Roast Goose for Christmas

TheManOnTheBus

I picked up my goose today (organic, free range farmed, very expensive!) and want to cook it on the Egg tomorrow.  (Phew, it just about fits in my medium.)

I have found this recipe https://www.biggreenegg.co.uk/blog/recipes/author/roast-goose.  Mr Williams is normally a good reliable man.  However, I am worried that an IT of 62 C (145F) will not be enough to cook the legs.  (Breast should be fine.)

I have read that legs should get up to IT of  75 C (165 F).  

Now I could separate them of course and cook the legs longer.

However, this is a celebratory meal and bird, and I really want to present a whole goose at the table.

Any tips on how to get this right.  Compromise on the breast temp to get the legs done?  And hope the breast rehydrates with the gravy?

Thanks.

and Merry Xmas

JustineCaseyFeldown

legs and wings are awful skinny on a goose.  they cook quickly.

we don't truss our birds (chickens, turkeys, x-mas goose last year), because i found that all that does is slow the legs and wings from cooking.  when they are untrussed, they cook on all sides, which helps them finish around the same time as the breast.

i wouldn't sweat final temps in the legs to begin with.  not much meat on a goose except the breasts

nolaegghead

I found this excellent interview about cooking geese. 

https://www.splendidtable.org/story/cook-your-goose-slowly-at-a-low-heat-to-let-the-fat-render-out

Unfortunately, his statement about cooking doesn't jive with your celebratory goal of a whole goose.

"You can't really pull it off if you are stuck on a whole Norman Rockwell "I've got to carve the goose at the table" image. If you can get away from that, which I highly recommend you do, you can have your cake and eat it too.

jbreed

tell us how you prep the Goose.  Always wanted to do one.

MCRyan

So funny @nolaegghead - I read the same deal! Not a good, better, or best way around it.   

MCRyan

No offense to original post BTW...  just a tough cook dude.  

TheManOnTheBus

No offense taken.  I saw that article too.  I think I'll just go with the flow and see what happens.  Many traditional cook book recipes just say "2 hours or until the juices run clear".  Is the obsession with IT just us Eggers?

Hans61

A Christmas Goose :-) just like a Dickens novel! Never ate goose but would guess it's closer to duck than chicken/turkey. Please post pics and review!

Botch

Mom roasted a goose on either TG or Xmas, every year when I was growing up.  They were cheaper in those days, but I need to try one on the Egg.
You could try a bag of ice on the breast for a half-hour or so before cooking.  

Eoin

Not done goose on the egg, but we have one every year. Roast it whole, it self bastes with the fat and you will have a lot of fat to catch and then keep in a jar for roast potatoes throughout the year (maybe 30 fluid ounces of fat from one bird). There isn't a huge amount of meat on a goose and the legs are skinny compared to a turkey, so it's really easy to over cook it. We like it still pink.

shtgunal3

I'd like to see finished pics of that goose.

JacksDad

shtgunal3 said:

I'd like to see finished pics of that goose.

I concur! Show us the goose!;)

Little Steven

Make sure you put the legs toward the rear of the egg (hotter there). You can ice the breasts a la Mad Max too.

bigbadben

John Setzler has a great whole roast goose cooking video. I think he posted it on kamadoguru and YouTube.  

TheManOnTheBus

OK. Here is my report back.

The goose was big and a little bit of a squeeze to get it into the Medium Egg (in fact, as can be seen from the photos, the end of the dome thermo probe pressed into the flesh.

I pricked the skin all over to let the fat drain.

I iced the breast.  A probe suggested it made about 4 or 5 C difference just a few mm down. so not sure in the end as to whether on a two hour cook, it really would help.  Things didn't quite work out as planned in any case.

Egg at 190 c. Indirect.  Planning on a 2 hour cook and aiming for a breast at 64C and thigh at 72C, but conscious that it wouldn't necessarily work out at that.  A drip pan (on spacers) on the plate setter. goose on the grill above.

