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I'm cooking Christmas dinner for the first time this year, and have chosen to cook goose rather than turkey. I have two different recipes I want to try out but, obviously, don't want to cook two geese now. I've never eaten goose before, but I understand it's quite a lot like duck. Would testing the recipes on roast duck be a reasonable way of finding out which one is better? If not, what alternative would you suggest?
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Jun 14, 2015 16:18
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 10:01 |
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yeah, absolutely. you have to adjust cooking times and methods because geese are in general a good deal larger than ducks - but otherwise they're totally comparable. goose is a bit milder in its gamey flavor than duck - but I think duck is pretty mild anyways, so dunno, that's not saying much. most geese I've cooked have had huge breasts and much more fat than ducks - to compensate, I've been extra vigilant about pricking the skin all over, and trimming excess off. Also make sure you drip tray is big enough, and drain rendered fat off if necessary. I've had a few experiences of using too small a drip tray, it filling up with like an inch of rendered fat, and then juices dropping in and making like loving depth charge level explosions all over my oven. also brine. for god's sake brine. and don't overcook, goose can be a bit tougher than duck when well done. confit is a good option if not whole roasting. edit : since you have a lot of months between now and then, if you've never cooked a duck or a goose, you should probably cook three - a duck, then a goose applying what you think you've learned, and then your showtime goose. poo poo takes experience. also ducks and geese are loving delicious, if not a bit pricey. mindphlux fucked around with this message at 05:55 on Jun 15, 2015 |
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Jun 15, 2015 05:51
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Cheers - I have had a good duck roasting experience before, although it was in a different oven, so you might be onto something with three ducks. Brine, though, is something that doesn't appear in any recipes, so you're going to have to explain what you mean - soaking it in salt water? What's the advantage? And yeah, I bought a roasting tin with a rack, effectively, so think I should have enough room, but I'm also going to buy a turkey baster for basting purposes, but also for if I need to remove some fat and set it aside during cooking.
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Jun 15, 2015 08:15
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In Minneapolis the game isn't called Duck, Duck, Goose. They call it Duck, Duck, Grey Duck. I'm really not making this up.
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Jun 15, 2015 08:21
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schadenfraud posted:Cheers - I have had a good duck roasting experience before, although it was in a different oven, so you might be onto something with three ducks. I mean, just google brining. It's standard practice among good cooks with meat that can become tough and dry with poor cookery. (ie, turkey, goose, duck, pork). It adds liquid inbetween meat fibres and also seasons your protein, making it juicier and well seasoned throughout. I usually chuck in a couple chopped heads of garlic, some thyme, and bay with my brines, and a touch of sugar. if you don't brine a game bird, and overcook it, it will definitely end up dry and bland. brining gives you maybe a 5-10 degree extra temperature differential to work in. IE, if you cook a brined duck breast to 150+f, I would eat it and say "this is overcooked, but still juicy and well seasoned, so I guess it's not horrible", whereas if you just cooked a duck breast to 150+ with no brining, I would just think you were a poor cook. edit : for reference, I think 135-140 is the target temp for breast meat. go higher with legs, 165+ or confit mindphlux fucked around with this message at 08:49 on Jun 15, 2015 |
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Jun 15, 2015 08:43
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One other big thing with geese is that the shape of the bone on the breast is different than other birds, making it much tougher to carve if you're unfamiliar. Look up tips or do a practice goose before the holiday. Great idea though, my family cooked a goose every year and it's one of my favorite foods (goose fat potatoes and eggs for dayyyys after)
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Jun 15, 2015 10:40
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Mindphlux about covers it -- in a lot of ways, goose is to duck as duck is to chicken, so just be ready for more fat management than you could possibly imagine. I'm serious, trim any hanging or cavity fat, prick the skin, consider a boiling water rinse, and have sides/sauces that will go well with slightly greasy meat, which I've never ever managed to avoid. Good even so.
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Jun 15, 2015 13:51
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wicked. Well I'm going to do a 3-stage duck cook-off, hopefully starting tomorrow. The first to work out how bad the sealing is on the oven (it's not a great oven), then two further ones to test the recipes. Results shall be posted.
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Jun 20, 2015 12:25
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 10:01 |
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schadenfraud posted:And yeah, I bought a roasting tin with a rack, effectively, so think I should have enough room, but I'm also going to buy a turkey baster for basting purposes, but also for if I need to remove some fat and set it aside during cooking. It is not an "if" it is a "when." The last couple of geese I have roasted have given me ~2 cups of goose fat each. You will want to drain the fat every 30 minutes, I'd say. Test Pattern is spot on, too. You really do want to trim off as much fat as you can before it goes in the oven. The advantage to this is you can then render it. But you should have some mason jars on hand anyway because one of the very best bits of roasting a goose (other than the end of a drumstick when it's fresh out of the oven, and the skin, can't forget that) is having a poo poo ton of goose fat which you can now keep in the fridge and use to roast potatoes.
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Jun 21, 2015 02:37
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