How to Cook My Goose....?

gdenby, yeah, you had bracket issues with that picture. Wow, that looks gorgeous! Ours are home-raised geese so they're not very fat; they spent a lot of time free-ranging. So I was wondering whether Egging one would improve its tenderness and how to achieve that. I have some lemon I can use for the interior.

Was this a commercial or a wild goose?

This is a fairly lean goose. Not as lean as our geese used to be, but I'm hoping I get some fat and I'm not sure I will. I don't think I'll need the butter, though.

How big was yours?

The internal temperature is helpful. Thanks again!

I think my goose was just hijacked....

Well, I cooked my goose. I started a little hotter, at about 350°, but dropped the egg to about 300°. The goose was trussed with some lemon and onion chunks and some rosemary in the cavity. About an hour in I added potatoes to the pan on the plate setter; by then there was some nice goose fat to cook it in. It was done after two hours but my husband came in from his deerstand with the news that he had bagged a doe with his bow, so dinner had to be put off a bit. The goose and potatoes were still very tasty, but some of the meat was chewy. I'm not sure what to do about that!

Hi, Michelle. I do use dry-brining a lot, although I'm not sure if I dry-brined this bird; probably not because I would have labelled it then. But it was juicy enough; it was just a bit tough. Maybe marinating it in something would have helped to break down those fibers. You're right, that would be an awful lot of buttermilk. But a wine or vinegar marinade might do the same thing at less expense and waste. Crockpotting them helps, too, and I did try cooking this one at a lower temperature than most people suggested - 300° rather than 400. Maybe even lower and slower would have helped. I guess I don't know as much about the science of cooking meat as I should.

We still have several more geese in the freezer, and at least one is an adult, not a young one. So I'll have to go back to the drawing board. Maybe the Egg isn't the answer... could that be??!

By the way, I wanted to ask you what kind of yeast you use for your bread-making. I started off using the Red Star that you can buy in quantity from King Arthur, but when I ran out I checked out some other sources and noticed on Amazon that someone said Fleischman's brand didn't have the same strong, yeasty taste that Red Star lent its products. So I bought some. I haven't noticed any yeasty or sour flavor, but then I've also been using white whole wheat flour instead of the regular kind.

Leslie

Michelle, I use SAF Instant too; I called it Red Star because they make it. I bought my first lot from King Arthur, and I keep both that and my flours in the freezer, except for some unbleached white which is in a canister on my counter. Interesting that you've had inconsistent results with Fleischman's; so far it's working well for me but I haven't had it long.

I think braising is the key to tender goose. I have looked all over for French country recipes for goose because they would have used older barnyard critters, but all I've found are recipes involving goose parts. When I roast a goose I like to make rillettes with the carcass, but I still need to figure out how best to cook the entire bird. Again, I'm not sure larding would do the trick since it was juicy enough - just a bit too chewy.

I checked out the European Peasant Bread you mentioned and it looks good except that it's mostly white flour. My husband and I are trying to find a recipe we both like. I prefer whole grains, like the 100% whole wheat and the whole wheat sandwich bread, and he really likes the semolina. I'm thinking about trying the peasant bread and substituting white whole wheat for some of the regular white. I also use vital wheat gluten when I'm baking bread with whole grains; I don't know if that really makes a difference in loft but it's supposed to.

Leslie