Goose: It's What's For Dinner

[ellyssian]

Okay, by feeding these turkeys (pun quite intended, thank you), we've trained Canadian geese to forget how to migrate and to sit around beautiful parks, ponds, and streams, where they can aggressively attack toddlers who aren't feeding them bread fast enough. Not to mention the mess they make.

So, what's it going to take before hunting restrictions on this over-population are removed, and the Kissmas goose can cease being a thing of the past?

Maybe when the kamikaze tendencies become more apparent?

(For the record, I've never dined on goose, to my knowledge, I'm just curious. And often annoyed at the mess they make. And I still haven't forgiven them for attacking aequitaslevitas when he was four years old. Poor kid was so traumatized, he never asked me to take him to feed the geese again. Although we did have to admire the father with the pickup truck, who hoisted his equally assailed son into the back of his pickup truck, safe from snapping beaks of death, to continue the distribution process.)

Comments

[wolfette]

we had goose the other year for winterfest. Meh - lots of fat. LOTS of fat. Duck is tastier.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Funny, because the people I know who like duck (over, say, chicken), do so because the duck has more fat...

So if this is more... that'd be a pretty rich meal. I'd probably keel over. =)

[wolfette]

Never been a big fan of fat - not since my gallstone attack aged 19 years old.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I tend to like fatty stuff - specifically pork ribs, bacon, and sausage - but I've noticed that I have a fat ceiling, or something. I get to a certain amount and it's all good, and then... suddenly it's not so good, and I have to stop.

A lady I used to work with would feed me barbecue ribs (Chinese style; I expect her family ran a restaurant), and would follow up immediately with one or two pieces of ginseng candy. It actually felt like it was getting rid of the fat. I miss that stuff. =)

[patrixa.livejournal.com]

Grandma M roasted a goose once when she was a young bride with next to nil cooking skills, but she wanted to try goose that holiday. Her mother had cooked one once when they could afford it; my mom remembered it as a delicious treat. So she put it in a regular roasting pan and after an hour or so, all the spattered grease caught on fire and then the stove sort of got ruined, the smoke sooted up the walls and she never ever cooked a one again... one could say, "her goose was cooked".

While duck is fatty, the fat's layered between meat and skin. When cooked right, the meat is tender, but not fatty. Since Dan likes it, I do roast duck a few times a year. it's kinda rich for more often. Since he takes home any left over meat, I am left with the carcass. Can you guess what I make? Yep, duck soup. (with wild rice, herbs and celery --mm-mmm good)

Maybe I'll roast (or you could grill) a duck my next visit.

As for live geese, YUCK! I read, last summer via Yahoo news, about a goose whisperer in Australia who somehow convinces pesky pesty flocks to move on. THe ones here didn't pay any attention to my attempt at whispering them away, nor my shouting them away. Oh, well.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I do goose every year for Xmas... but it's not Canada goose, I know, it's a kind bred for eating. Although one year we had a "weeder goose" and I detected no difference except it was a bit smaller...

Goose is very yummy when cooked well- and I DO mean well; it's tough when even slightly less than "overcooked"- and if one adopts the appropriate techniques, it does not HAVE to trash one's oven. Sticking it in a 450F and roasting is NOT the proper technique- the goose will be lovely and the fat rendered (albeit somewhat burnt), but the oven will be a wreck. Best to do what's essentially an oven-braise, sort of- twice the time at 325F or so, turning it over once, and removing the fat every hour or so to keep it nice, then finishing off with a blast of high heat to crisp the skin- by that time the fat's rendered so it doesn't trash the oven.

And save the fat for the best roasted potatoes EVER. Or confit, maybe.

I'd certainly be willing to try a Canada goose if someone offered me one, or if I could get one without paying the earth for it. I agree the things are a nuisance! And goose is very yummy... :)

[aequitaslevitas.livejournal.com]

What really got me about this was the comments - two people asked for the condition of the goose and another blamed the truck driver for the accident. Apparently they thought he was speeding. I highly doubt the truck driver was at fault, speeding or not.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

The goose is in a coma in the ICU, and since they don't have health insurance, the taxpayers will be footing the bill! =)