Roast goose is a welcome change from the usual holiday fare. Goose is a good choice for a smaller gathering. The fat can be saved and used in a variety of dishes. This recipe is part of my Dicken’s Christmas Dinner Menu.
There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn’t believe there ever was such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavour, size and cheapness1, were the themes of universal admiration….
In half a minute Mrs Cratchit entered — flushed, but smiling proudly — with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.
`A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us.’
Which all the family re-echoed. `God bless us every one.’ said Tiny Tim, the last of all.A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 1843
1 At the time that Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, a goose was the least expensive of the holiday birds, turkey at the time was wild and much leaner than it is today, and therefore the most expensive.
Today, In the United States, turkey is the most popular fowl for holiday celebrations, in the UK, the goose is still popular. This may be one of the reasons that goose is the most expensive and costs around $85.00 – I was lucky, mine was in the mark-down frozen food section, and with a smile and wink to the manager, I got my goose for $25.00
Dickens’ Christmas Dinner Menu
- Roast Goose with Sour Cherry Sauce
- Christmas Salad
- Chestnut Stuffing
- Wild Rice
- Haricots Verts
- Christmas Pudding
Roast Goose
Goose is a very fatty bird. That’s because it spends a great deal of its time in the water, and the fat keeps it warm. They also do a lot of flying – if you live in North America, you could be treated to seeing the Canadian Geese flying South for the winter. No worries, the domesticated goose you get from the butcher didn’t get shot down going over the border. The geese for the table is usually the Embden goose, and it lived on a nice farm, with organic feed, and plenty of places to run and play.
Once you start taking the goose out of its package, you will notice just how fatty it is. But, that’s okay, that fat can be rendered down and makes some of the most flavorful dishes on earth. That fat is prized by European chefs and is going to be a healthy fat alternative in my refrigerator.
I recommend cooking this in an 18-quart Nesco. Use the double rack and put the bird on the top rack, so it will not cook in its own fat. Add some water to the bottom to keep the fat from burning. In the end, turn the Nesco up to 400 to crisp up the skin. It will be wonderful!
Gilbets
There are also giblets and the neck that come in the cavity of your bird. You can use the neck to make a delicious soup stock. I, personally, don’t like gizzard, so that is going to the cats. I love hearts – the heart managed to get cooked inside the goose, and we found it when carving it – oh my goodness, it was so good! The liver is going to be cooked in that wonderful fat, flavored, and eaten as a pate. Yum! Even the cats enjoyed their Dicken’s Christmas Roast Goose dinner.
This was truly a good dinner, especially with the help of my trusty Nesco. You are also welcome to use my recipe for turkey in a Nesco.
What to Serve with Goose
Since goose is a fatty bird, you would do best to serve it with a light side with your stuffing, perhaps wild rice and green beans. To complete the dinner, bring a flaming Christmas pudding to the table.
Email Me the Recipe
Roast Goose with Sour Cherry Sauce
Equipment
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Ingredients
- 1 Goose
Cavity Stuffing
- Freshly cracked pepper
- Celery tops
- Onions skins and roots
- Apple
Sour Cherry Sauce
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, unsalted
- 3 tablespoons Sour Cherry preserve
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
- 1 teaspoon whiskey, optional
Instructions
- If your goose came frozen, you will want to defrost it in the refrigerator for two days.
- Start removing the fat from the tail area of the bird. You will have a lot of fat, but don't throw it away!
- Remove the giblets. Don't throw them away, use them for another purpose.
- Wipe the bird with a paper towel, then take a fork and prick all the skin well. This is important so the fat comes out while roasting.
- Put the celery, onion, and apple in the cavity. If you have other vegetables or fruit bits laying about, put them in as well.
- Fill the bottom of your roaster with about an inch of water. Put the rack in. Try to raise the rack above that water, two clean cat food cans do a good job.
- Put the goose on the rack, breast side up, and roast your goose at 350°F / 176°C for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. It should be 165°F / 73.89°C on an instant-read thermometer.
- Let the goose rest for at least 5 minutes before carving.
Sour Cherry Sauce
- Mis en place
- In a small pan, melt the butter and add the cornstarch. Whisk the cornstarch thoroughly so there are no lumps.
- Add the preserve, whiskey (if using), and mustard, and continue stirring constantly until the sauce thickens slightly.
- Put in a nice serving dish and serve warm with goose or other gamey fowl.
- Your goose is cooked!
Hi there it’s me, I am also visiting this site regularly, and this was really good. I was looking for some other recipes and decided I should comment on this one that I made at Christmas last year. I’m making it again for the holidays. Thank you!
I was looking for a recipe for goose and Google came up with this link. I looked at the Nesco cooker you recommended and figured I would use it for Thanksgiving next year. The goose came out perfect. Thank you for the recommendation on the Nesco roaster and the other recipes that went with this. It was a really good Christmas.
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