Goose Recipes

Goose has been a festive meal for centuries. In the UK, a goose is the traditional Christmas meal, although the colonial import, the upstart turkey, has gained ground in recent years.

Domestic or Wild Goose?

How you cook a goose depends on the life the bird has led. If your goose was farm-raised, it will be very fatty. Goose has significantly more fat than turkey or chicken, and you must prick the skin so the fat can escape. You may even need to ladle some of the fat run-off out of the roasting pan before it is fully cooked.

A goose bagged by a hunter, on the other hand, is very lean. If you cook a wild goose as long as you would a domestic one, it will dry out like beef jerky and be nearly inedible. Roasting a wild bird requires steps to preserve the fat in the meat, or even add more fat - inserting slivers of butter or lard through a slit in the skin, for instance.

Cooking Considerations

A meat thermometer is a must when cooking a goose. Overdone or underdone goose is unpleasant - you can fix the latter, but not, alas, the former.

This bird is often stuffed like turkey, although the stuffing is typically fruit-based rather than starch-based, to give the meat a touch of sweet flavor.

Goose is usually sold as an entire bird, although in some specialty markets you can buy parts.