Another fine staff report by Bricker this week. I do have to ask, though …
Is this serious? I’m finding it hard to imagine making a decent pâté from a wild goose … Don’t they force-feed domesticated geese that are being raised for their livers, to get them fatty enough?
The comment was a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but in fact, there are “natural” alternatives to getting the fattened liver result that is the hallmark of true pâté de foie gras.
For the unititiated, foie gras is “fat liver,” and the term refers to making a pâté out of goose liver taken from geese that have been force-fed to fatten them – and their livers – up, a technique called gavage. Such liver has a very rich, buttery, and complex taste, and is also used to make mousse or parfait, and served on tiny square of toast.
Geese typically overfeed in the fall months, a natural instinct for preparing for winter’s lean times and associated migration, and liver taken from geese at that time is suitable for sauteeing or grilling. This is not the traditional method of foie gras preparation (poaching in butter, wine, or brandy) but works best with “wild” goose liver because of the substantially decreased fat content. A true fattened goose liver would disintegrate on the grill as the fat melted, and needs to be carefully seared if sauteeing.
In any event, goose liver at any time is fine for a pâté – it would simply be a goose liver pâté instead of a pâté de foie gras. Just remember to devein the liver first – one advantage of buying pâté de foie gras in those little tins is that it’s already cleaned and deveined.
Enjoy!!
Ah, sauteed … that does make sense. Thanks! Now, to find my shotgun …
Dangit, wrong season! 
I have nothing to add on the subject matter, but I did want to mention how well written I thought the report was. Nice one Bricker
One thing you missed, though, when you said about seasoning and cooking it just like chicken or turkey, was that goose tends to be a little more blessed with adipose fat than those other birds, and if you don’t pay attention to that, the finished product may be kinda… can’t think of the word… begins with a g?
Greasy, Gross, Green, Gorgeous, Great, Giant… Give those of us who don’t know what “adipose fat” is a hint.
Greasy…
My favorite thing to do is remove any excess fat I find in the body cavities, and wash it thoroughly inside and out, and soak for about an hour in salted water. Then I gently poke tiny holes in the skin all over so the fat drains out as it cooks.
Get a GOOD roasting pan, a very deep one, with a rack to hold the little beastie up out of the drippings. Put a couple of cups of water in the botom of the pan and put it in the oven covered set on low [300 fahrenheit] and after about 45 minutes use a basting bulb to suction out the layer of fat in the bottom. I strain it and store it in the fridge for cooking with later. Pop it back in for about another hour minutes after putting a cup or so of water with some sliced onion, and herbs [i like thyme, ginger and black pepper] in it to scent the goose and covering. Bring the temperature up to about 450.
After the hour is up, check the temperature with an instant read probe thermometer in the deep part of the breast, and again down deep in the thigh [unless you get the kind with the pop up thermometer] You can then cook it uncovered to help crisp up the skin for the remaining time.
Make Pommes Landaise with some of the good goose fat -
small dice of prosciutto and potatoes - I cheat and use the premage ore’ida loose [non patty] hashed brown potatoes, and fine dice onions. Saute briefly in the goose fat and season with black pepper.
Now I really want to go out back and grab one of the geese and make mrAru kill and clean it up for sunday…
Remember that we’re talking wild geese, not farm-raised, store-bought geese. The wild geese have much less fat than their domesticated cousins. I would be very hesitant to do the little pin-prick technique on a wild goose. I’ve found that if you let the fat drain away and don’t retain moisture somehow, you’re going to end up with drier, tougher meat - goose jerky, if you will.
Also note that because of the lack of fat, the bird will cook much faster than you anticipate.
aruvqan, I heartily endorse your brining suggestion, and I’d even say it ought to be overnight. I’d also add brown sugar to the brine mix.
If you can, sear the skin prior to cooking. I use hot goose fat from previous invitees, or bacon fat (because, frankly, bacon fat can do no wrong). And you’re right on the money about a pan with water (although I’ve used beef broth, and beer, to equally good in not better effect.)
I remember reading one time that geese are pretty greasy. Might have been on a message board somewhere, I dunno.
Personal anecdote: I only had goose once, and it was farm-raised rather than wild. We pastramied the legs, and they were delicious. The breast, I have to say, was dreadful – dry and tasteless. And I don’t think it was the cooking, she’s a fantastic chef.
…mutilated monkey meat, little birdie’s dirty feet…
There’s a store in the city that will sell you a live goose and kill and clean it on the spot. They can do that in 10 minutes. What’s up with that?
Fresh food is better, in most cases.
Uhh… They know what they’re doing and they’re quick at it? Some folks want to get the liver out of the goose while it’s still warm and ice it before it has a chance to degrde.
Or were you expecting it to take five weeks to kill a goose?
Bricker’s description would seem to take quite a bit more than ten minutes. Perhaps that is the source of the confusion.
Right, in the staff report it says you have to let it rot for five days and then make candles.
To answer my own question, I think they use boiling water to defeather it quickly. Does this hurt the quality of the meat/skin? Should I defeather it myself some other way? And, should I let it rot for five days when I get it home?
If you let it hang for a few days, it tenderizes the meat and makes it easier to pluck. There’s no bar to immediately plucking and cleaning a freshly killed bird, especially if you have a plucking machine, which I suspect they might.
I trust you can see, however, that if my column had said, “…and then position the bird in your plucking machine…” it might have been as useful.
Bricker:
I’m sure it was an oversight, but I think you need to clean the bird before letting it hang to avoid death by food poisoning from putrefaction of the interior organs.
No. I’ve never had that problem, being pretty much alive and kicking today despite having prepared more than one goose by the methods I describe, although there’s no harm in drawing (cleaning) it first.
Now, if you were hanging your recently deceased goose in warmer weather, I grant you that this might be a problem, and perhaps it was an oversight to not emphasize more strongly the importance of temperature, but my report does say:
Four or five days at that temperature will not create any problems in the putrification arena.
Now that you mention it, there is an addendum that I should have included, and is an oversight: if the goose is badly gut-shot, then there’s value in cleaning before you hang it.
