Cooking

[holzman_tweed]

Day 0:

If you're cooking for 2, you've got to view a goose as an investment. It'll feed you for quite some time, and if you're going for some free range bird, it'll cost a pretty penny, so it really behooves you to squeeze every penny out of the thing.

The secret to good cooking is good ingredients. If you live where they deliver, let me heartily recommend Urban Organics for all your produce needs. Great food, great variety, cheaper than the farmer's market, and the money still winds up in farmer's pockets.

Stuffing is it's own art form, of course. For the bird I cooked yesterday, I cut up 3 pita brad flats, 8 plums, 2 carrots, half an onion and 18 oysters. The oysters are key. They give the entire stuffing a richness that will make people wonder how much butter went into it, when the answer is of course "none!"

A goose, one must understand, is a fat-laden bird. This is a good thing. Treasure the fat. Nurture the fat. The fat is your friend. Trim the fat from the body cavity and reserve that good stuff. This gives you a nice, big cavity for the stuffing, which means I hope you made alot of stuffing.

Some people put the organs into the stuffing, I don't. I don't even save 'em for stock. But don't throw out that neck bone, treat it like it's made of gold. Which is to say put it in the same sack you put that goose fat in.

A roasting rack goes a long way to the proper balance between crispness and moistness. I got an adjustable one at the corner store for five bucks. It works fine. Put the bird on the rack, stuff the bird, cover the bird with aluminum foil. It'll help give you nice crispy skin. The rack should give you a few inches of clearance from the bottom of the roasting pan. You'll need it.

Prick the bird south of the suspenders. Don't prick the breast... yet.

Pre-heat the oven to 450. Forget "low and slow." Low and slow is people who are into gravy on account of the bird is drier than Mexicali in August. Give the bird a good 30 minutes at 400. The skin will crisp, and that will be an extra layer against dryness.

After 30 minutes, turn the over down to 350 and let it fly until you have an internal temp of 190 degrees. Skip the basting, the foil handles the crispness and the bird makes its own sauce.

A few hours into the process, you'll notice lots of fat and other juices dripped into the pan. Aren't you glad you have all that clearance space?

When you're nearing 190, prick the breast to let the extra fat and juices out. They've done their job on the bird, it'll be good and moist. But you don't want to eat all that fat.

When it's ready, carve it down to the carcass. Eat your fill, put the rest away. Break the carcass down and stick it into the bag with the neck and fat. Put it in the freezer.

Take all that fat and drippings from the roasting dish, bottle it, stick it inna fridge. You'll be coming back to it and you want it to have a chance to separate.

Day 1:

Goose, stuffing, and cheese makes a wonderful dinner for little work. That's the first payoff of the bird -- returns in time.

Goose also makes a wonderful sandwich meat.

Goose is great on salad. Goose drippings are great salad dressing.

Get creative.

Further out:

Make stock with all that goose fat, bones, and carcass. It should be good for a few gallons, and it's a nice switch from chicken stock.

Comments

[surrenderedsoul.livejournal.com]

Dan,

That was a better read than half the cookbooks that line my kitchen shelves. Thanks :)

I cooked my first goose two Christmas's ago, but we didn't have anything left over as N's kids eat tons... but it was indeed a good bird.

jen

[eberg.livejournal.com]

You have inspired me to give goose a try. I have to admit that I've never had goose, but have pondered it a few times as a change from the lamb I usually make for Christmas or Easter.

Eric

[wednesday]

Prick the bird south of the suspenders.

Okay. BEEN HERE TOO LONG. Read as innuendo. TOO LONG.