In Dickens’ book “A Christmas Story”, he talks about a goose dinner which I have seen mentioned in other books. Since most early colonists were British, and America has plenty of native geese, why hasn’t there been more restaurants, or mentions in contemporary accounts, of goose dinners here?
It’s a very fat meat. I’ve never eaten it, but maybe the leftovers are unpalatable, or for some other reason it’s less profitable to farm and butcher?
I cooked goose once. A nice size goose was prepped by Mr.Wrekker and he was instructed how to cook it. I followed the recipe to the letter. We ended up with a small hard kernel of meat swimming in about 2 gallons of goose grease. Unedible.
I can’t answer the OP’s question with respect to America, but just wanted to mention that goose as a Christmas dish is popular here in Vienna. All the supermarkets here are currently well-stocked with geese (and also ducks and turkeys).
It’s true that goose (and duck) give off a lot of fat when roasted. This is why it’s important to put them on a rack in the roasting pan. (This can always be improvised with a crumpled sheet of aluminum foil.) It may also be necessary to periodically drain the fat during cooking. But make sure to save it as it’s great for roasting potatoes!
Domesticated geese are big and fat, right? Maybe, when you don’t have to feed that many people, that’s where the partridges, guinea fowl, and pheasants come in.
2006 thread on the subject. The consensus seemed to be that the dearth of white meat is one of the main factors making goose less appealing to Americans than turkey or chicken.
However, it appears that some Americans do eat goose, to a sufficient extent that some major supermarkets carry frozen goose around the winter holidays.
Goose is really expensive. It was ~$60 for a goose at Thanksgiving. Per pound at least 2x if not 3x compared with duck and turkey.
IMHO, It was good to test out but not worth the trouble or expense as a repeat.
This, this, this!
I used to roast goose for Christmas every year. I always pricked the skin all over to facilitate release of the fat, and drain it a couple times during roasting. That fat is gold for roasting potatoes, as you point out.
I find goose benefits from fruit-based or sweet and sour side dishes such as the classic sweet and sour cabbage. Prune dressing is also nice but best not cooked as stuffing.
Goose has a stronger flavor then chicken and is not to all tastes. Personally I much prefer it to duck. And those potatoes! So worth it!
I don’t think they’re much eaten here in the UK, though my Danish mother-in-law tends to insist on one for Xmas, so I’ll probably have some goose later (Xmas Eve being the night for Danish Xmas feasting). And yet again, I’ll politely pretend that it isn’t far too greasy to be worthwhile.
It’s sort of seen as a posh person’s Christmas choice in the UK. Although I’ve heard the royals have turkey like the rest of us commoners so make of that what you will.
You get a lot more meat from a turkey, and it’s milder in flavour so suits gran’s delicate stomach.
Although I have a jar of goose fat for the roast potatoes.
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Had it once; found it tasted pretty much like the dark meat of a turkey.
Since this is about food, let’s move it to Cafe Society.
Colibri
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ETA: 
Do we have a particularly large goose-farming industry? I didn’t think so, but don’t want to make any assumptions. Without a large industry for it (like we have for beef, pork, turkey, chicken, etc), most of the geese would have to be hunted, and there wouldn’t be a big enough supply to make it a popular seasonal meal. I think Cecil covered a similar topic about deer. Deer were never domesticated like cattle, and thus never became as popular a meal. I think the same holds true for rabbits (they’re domesticated, but more for pets than as a reliable food source).
If I’m wrong about there not being a huge goose-farming industry, than I have no idea why it isn’t a popular dish here, lol. I’d love to try it sometimes, but based on what some people in the thread have said, it doesn’t seem like I’m missing out on a lot.
I had goose once for Thanksgiving. It was okay. I don’t think I’d go out of my way for it but it wasn’t awful.
I just think with chicken, turkey, and duck available there’s little reason to eat goose. They’re easier to cook and appeal to the tastes of more people.
I had an acquaintance in college with Lithuanian roots who said they always had goose for Christmas (we were in an upper division American Folklore class that was specializing in food and foodways). Since she been eating since she was a little kid, she liked it, but she did say it was fatty!
I think you have it backwards. If goose were more popular, then there would be a major goose farming industry. There are more than 60 breeds of domestic geese, descended from two different species, the European Greylag Goose and the Asian Swan Goose. There is a significant goose-raising industry in places where goose is popular, like China. The most common wild goose in the US is the Canada Goose. People certainly hunt them for food but I doubt there is much of a commercial market.
As has been said, I think the fact that goose (and duck) are less popular in the US than turkey or chicken is that Americans prefer white meat, which goose and duck don’t really have. Also, because of the large amount of grease more care is needed in cooking.
My father decided to make goose one year, and it was good but not worth the trouble. I’ve also had Canada Goose hunted by a friend on occasion.
I have roasted a goose for Christmas. It was great. And the leftovers were great.
It takes a little bit of technique in that you can’t just plop the goose into a pan. It renders a lot of fat, so you have to set it up with a vessel underneath to catch the fat and empty it a couple of time during the cooking process.
Of course goose fat can be used to cook other items.
It’s quite delicious. But it’s slightly more work than a turkey. Also it’s not as easy to get.
A goose looks pretty darn big, but there isn’t much meat on it. (The meat is dark.) Whatever structure is inside the chest is what keeps it buoyant on the water, it isn’t all meat like on a turkey. If you buy one, it should be farm raised, a wild goose tastes awful! Fishy, mostly.
yeah, we’re used to domestic chickens and turkeys who have been bred specifically to have large but useless (to the birds) flight muscles (breast meat.) Ducks and geese fly a lot so their flight muscles work hard, and the last goose I cooked had abut 3/16"-1/4" thick layer of fat on the breast and thighs.