup with beans, tomato and pasta.

The breast meat is very dark colored with quite a gamey poultry taste.

After skimming the fat off the pan drippings I made
a basic gravy which turned out delicious due to the intensity of the flavor of
the drippings and the 5 spice that was used in cooking.

Any time I roast any
meat – if there are any pan drippings – I always attempt a basic gravy made
with a tbsp. of flour and either stock or water – so simple – usually very
tasty AND it helps clean the roasting pan :-).

 Some people say that they only cook the goose to get the fat – much like prized duck fat the goose fat is great for roasting potatoes or simply used in place of other cooking oils.

I let the fat cool, strained it and put it in jars for storage and to give away as small gifts for my foodie friends.

So the result of the great goose experiment is that if you feel like trying something different and you want a few jars of goose fat for your pantry -then go for it – but we would not recommend choosing goose when planning a big meal with friends and family. We really enjoyed the taste of the breast meat as well as the legs after they were braised and made into a soup but we found that it is not the easiest to prepare and the meat yield was surprisingly low.

If you want to get a goose to try just let us know in the comments section of the order form or send us a note and we can pick one up for you!