Help with a Goose and Duck

Jclayto · July 2016

Hi All,
I am preparing to cook a duck and goose for the first time tomorrow. These are farm raised birds 12lbs and 5lbs respectively. I have no experience cooking duck or goose and would love some input. I searched the forums and the latest info that I found was from 2013 and would love to know if there are any new tips or updates.

Both birds are sitting in a brine of buttermilk with a touch of vinegar and lemon juice now. I don't know that brining is necessary on a farm bird, but it can't hurt right? My plan to to rinse off the brine today and marinade in orange juice and bourbon until ready to cook tomorrow. I have cut small slits in both birds to allow the brine and marinade to soak in and and the fat to cook out. I plan to cook the goose on a v-rack and the duck on a vertical roaster most likely.

Can anyone give me insight as to how much time to allow for each bird, cooking temp, and final desired breast temp?
I will probably cook them separately unless both will fit on the egg with a generous drip pan underneath.

I am feeding 50 people tomorrow and plan to smoke butts over night and then place the birds on at some point tomorrow after the butts come off. I will be using hickory for the butts but I assume there will not be much hickory smoke left after an all night burn. I plan to either go with no additional wood or add some cherry to the egg before adding the birds. Do you think there will be enough residual hickory to over power the birds?

Any help appreciated

fishlessman · July 2016

i cook duck low and slow but others cook them rare so its what your after. needs a strong flavored sauce. done goose once, did not like my results. use a huge drip pan on the goose, the amount of grease that drips out of a goose is incredible

here is how i cook duck, when the skin gets crunchy its done to my liking

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/237371/duck-with-wild-rice

gdenby · July 2016

I do duck a couple times a year, and have done goose several times for Christmas. Both the birds will likely have extra fat. In fact, the goose may have a pound to pull off before cooking. Save it and render it for other uses.

The skin on both will need to be scored, or pricked all over. Or lifted free of the muscles if you can. As fishless mentioned, the drippings will be copious.

If you let them sit in OJ and bourbon, the skin won't have a chance to dry in the fridge. It will be very hard to get any crispy skin, though that's just a plus. Sitting in the fridge w/o anything on it helps crispness. The outside needs to be dry so when the heat hits it, the fat below fries the skin.

I baste the goose wings w. the fat drippings. Those end my favorite parts. The dripping may end up too smokey to be saved, but if you are fortunate, fried potatoes in lightly smoke goose fat are wonderful.

A trick I learned for doing turkeys that also helps w. goose: Take a sharp knife, and score the tendons at the bottom of the leg, then cut w. shears if necessary. As the meat cooks, and shrinks, the tendons start to come loose, and can often be easily pulled away before serving.

Jclayto · July 2016

Excellent information, thanks to both of you and for the recipe. How long should I plan for the goose? I have butts coming off around 10 am and hope to have the birds finished around 4pm. I don't want to put the birds on too soon.

Killit_and_Grillit · July 2016

You've got some solid advice so far. Mine are usually wild, but you should still absolutely soak in buttermilk before doing anything. Both are pretty oily critters with very intense tastes, even farm raised.

I I would go low and slow with the duck, and like fishlessman said, have a strong sauce. Most of the time I just put duck in gumbo but a spicy cherry sauce can cover a multitude of sins.

Make sure you pat that skin real dry so the skin crisps up, that also helps with the meat flavor.

As as far as the goose, I would put it in a tin foil pan and do a little braise around it. Open the lid and keep pouring the fatty liquid on it. Just one method.

Be be careful with adding a lot of smoke. I never use any, birds like that pick a lot up real quick. And you are already serving smoke in the butts. Just my $.02.

keepervodeflame · July 2016

fishlessman said:

i cook duck low and slow but others cook them rare so its what your after. needs a strong flavored sauce. done goose once, did not like my results. use a huge drip pan on the goose, the amount of grease that drips out of a goose is incredible

here is how i cook duck, when the skin gets crunchy its done to my liking

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/237371/duck-with-wild-rice

spoken by someone who has cooked a goose. Lots of fat. One of the all time best tips I remember came from an old school Home Econ teacher. She said to puncture the goose skin with a sharp fork and then dunk the goose in boiling water in one of those big deep spaghetti pots. You only need about 5 minutes to liquify a great deal of fat. Pull the bird out wash and dry it off and then roast it. From experience I can tell you this reduces the fat by a whole lot and still gives you a very flavorful goose. I do my ducks the same way and get great results.

gdenby · July 2016

keepervodeflame said:

spoken by someone who has cooked a goose. Lots of fat. One of the all time best tips I remember came from an old school Home Econ teacher. She said to puncture the goose skin with a sharp fork and then dunk the goose in boiling water in one of those big deep spaghetti pots. You only need about 5 minutes to liquify a great deal of fat. Pull the bird out wash and dry it off and then roast it. From experience I can tell you this reduces the fat by a whole lot and still gives you a very flavorful goose. I do my ducks the same way and get great results.

Great tip, I'm writing that one down.

Jclayto · July 2016

I think I will try the boiling method as well. I am a home brewer and have a nice big kettle that will do the job. Hopefully my future brews won't taste fowl

Help with a Goose and Duck

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