Half-Pekinged Goose with Wild Rice-Chipotle Stuffing

[dianeduane]

(Devised for Christmas/Solstice dinner 2001, after thinking about the famous "Black Turkey Recipe" and deciding it was too much trouble. Might as well put it up here so I can find it again this year...)

Necessary equipment:

• 1 hair dryer
• 1 large stockpot or similar, 10 liters or 10 quarts or better (and here, bigger is definitely better)
• At least 2 largish saucepans
• 1 cookie sheet or jellyroll sheet
• 1 roasting pan
• 1 roasting rack (not vertical)

(Please note: Teaspoons are US teaspoons equalling 5 ml fluid measure. Tablespoons are USA tablespoons equalling approx. 15 ml fluid measure.)

To begin with, acquire:

• 1 goose massing 4 kg / 9 lb or thereabouts, with giblets and neck if at all possible

For the stuffing:

• 1 USA cup or 200 grams wild rice
• 3 {USA] cups or approximately 300 grams mixed breadcrumbs/sliced bread, cubed. (Make it a good solid bread, not some Wonder Bread-like substance. Plain breads are probably better than flavored ones for this, though I'm not sure an onion bread wouldn't work.)
• 1 teaspoon ground chipotle chiles
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh-ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or more, to taste)
• 1/8 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/8 teaspoon dried "herbes de Provence"
• 1/4 tablespoon dried parsley or 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped (curly, not broadleaf)
• 1/4 tablespoon dried sage or 1/2 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
• 1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika (or plain sweet paprika, but smoked is better if you can get it)
• 1 teaspoon smoked hot paprika (or plain hot paprika, but as above, smoked is better...)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme or 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• 1 chicken stock cube or chicken bouillon cube
• 1/2 teaspoon orange or lemon zest, preferably freshly grated (the bottled stuff is either too dry or too finely textured, sometimes both)
• 1 lemon
• 2 ounces or 60 grams butter
• 4 fluid ounces or 120 milliliters water

For the gravy:

• 2 liters or 2 quarts goose stock (Not something you have to have on hand...it happens during the cooking.)
• 1/3 cup or 40 grams plain flour
• 4 fluid ounces or 120 milliliters red wine (or more to taste. And not "cooking wine"! Don't give the pot anything you wouldn't drink yourself.)
• 1 lemon
• 2.75 fluid ounces or 80 milliliters port (Nothing too fancy. Keeping up too close a parity between what you and the pot get to drink is an affectation.)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Remove the giblet-and-neck package from the goose. Present food hygeine wisdom suggests that washing poultry before stuffing it is merely a great way to spread around whatever germs might be in there, so merely pat dry with paper towels unless the goose has been ineptly drawn and it really seems to need a wash. -- Prick the goose carefully all over with a skewer, trying hard to prick the skin only, not the flesh of the goose beneath. Explain to the gathering cats/dogs that goose causes cancer.

Fill the 10-liter stockpot about 2/3 full of water and bring to a boil. When at full rolling boil, duck the "head end" of the goose into the boiling water as far as it will go. Keep immersed for at least 1 minute, or until (surprise) goosebumps form on the skin. Remove and immerse the rear end of the goose and repeat the process.

Take the goose out of the boiling water and put on a rack over a cookie sheet to drain. Explain to the cats/dogs that goose causes cancer. The goose's skin will start to become taut after being removed from the boiling water. Use the hair dryer to dry out the skin of the goose slightly. (Ten minutes or so is enough.) Fat will start running out of the skin during this process. Evict cats/dogs and leave the goose on the rack to drain for a while.

Pour off all but two liters / two quarts of the goose-boiling water and add the giblets and neck to it. Simmer on low heat from now until it's time to make gravy.

Meanwhile, prepare the stuffing. Put the wild rice in a microwave-proof casserole with 24 fluid ounces / 600 milliliters of water and microwave on high power for 5 minutes and on medium for 25 minutes. (Or cook on the stovetop according to package directions: but microwaving is usually faster.) Drain and put in a dish with a little butter. While the wild rice is cooking, cube the sliced bread and toast it in a low oven on a cookie sheet for twenty minutes or so (or do it in the toaster, if you're lazy or in a rush. Preferably before cubing it). Toss the toasted, cubed bread together with the bread crumbs in a large bowl. Season with herbes de Provence, orange or lemon zest, parsley, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, chipotle chiles, garlic powder, celery seed, and the paprikas. Melt butter in water, add the bouillon cube or stock cube and the juice of the lemon, and heat or microwave briefly until all is melted together; toss the wild rice together with the dry stuffing ingredients, and then add the butter/water/lemon juice/bouillon mixture and toss the whole business until well mixed. Set aside until the goose is finished draining.

Stuff the main cavity of the goose and use your preferred method (twine or whatever) to fasten the legs together to keep the stuffing from falling out, meanwhile explaining to the cats/dogs that goose still causes cancer. If available, cut off some of the neck skin off to cover any exposed stuffing with (as stuffing the neck-cavity of a goose usually turns out to be difficult and/or frustrating if not impossible). Put the goose breast down on the rack. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade / 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Insert the goose and lower temperature to 375 F / 190 C. Roast at this temperature for the first hour, then lower temperature to 325 F / 160 C. After the second hour of roasting, remove the goose from the rack. Drain goose fat from the pan and replace rack: return the goose to the rack, on its back this time. Explain to the cats/dogs that goose causes not only cancer but mange. Put the goose back in the oven and roast for one more hour. Put the goose fat aside to settle.

