Fogdog
Well-Known Member
Roasting a whole goose in an oven is tricky. The best whole goose I've ever cooked was spit roasted on an electric rotisserie that a girlfriend owned. I don't know if it's because of the spit roasting or if I got the temperature just right or if it was the endorphins I got from being near her that made it so good. She's long gone, along with her rotisserie and I've tried to cook a whole goose several times in the oven. Never been quite as good.
The problem is, the breast meat and dark meat are done at different temperatures. It's always good but the breast meat is the best part and I find that it get's overdone, losing flavor and tenderness before the dark meat reaches the higher temps needed to get it just right. It's good though, don't get me wrong. Maybe I need to try tenting the breast meat or something. A classic Scandinavian way to fix whole roast goose is to stuff it with apples and prunes. It's always been a hit. I like serving it with lingonberry jam on the side.
If you do try to roast a goose, don't waste the fat. Goose is so fatty it practically self-bastes, so I wouldn't worry about the cheesecloth (sounds dangerous to me but I haven't tried it). If you follow the roasting temperature recommendations, the skin will be crisp and the meat moist without much bother. I do baste using a turkey baster but I don't think it matters much. A goose will render 12 oz or more of fat during cooking. I save it in a jar in the freezer. Pre-cook potatoes for about 15 minutes, let them cool, peel them, cut into thick rounds or wedges and fry them in goose fat until browned on both sides. The best.
This year, I'm going to try something different with the goose. Bone out the breast meat and cook it separately . I'll cook the dark meat and I haven't figured out what to do with it yet, thinking of cooking it confit, a classic French style. I'll still save every bit of goose fat that I can and render it separately. But really, I haven't tried this. My family might suffer through yet another failed experiment.
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