Tired of the usual turkey or ham for christmas dinner? Spice your holiday table with this recipe. Roast goose is a an old traditional Christmas dish, while it has been almost forgotten in the US, it is still served in many European countries.
This was my first time cooking a goose. I didn’t know what to expect, because I have never even eaten one before, but the dish turned out moist and delicious. As a child I remember being chased by a neighbor’s geese, he used them as guard “dogs” on his property and they did the job quite well . Geese are loud, fast, and plain vicious and maybe that’s why cooking one intimidated me… but, it’s payback time now!
I googled several recipes and did a mash-up of them to create my own, for the first steps I followed Mark Sisson’s recipe to render as much fat as possible. This was my favorite part of the whole experience. I rendered almost a quart of cooking fat and I have been making all sort of savory dishes with it. Yes, these birds are quite fatty. They are also big-boned, so I made a tasty, mineral-rich bone broth with them afterwards.
There wasn’t as much meat as I anticipated from such a large bird. They are all fat, bones and bad intentions, so if you are serving a large party, you may want to roast two birds or add some ham, prime rib, leg of lamb, or crock pot “rotisserie” chicken to your table.
If you would like to have a savory stuffing instead, you can substitute the oranges for lemons, the apples for sliced leeks and substitute the honey for salt to taste.
Ingredients For The Goose
1 whole medium goose
1-2 oranges cut into four
4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 tsp of dry thyme
1-2 tsp of salt.
Ingredients For The Stuffing
2 tbsp of coconut oil, ghee or cooking fat of choice
1 1/2 cups of thinly sliced carrots
1 1/2 cups of sliced celery stalks
2 cups of cubed apples
4 cups of roasted and peeled chestnuts cut into 4
2 tbsp of honey
Ingredients For The Glaze (optional)
½ cup of honey
½ cup of orange juice
½ tsp of allspice
Preparation:
- If your bird is frozen, transfer to the refrigerator 2 days prior, to thaw.
- Pat dry the goose.
- Cut the tips of the wings and remove excess skin and fat.
- Rub goose with salt inside and outside.
- Using a fork, prick the skin all over, being careful not to cut through the meat. This will help you draw out some of the fat that sits under the skin.
- Place the orange and fresh thyme inside the bird
- Put 4-5 cups of water and the trimmed fat at the bottom of a roasting pan.
- Place the bird in the roasting pan, breast up on a wire rack.
- Cover the goose. If your roasting pan does not have a lid cover it tightly with foil.
- Place the roasting pan on the stove over two burners, turn the burners on medium and simmer for about an hour, making sure that all the water doesn’t evaporate. If necessary add more water. This step will release a lot of the fat from the skin and onto the pan.
- Meanwhile sauté the carrots and celery in the coconut oil for 3 minutes, add the rest of the ingredients for the stuffing and cook for an additional 5-8 minutes or until carrots are tender and set aside
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove the bird from the roasting pan being careful not to drip the juices from inside the goose into the rendered fat.
- Drain all the liquid from the pan onto a large glass or stainless steel bowl.
- Allow this mixture to cool down and refrigerate. The fat will separate from the water and harden. Scoop out this fat and store in the refrigerator for cooking.
- Remove the oranges from inside, and their juice inside the bird’s cavity
- Place the stuffing in the cavity. Rub the outside with dry thyme.
- Tie the legs together with kitchen twine.
- Turn the goose breast down and cook uncovered for 30 minutes
- In a small pot, simmer all the ingredients for the glaze until the mixture thickens to a consistency of gravy.
- Turn the goose breast side up and cook for an additional 45 to 65 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the middle of the thigh reads 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 10 minutes before the bird is done brush the glaze over it.
- Cover and let stand for 10 minutes before carving
- Ingredients For The Goose
- 1 whole medium goose
- 1-2 oranges cut into four
- 4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 tsp of dry thyme
- 1-2 tsp of salt.
- Ingredients For The Stuffing
- 2 tbsp of coconut oil, ghee or cooking fat of choice
- 1 1/2 cups of thinly sliced carrots
- 1 1/2 cups of sliced celery stalks
- 2 cups of cubed apples
- 4 cups of roasted and peeled chestnuts cut into 4
- 2 tbsp of honey
- Ingredients For The Glaze (optional)
- ½ cup of honey
- ½ cup of orange juice
- ½ tsp of allspice
- If your bird is frozen, transfer to the refrigerator 2 days prior, to thaw.
- Pat dry the goose.
- Cut the tips of the wings and remove excess skin and fat.
- Rub goose with salt inside and outside.
- Using a fork, prick the skin all over, being careful not to cut through the meat. This will help you draw out some of the fat that sits under the skin.
- Place the orange and fresh thyme inside the bird
- Put 4-5 cups of water and the trimmed fat at the bottom of a roasting pan.
- Place the bird in the roasting pan, breast up on a wire rack.
- Cover the goose. If your roasting pan does not have a lid cover it tightly with foil.
- Place the roasting pan on the stove over two burners, turn the burners on medium and simmer for about an hour, making sure that all the water doesn’t evaporate. If necessary add more water. This step will release a lot of the fat from the skin and onto the pan.
- Meanwhile sauté the carrots and celery in the coconut oil for 3 minutes, add the rest of the ingredients for the stuffing and cook for an additional 5-8 minutes or until carrots are tender and set aside
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove the bird from the roasting pan being careful not to drip the juices from inside the goose into the rendered fat.
- Drain all the liquid from the pan onto a large glass or stainless steel bowl.
- Allow this mixture to cool down and refrigerate. The fat will separate from the water and harden. Scoop out this fat and store in the refrigerator for cooking.
- Remove the oranges from inside, and their juice inside the bird’s cavity
- Place the stuffing in the cavity. Rub the outside with dry thyme.
- Tie the legs together with kitchen twine.
- Turn the goose breast down and cook uncovered for 30 minutes
- In a small pot, simmer all the ingredients for the glaze until the mixture thickens to a consistency of gravy.
- Turn the goose breast side up and cook for an additional 45 to 65 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the middle of the thigh reads 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
- minutes before the bird is done brush the glaze over it.
- Cover and let stand for 10 minutes before carving
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