After an hour or so the probe was showing the breast at 62C and I panicked. The skin looked nowhere near cooked.  There was hardly any fat in the drip pan (when I was expecting a litre or so).  I left it in for another 45 minutes. The skin stubbornly refused to get brown.   And the breast and thigh got up to 74C.

Took it off then.  The drip pan which should have produced a gorgeous quantity of goose fat was all burnt and bitter and couldn't be used?  No idea why that happened.  Goose fat doesn't burn!!??

Here is a picture of the finished bird:

As you can see - although it got up to correct IT, it really didn't look gorgeous and golden.  (i actually got out a flame thrower and tried to get it brown/crispy). 

The meat was good.  Leg better than breast.  Although the Breast was too high in terms of IT, it wasn't too dry (but could have been a little moister).  Hardly any taste of smoke though or charcoal. 

Not sure if it was worth the effort of the Egg in the end.

One more year before I try again (or not).

gmac

Weird that it didn't get brown. I would have thought 190C would have been lots. Maybe try to get it up to 225C at the end might have helped, but I'm guessing as I have never done a goose. Or start 250C and drop it down next time. I suggest you do a goose a week for the next year and 52 geese later you will have it perfect. 

Aviator

Going direct raised may have helped at least for the finish to crisp the skin and get the color.

Eoin

nolaegghead said:

I found this excellent interview about cooking geese. 

https://www.splendidtable.org/story/cook-your-goose-slowly-at-a-low-heat-to-let-the-fat-render-out

Unfortunately, his statement about cooking doesn't jive with your celebratory goal of a whole goose.

"You can't really pull it off if you are stuck on a whole Norman Rockwell "I've got to carve the goose at the table" image. If you can get away from that, which I highly recommend you do, you can have your cake and eat it too.

@nolaegghead I did this with our goose this year and it was really good. Took off the breasts while still really bloody and then pan fried fat side down.  Will pull even earlier next time and try to render the fat in the pan a bit more, but the sliced meat was a real hit and much easier to serve as well (goose always seems hard to carve off the carcass).

gdenby

Hi, ManOnTheBus,

You said there was almost no fat, AND that it was free range. My guess is there might not have been enough food on the range, and the goose had to range a lot, using energy.

I've never had wild goose, but a guy I know was, and he described much the same thing.

Geese, if given the chance, are like pigs. They will eat so much that they can barely walk. Sacks of fat hanging almost to the ground. The farmed ones I buy usually have so much on them that I pull off and render at least 12 fluid oz.

SGH

Fellows I have got to ask, am I the only one here that deep frys them? Deep fried goose is simply outstanding. 

Eoin

@sgh do you deep fry the whole bird? I don't have a fryer, so not an option for me.

SGH

Eoin said:

@sgh do you deep fry the whole bird? I don't have a fryer, so not an option for me.

Absolutely my friend. Drop the whole goose in just as you would a chicken or a turkey. The only difference is I like to to fry goose at 360 degrees instead of the traditional 350 Degrees. 
The skin crisps up real nice and the meat is moist and succulent. If you do deep fry one, please let me know what you think my friend. 

Eoin

SGH said:

Eoin said:

@sgh do you deep fry the whole bird? I don't have a fryer, so not an option for me.

Absolutely my friend. Drop the whole goose in just as you would a chicken or a turkey. The only difference is I like to to fry goose at 360 degrees instead of the traditional 350 Degrees. 
The skin crisps up real nice and the meat is moist and succulent. If you do deep fry one, please let me know what you think my friend. 

A Cajun Fryer would have to be a special shipment to the UK, I've not seen that type of outdoor fryer for sale here. 

SGH

@Eoin
You can get this electric Masterbuilt (aka Butterball) electric fryer at any Walmart, Target, Lowe’s or Home Depot for less than 100 bucks. I’m willing to bet you can get it off of Amazon too. It does a pretty darn good job. And the best part is, it’s an indoor fryer. 

SGH

@Eoin

Here you go my friend  

Fryer

Eoin

SGH said:

@Eoin

Here you go my friend  

Fryer

I'll look for that one over here in the UK.