“I’ve always found a goose a rather inconvenient bird – too much for one, and not enough for two.”
– Mustrum Ridcully
I wonder if it’s any good, or they just eat it because One Does.
NOCB also has a recipe for “Mrs Whitlow’s Arteries-Hardening Hogswatch Pie,” which I presume is the same thing as British pork pie, which looks plum disgustin’, and eaten cold, yet! Is it any good?
As opposed to the uberkewl Boiled Angel!
In Toronto (Scarborough, actually), I spent a whole day going from supermarket to supermarket trying to find a Christmas goose. When I finally did, at Highland Farms (an upscale supermarket), it was pricey—just over $70 for a medium-size bird (my daughter and I were eating goose and goose-based dishes for the next couple of weeks).
Since then, they’ve started carrying goose at our local Food Basics (because I requested it, I like to think), but it’s still expensive (in the neighborhood of $70). A Thanksgiving turkey will only set me back around $20; a duck, about $15.
[insert your own . . . oh, just insert your own]
No, it’s awful. We are driven to eat them only through self-loathing. Poor, poor Brits. If only we were able to tell the difference between good food and bad, what wonders we might discover! As it is, we shuffle through joyless mealtimes eating food with no taste, texture or other merit, being too fucking stupid to tell the difference.
Of course they’re good. It’s pork, highly reduced pork stock, pastry. What part of that sounds bad?
Going by so many posters on this board, just the sheer fact that it is British.
They’re yummy when heated in the oven and served with HP sauce on the side.
Personally, I’ve always preferred Scottish Jock pies, which I believe contain minced (ground) lamb. :o
Carl’s the guy who prompted Greg to warn John not to put the food in his mouth - he made some plum/potato abomination for his dessert course, after producing basically sausage and beans for his main.
The cold pork-flavored gelatin.
I’m British, but I’m with you on this one BG. They are disgusting. The gelatin, the weird, extra lardy pastry, and the firm consistency of the meat. Ick.
You say that like it’s a bad thing. It gives taste and especially texture - a little smoothness on the palate.
OK, it’s not for everybody, but given that pork pies are evidently quite popular “is it good?” is kind of a silly question. If you mean, “Will I, personally, like it?” then no-one can answer that. If you mean “Do the people who keep eating it like it?” then the question answers itself.
I’m guessing you’re not a fan of head cheese.
My fiancée made one of these a few years ago for Christmas, and it was delicious.
Pork pies in general are really tasty, but I’m with you on the gelatin, which is why I go for the mini pork pies which don’t use it. Melton Mowbray mini pork pies with the cheese are the gold standard when it comes to the mass-produced pie, but for preference head to your local butcher.
I think Superhal was thinking of “haggis”, not “hummus”. I don’t know if that would be a typo, misspelling, or brainfart. I’m leaning toward the last. Not to be critical of Superhal; they happen to everybody.
The Scots came up with haggis. I think it’s their version of Dwarf Bread or the cans of Ham & Lima Beans that came with C-rations.
I think hummus is just a Mediterranean dish. I think they make it anywhere where there are chick peas, tahini sauce, and olive oil.
Frankly, I can see why people have weird conceptions about British food when the likes of Mental Floss post bollocks like this today:
I mean, what? No one puts ketchup on pizza. That’s just pure bollocks, but people will go away from that believing it to be true.
Yeah, that’s not something I associate with the UK. I’ve seen it in Eastern and Central Europe, though. Perhaps not as often as I used to, but it’s not terribly uncommon, either, if you’re at a divey pizza place rather than an Italian restaurant.
Thais commonly put ketchup on pizza, and lots of it. (Not the wife though.)
When I lived in Czechoslovakia, I noticed that the locals made absolutely no distinction between “tomato sauce” and “ketchup,” so I can totally believe this!
Goose is delicious, and actually not greasy, because the fat all drains off during the roasting. It’s like a cross between chicken and duck, and used to be the traditional christmas bird in the UK before new world turkeys flooded the market. It’s much tastier than turkey. Some posh people still have it for Christmas.
Of course goose paté is popular in France, as is goose fat for cooking. We use it on our roast potatoes. Yum