Christmas Goose got four thumbs down...

[BirdBrain]

After raising this bird all summer, then eagerly anticipating Christmas dinner and being a slave in the kitchen for hours my goose got No rave reviews. It was not greasy, over cooked or dry. I thought it tasted good, but the four other members of my family thought I should stick with raising chickens for meat.

I guess the three remaining geese get promoted to pet and lawnmower status. Don't know what I'm going to do with the 10 goslings that are coming in April. The kids wanted to raise them to show in the fair, but that is a lot of mouths to feed if my family won't eat them.

 

[ambrosia]

Crock pot!!!!

I take two geese, breast them out, and cube up the meat. Fry up some bacon, then saute the goose in bacon grease for a few minutes. In crock pot add:

two cans cream of chicken soup
one can cream of celery soup
one can cream of mushroom soup
all four cans of worth of water

one diced onion
pepper
garlic powder, to taste

24 hours later, you have a great meal that is delish over mashed potatoes! My family is not big on goose, but they LOVE what they call my 'goose gravy'....

 

[Tracydr]

Can you identify what it was they didn't like? Goose is not really at its best roasted in a pan like turkey. There are some experts in here, I'm sure they'll chime in and help you out.

 

[Judy]

If it were me, I'd check out some recipes on the Food Channel and Cooking Channel sites, to see what the experts do with it.

Goose is delicious, IMO.

 

[DB_Tex]

I agree, try a few more methods of cooking. My store bought ducks were always pekins with packages of orange glaze. The rouen I made for dinner the first time was a fresh kill, gamy, and I chose to cook it with rosemary springs under the skin... Rosemary does NOT compliment duck well as I discovered. It will take some experimentation to get it right.

 

[speedy2020]

Have you consider roast duck or goose with 5 season spices? You can get from Asian store. It improve the duck and goose flavor.

 

[twentynine]

Anything taste good if its fryed in bacon grease

 

[Oregon Blues]

That's too bad. It's a lot of work and expense to raise a goose and it is a lot of work to get one all plucked and ready to be cooked.

I like goose slightly better than duck, and I love duck. Does your family not like dark meat? I think duck and goose taste similar to the back oysters of a turkey.

I didn't get goose for Christmas dinner, but there was a goose roasting here yesterday and it smelled so good!. Slow roasted in the oven to render the fat out until it was half done. Breast down, a spring of fresh sage, a quartered onion, and several crushed garlic cloves in the body cavity. Then it was moved to the barbecue, set in a disposable roasting pan, and cooked with cherry wood smoke until it was beautifully browned. It will be re-heated today with my special glaze over it at the last minute.

It's the Christmas present for my son's father. My son is driving it over the mountains today and will reheat it and glaze it for his father, who just isn't much of a cook.

There hasn't been any goose cooking experience in this family, so we are doing the learning curve thing, figuring out how to really get the most out of our home raised geese. If you don't grow up with a food, you have to figure put how to cook it. I haven't found goose recipes on-line to be very helpful, but with a few experiments, I'm learning.

Oh, the rendered out goose fat is getting saved to cook with. Christmas breakfast here included sausage made with elk, fresh sage, ginger, and goose fat. Absolutely heavenly.

 

[BirdBrain]

I cooked it until the breasts were at 130 degrees. I cut the whole breast sections off and returned the bird to the oven to finish the thighs and legs. Then I pan seared the breasts with skin side down to finish the skin but did not cook it on the other side. I sliced the breasts on an angle and served them with the thighs and legs.

My gravy bombed because it had way to much garlic either and the Madiera wine is just not a flavor that we are accustomed to. The thighs were too chewy for my older DS. My younger DS couldn't get past the gravy. DD only likes ribeye or sirloin steaks. Getting her to willingly eat meat takes about the same effort as relocating a national landmark.

So, I would like to try again but this experience has made me a bit goose-shy. The cherry smoked idea sounds good. Wonder how mesquite smoked bird would be. Any other fool proof methods?

Reguarding the 10 goslings coming in April, DH said I should show the best and sell the rest. Isn't he a poet.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I can't see anything wrong with how you cooked the goose. This goose at Christmas was the second goose cooked here. My son says it was really delicious but his step mother refused to try it because she doesn't eat anything touched by garlic. His dad loved it.

I won't try making gravy from goose, because there is just too much fat. What I will be doing is trying any and all goose recipes on a duck first. I already ruined one duck with a goose recipe that sounded good, but turned out almost inedible. It's bad enough to waste a duck. I would have been devastated if I'd ruined a goose.

Everyone recommends pan seared duck breast and I don't like it cooked that way. So I won't be trying it with goose breast.

I've used Pinot Noir with duck and it didn't work well. Maybe it might have been OK with better wine. The last bottle of Pinot Noir I bought hasn't been all that good. With goose, I would lean more towards brandy or Cognac rather than red wine. I think that red wine is a bit strong for goose and not quite a complimentary flavor. I see Calvados recommended, but I've never bought a bottle of Calvados in my life, so have no idea how it would go with duck or goose.

Apple and honey flavors both go well with goose.

By the way, I tried making duck fries with goose fat, and it doesn't really work. So back to duck fat for duck fries.