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GOOSE (a l'Arlesienne)
Truss a goose as for boiling. Stuff it with a forcemeat made as follows. Boil four large onions for a few minutes. Drain, chop them small, and mix with them four ounces of bread-crumbs which have been soaked in milk, three ounces of fresh butter, a table-spoonful of chopped parsley, a quarter of a nutmeg, grated, a little pepper and salt, and four ounces of chestnuts prepared as for forcemeat (see CHESTNUT FORCEMEAT). Put the goose in a braising-pan, with a large sliced carrot, half a head of celery, or a small quantity of pounded celery-seed tied in muslin, a bunch of savoury herbs, an onion stuck with six cloves, a sprig of parsley, a blade of mace, half a dozen pepper-corns, and as much stock or water as will barely cover the goose. Let it braise slowly for two hours, then take it out, strain the liquor and, after skimming off the fat, boil it down until it is considerably reduced. Mix with it an equal quantity of tomato sauce, and serve the goose with the sauce poured round it. Probable cost of goose, 6s., when in full season. Sufficient for eight or ten persons.
This is a braise, not a roast, and that governs everything: the bird is barely covered in liquid, so the skin will never crisp. Judge doneness by temperature rather than by the flat two hours given.
- Trussed "as for boiling"That means legs and wings drawn in tight against the body and tied close, rather than the legs extended as for roasting. A compact bird fits a pot and holds its shape through a long, wet cook.
- The braising-panAny deep lidded pot the bird fits into with a couple of inches to spare: a large oval Dutch oven or a covered roaster. The recipe gives no weight, but a bird meant to feed eight to ten will be a large one. Braise at a bare simmer on the stovetop, or, if you prefer a steadier heat, covered in a low oven around 300-325F.
- Timing and donenessTwo hours will do for a small goose but not for a large one. Cook until the thigh reads 175F and a skewer at the joint runs clear; a stuffed bird will take longer, and the forcemeat itself should reach 165F.
- Weights and the nutmegFour ounces of breadcrumbs is roughly 2 cups fresh crumbs, 3 ounces butter is 6 tablespoons, and 4 ounces of prepared chestnuts is about 3/4 cup. A quarter of a grated nutmeg is close to half a teaspoon, which is assertive; start with less.
- Chestnut forcemeatThe cross-reference points to a separate entry not reproduced here; it will at minimum mean chestnuts cooked and peeled of both skins before being worked into the mixture. Vacuum-packed cooked chestnuts are an honest substitute and save the peeling.
- The fatA goose gives up a great deal of fat into the braising liquor. Chill the strained liquid so the fat lifts off in a solid cap, and keep it: rendered goose fat holds for months refrigerated and is worth more than the stock.
- The sauceReduce the defatted liquor hard, to perhaps a cup and a half, before adding an equal volume of tomato sauce, otherwise the finished sauce is thin and washy. Season only after reducing, since the braise concentrates the salt.
- Celery seedIf using seed instead of celery, a scant teaspoon tied in muslin or a tea infuser is plenty. Loose celery seed left in the pot will dominate the sauce and cannot be strained out cleanly.
- ServingEight to ten is optimistic: goose carries relatively little meat for its size, so count on six to eight. A brief pass under the broiler before saucing gives the pale braised skin some color.
A l'Arlesienne points to Arles, in Provence, and in French kitchen shorthand it signals the vegetables of the Rhone delta: tomato above all, with onion, garlic and often fried aubergine. Escoffier's later codification of the garnish leans on aubergine and tomato with onion rings, but in Victorian English cookery the name was applied more loosely, and here it rests almost entirely on the tomato sauce poured round the bird. Cassell's appeared in the 1870s, at a point when tomato sauce had become a reliable store-cupboard item in British kitchens rather than a Mediterranean novelty. Braising rather than roasting a goose is a thrifty treatment: it renders out a quantity of fat for later use, keeps an older or tougher bird tender, and yields a strong stock that becomes the sauce, so nothing is wasted. The price note of six shillings for a goose in full season is a reminder that this was a seasonal autumn and winter bird, tied in English practice to Michaelmas and Christmas.