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Grilled Specklebelly goose breasts

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Chrisinhouston
Chrisinhouston Posts: 48
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I'm trying to clean out the freezer before my November goose hunts and found I had some Spec breasts. Commonly known as a Specklebelly Goose, the official name is White Fronted Goose or in the scientific world as Anser Albifrons. They typically fly all the way from western Alaska and the Aleutian islands to the Gulf coast to winter but they tend do fly low and therefore have a slightly higher fat content then their cousins like Snow geese or Canada geese. I usually breast them out when cleaning them and marinate and grill them rare. Very tasty indeed!

My marinade is as follows for 3 to 4 breasts and I try to marinate overnight:

3/4 cup EVOO
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup of decent tawny port
2-3 TBS of Soy sauce
salt and fresh cracked black pepper
1 TBS juniper berries crushed in a mortar

I grill as you would for a seared rare strip steak as overcooking dries them out

WO4U7625.jpg
thawed out from the freezer

WO4U7635.jpg
hot off of the grill!
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Comments

  • Weekend Warrior
    Weekend Warrior Posts: 1,702
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    Hi Chris. I only ever ate goose(Canada)once and I had to spit it out it was so awful. Must be some kind of trick to it. Greasy and VERY gamey tasting. Actually, gamey is putting it mildly.

    Curious....what does the altitude at which a goose flies at have to do with fat content? I can't seem to put together a correlation. Thanks, Mark
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  • Willie
    Willie Posts: 132
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    Chris
    Oh boy they look so good, finger lickin for sure.
    Bon Appetit
    Willie
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  • ibanda
    ibanda Posts: 553
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    Looks good! I am trying to cook all my wild game now also before the freezer starts filling up again. A hunting friend of mine in Dallas has a party every October called "Meatfest". He cooks all the wild game that's left in his freezer from all of his hunting and fishing trips and usually has about 60 people over. He doesn't cook on eggs, all his grills/smokers are homemade but it's still my favorite party of the year.
    "Bacon tastes gooood, pork chops taste gooood." - Vincent Vega, Pulp Fiction
    Small and Large BGE in Oklahoma City.
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  • Doug in Eggmonton
    Doug in Eggmonton Posts: 1,999
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    Higher altitude is colder perhaps...

    Doug
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  • rsmdale
    rsmdale Posts: 2,472
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    Nice cook Chris,I have some snow goose breasts in the freezer and will give this recipe a try.Thanks for sharing.


    GOOD EATS AND GOOD FRIENDS



    DALE
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  • Chrisinhouston
    Chrisinhouston Posts: 48
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    I'm no expert but snow geese and Canadas have been spotted as high as 30,000 feet and also tend to fly non stop on their migration which I assume means less fat on them. I bring home a lot of geese and ducks in the winter and specklebelly geese have a layer of yellowish fat almost like a chicken does under the skin whereas the others have nothing between the skin and the muscle.

    I don't find them gamey but they do have a high iron content which can make them have a slight liver taste but that isn't a taste the bothers me.
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  • Chrisinhouston
    Chrisinhouston Posts: 48
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    I have cousins up in Minnesota who do that, too. But up there the menu includes bear, moose, turkey and pheasant besides the usual dishes of venison.
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  • Big George's BBQ
    Big George's BBQ Posts: 1,152
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    That looks awesome
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  • Misippi Egger
    Misippi Egger Posts: 5,095
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    That marinade looks great. I'm going to save it and try it on some mallard breasts when I start cleaning out the freezer soon.

    I tried Canadas also several years back and they were so bad we threw the rest of the breasts away. I've had smoked specks before and they were great. I've always heard the only goose worth eating was a speck. We just don't see many in our area - covered up with d@&#n greasy snows and blues (not to mention them eating up all our duck habitat)!

    BTW, I just told the wife last night I need to gear up for a big duck/sausage gumbo cook to clean out the freezer !!!! That's a 2 day weekend cook !
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  • cookn biker
    cookn biker Posts: 13,407
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    Great post Chris! Looks fantastic.
    Molly
    Colorado Springs
    "Loney Queen"
    "Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it."
    Bill Bradley; American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
    LBGE, MBGE, SBGE , MiniBGE and a Mini Mini BGE
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