My goose is cooked....

The goose was not fattened for us by some plump farmer's wife: it came from Lidl, frozen. Ultimately from Hungary, as it turns out.
It lay in the freezer a solid frozen lump for the last month, and i decided that New Year's Day would be a good occasion to cook it; so it was removed from the freezer yesterday and laid in a white enamel coffin to thaw out for 24 hours, and meanwhile I, and the man of the house, perused every cookery book we could lay our hands on.

Fortunately for us, there was a degree of unanimity: all were united in claiming that there is not much meat on a goose: that it sheds a lot of fat in cooking: that a stuffing of mashed potato and apple is the one to pick: and so it proved.

i made the stuffing very simply; by mixing together plain mashed potatoes, home-made applesauce and a bit of chopped onion that was softened in a little butter. Mix all three together, season with salt and pepper, beat well, insert into goose cavity. Simple enough!
But whats all this in the goose cavity?? eeek, dead body parts in a drippy plastic bag. Giblets, ugh. I dropped them into a small saucepan and covered them with cold water, a bit of celery, a bayleaf: simmer, for stock, for the gravy.
Meanwhile the oven was heating to 205 C and we placed the bird on top of an improvised trivet, an upturned enamel plate; this is to let the rendered fat trickle down. Then into the hot oven, and the roasting commenced.

After half an hour or so we investigated; sure enough, lots of fat had melted and run down and this we poured off. Also, the limbs were starting to scorch, so we covered most of the creature in tin foil to protect it while the meat continued to cook.

This process was repeated several more times.
Meanwhile, I prepared a dish of red cabbage, cooked with chopped fried onion, a dollop of vinegar, a trace of brown sugar and a chopped apple; add the shredded red cabbage (which has previously soaked in cold water) and simmer the lot together;

Finally, the goose was declared to be cooked and the man of the house placed it on a big dish and carved it, cutting the breast meat into slices.

And yes, it's true, you hit bone almost immediately; but the meat is rich and good.











Here is how it looked when served...

I made a drop of gravy with the giblet stock and the pan juices: but the meal was so rich I didn't eat any of it! There were some plain boiled potatoes available too but the stuffing was so delectable that it served very well on its own as a vegetable dish. The red cabbage was just perfect as an accompaniment - superb. A dish of simple unsweetened applesauce provided a tart contrast.
There was tons of cabbage left over and that was packed for the freezer, red cabbage freezes and reheats exceptionally well.

Finally, tonight, we had some of the leftover meat, cut into smaller pieces, in a pilaff; also very good.

A goose would serve four people, and maybe six. If any more guests, you would need some extra meat, and I consider that Spiced Beef wouyld serve really well, the lean spicy texture would be a perfect foil for goose.

Happy New Year!