# since this Christmas season, why don't we eat goose diners like in Dickens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 24, 2019, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327 "2019-12-24T04:02:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/21 "2019-12-24T18:39:29Z")
We tried a goose once for the heck of it and were disappointed. There was hardly any meat at all. But at least we could say we cooked a goose. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/22 "2019-12-24T18:43:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > 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. I suspect you’re right – if there were high demand, US poultry producers might farm more geese. OTOH, I wonder if geese (and, for that matter, ducks) don’t lend themselves to the sort of close-quarters factory farming that’s made chicken and turkey so common and inexpensive in US grocery stores, and thus, staples of the US diet. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/23 "2019-12-24T18:44:40Z")
Haven’t had goose, but have have had Peking Duck at a Chinese restaurant. Was quite tasty. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/24 "2019-12-24T19:10:34Z")
I suspect it takes too much food and too much time for a low yield of meat, which increases the cost. Combined with the dark meat (which I find delicious but YMMV), massive quantities of fat, that pushes demand down further. So nobody is mass-producing them, which pushes prices up even more. We had one for Christmas last year. It was delicious. Cooked over a pan that was drained twice. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/25 "2019-12-24T20:01:37Z")
I’ve never eaten duck or goose. Comments that I’ve heard haven’t inspired me to seek it out. Greasy meat isn’t appealing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/26 "2019-12-24T20:02:18Z")
It’s not the least bit greasy unless you cook it in its own fat. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/27 "2019-12-24T20:26:21Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > 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. I’ve never cooked my own goose, but I’ve had it several times while living abroad. I think it tastes great – deep, dark meat type of flavor, and I’m a fan of dark meat. I have cooked with goose and duck fat quite a bit so, even if I didn’t like the meat,I’d buy it just for its fat. (Where I lived, you could buy blocks of goose fat in Crisco-sized blocks or tubs at almost any grocery at a non-exorbitant price, like $2-$3/lb. Wish I could do that here.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/28 "2019-12-24T20:42:41Z")
We had it once. Tasty, not at all like turkey, not that much meat and damned expensive. Yes, lots of goose fat in the pan (we used a rack). I suspect, from recipes, etc I have seen, that our forefathers had lots of uses for all that goose fat, where today, we have not. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/29 "2019-12-24T21:01:02Z")
> [@fedman](#): > > 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? Dickens’s book “A Christmas Story?” That’s a prequel to “A Christmas Carol,” right? Where we find out Scrooge hated Christmas because he didn’t get the Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock he had his heart set on, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/30 "2019-12-24T21:28:49Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > 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. I really agree with this, and if you can buy it fresh, on the foot so to speak, that’s best. I got in the habit of cooking goose for Christmas when we lived near a Hutterite colony in Montana. They lovingly raised geese for the holiday each year. Their geese were exquisite. When I moved away and had to buy frozen geese, I stopped making them except on request. I always warned the requester that it may not be that great. Like any fatty meat that is not treated to maintain its freshness, goose takes on a not-great flavor if frozen/stored too long. Much the same as home raised pork. Better use up that home grown bacon and sausage quick, because within 4-5 months, it will taste very different. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/31 "2019-12-24T22:39:39Z")
My brother shot a wild goose one year for our Christmas dinner. My mother cooked it like a regular goose, but this one must have been on the lean side, or maybe mom just cooked it way too long, but by the time it was done, it was more like goose jerky than anything else. Not a successful dinner. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/32 "2019-12-24T23:29:03Z")
Cooking one tomorrow - with blaukraut[red cabbage cooked with onions and apples and seasoned with some black pepper and vinegar], mashed potatoes with skin on, spring green salad and can’t remember what we decided on for dessert, and a fruit/cheese board. Saving the rendered fat for doing pommes landaise in the next few days [diced potatoes and prosciutto sauteed in goose fat with black pepper as the only seasoning. Sometimes I dice an onion and toss it in as well. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2019, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/33 "2019-12-25T02:14:53Z")
A pertinent article from the BBC. Apparently Orkney is currently experiencing a problem with Greylag Geese. Six years ago there were 300 breeding pairs now there are 10,000. They are destroying crops so the locals are hunting them. > [@](#): > > Until recently, most of the culled geese used to be sent to landfill, with only a few licensed Orkney butchers selling the meat to locals. > > Now Scottish Natural Heritage has announced a trial project - to be reviewed at the end of January - which allows the butchers to sell the meat across Scotland. > > “We’re looking at whether we can increase the market for goose meat,” says SNH’s Graham Neville. “Because then that would allow farmers to actually make money from the goose population, and perhaps creating a market would allow for the long-term funding of goose management.” I wonder if we will soon be seeing goose cat food. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2019, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/34 "2019-12-25T02:25:15Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > 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. This was my experience… the amount of meat wasn’t worth the expense and effort. HOWEVER goose grease is great for roasting/frying potatoes. I bet Mrs. Cratchit made good use of every part of that goose. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/35 "2019-12-28T04:43:43Z")
My SIL was formerly a celeb chef. He despises duck and goose (deer too) because so little meat is forthcoming. We feasted this XMas day on inventively prepared turkey. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/36 "2019-12-28T05:11:39Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten goose, but I’d certainly be willing to try. Goose fans should read the Sherlock Holmes tale “The Blue Carbuncle,” in which two Christmas geese play a major role. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/37 "2019-12-29T00:24:05Z")
I’ve often wondered if the comments I’ve heard about the food available to travellers in Britain compares to the food available in France. The most common sentiment I’ve heard is that food in France is incredibly delicious - almost like a religious experience. It is often said the French consider food in a very different way than the English - almost like a religious experience. But I’ve never been quite certain whether people (including comedians) are just trying to get a laugh or if there is actually much truth to these stories. Can the explanation be that people who were born in Britain and have eaten English food all their lives are just used to the food and see nothing lacking in English food? Or is it really true that French food is far more delicious than English food and that the French treat the preparation of Food as a very serious practice - almost like an art form? Is it possible the English have some kind of treatment involved in the preparation of Goose that makes it somehow more palatable than people in North American might be used to? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/38 "2019-12-29T00:27:03Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > This was my experience… the amount of meat wasn’t worth the expense and effort. > > HOWEVER goose grease is great for roasting/frying potatoes. I bet Mrs. Cratchit made good use of every part of that goose. I bet she would have had to! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/39 "2019-12-29T10:58:50Z")
> [@brainstall](#): > > My brother shot a wild goose one year for our Christmas dinner. My mother cooked it like a regular goose, but this one must have been on the lean side, or maybe mom just cooked it way too long, but by the time it was done, it was more like goose jerky than anything else. > > Not a successful dinner. Same here , but with a wild turkey. Very lean and tough. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327/40 "2019-12-30T04:52:13Z")
Wild fat birds are pretty much an oxymoron. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-this-christmas-season-why-dont-we-eat-goose-diners-like-in-dickens/845327.md?page=3)