At the end of the hour, remove the goose and allow it to rest for at least half an hour -- the period while the gravy is being made should be sufficient. -- Strain the stock from the stock pot. Pour excess fat out of the roasting pan. Scrape the pan and put scrapings and a little goose fat into a saucepan. Add a little butter and warm. Add more butter and the flour. Make a roux and cook it moderately dark. Add the red wine, port, the juice of the remaining lemon, and half the stock: add more as the gravy cooks, if needed. Simmer until thick. Meanwhile, pour the settled goose fat into small jars and put in the freezer for making roast potatoes later in the year. Then mop the floor with a strong detergent, since by now goose fat has gotten just about everywhere, and the floor's coefficient of friction has begun to resemble that of a newly Zamboni'd skating rink.

Carve the goose. Serve with rowanberry jelly on the side (or cranberry or redcurrant jelly if you can't get rowanberry), and mashed potatoes and a vegetable, possibly green beans with sliced boiled chestnuts or something along those lines. Poach the goose liver gently in a little gravy, give it to the cats/dogs, and tell them you were just kidding about the cancer.

Yield: 6-8 servings.

Comments

[tabbyclaw.livejournal.com]

Funny, I was just commenting to my mother today that you never hear about anyone eating goose anymore. Clearly I was wrong.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

There are definitely a lot of people here who would think of it as a possible Christmas dish. (Though turkey would actually be more popular.)

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

We often have goose either Xmas Day or Boxing Day - depending on which day is "main family gathering day" each year :)

[wolfette]

and the cats/dogs refuse to believe you and continue to get underfoot anyway.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Sooooo true.

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how fast my cat can go from asleep on the top edge of the sofa to trying to trip the person just lifting the roast bird out of the oven. He demonstrated that for me again just a couple of hours ago. At least he's burnt his tongue enough times now that he doesn't try to lick the empty roasting pan until it's fully cool anymore.

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

Present food hygeine wisdom suggests that washing poultry before stuffing it is merely a great way to spread around whatever germs might be in there, so merely pat dry with paper towels unless the goose has been ineptly drawn and it really seems to need a wash.

Heh, I remember when television chefs etc started talking about this. I found the whole concept rather odd as I was never taught to "wash meat because of germs" - you're going to cook the damned thing which'll have more effect on any germs than washing in cold water would. I was always told that the only reason you'd need for washing any meat (including poultry) before cooking is if it's got bone chips or similar from butchering (more chops and pieces etc than whole birds really) or it has been poorly stored. Or, of course, if you've soaked it in vinegar as part of a tenderising process :)

[wolf-moonshadow.livejournal.com]

Explain to the gathering cats/dogs that goose causes cancer.

Well, I was doing fine, eating breakfast and reading your directions, until I hit this point. Thank you, as I now have oatmeal and coffee to clean out of my laptop. That so perfectly describes our kitchen when cooking.

[lady-autumnstar.livejournal.com]

I was always taught that stuffing any bird, whether turkey, goose, or chicken was EVIL, as improperly cooked or stored stuffing would make everyone sick. Also, being from Atlanta, Georgia, we make "dressing", which is stuffing put in a casserole dish and baked alongside the bird, then served with gravy.

As for preparation of the bird, I soak the turkey in a flavored brine for several hours prior to baking it. yummy.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Re Stuffing Being Evil: This is true enough if you don't take care about the preparation. But I've been stuffing turkeys / geese with no problems for thirty years.

Absolute necessities: Prepare the stuffing just before cooking. No letting it sit around. Stuff the bird and shove immediately into the oven. Add a little extra roasting time to make sure the stuffing has cooked thorougly. (I have been known to use two thermometers, one in the stuffing cavity and one in the muscle.) Once the bird is finished, get the stuffing out of there immediately into a separate dish: after dinner, refrigerate it immediately. And don't let it sit around forever. (This has never been a problem with any of my stuffings.)

I do the dressing trick, too, as there's never enough stuffing.

Re brining: This is super if you have time for it...works wonderfully. I should try it with a goose sometime.

[lady-autumnstar.livejournal.com]

This is the recipe I use for brined turkey. It's from a show on the Food Network-Good Eats with Alton Brown. It's fairly simple, and tastes really good. The brine not only adds flavor, but keeps the turkey moist. I don't see wht it wouldn't work with a goose.

GOOD EATS ROAST TURKEY

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water
For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.
A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.
Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.
Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.
Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

[pariyal.livejournal.com]

(I have been known to use two thermometers, one in the stuffing cavity and one in the muscle.)

Ooh, thanks! I've always used educated-guessing, but I'll get another thermometer before I have another goose (probably Christmas, or else the New Year).

I do geese with apple and walnut stuffing, mostly, and that usually gets hotter than the goose itself so it shouldn't be a problem.