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Goose, Cold, to Hash
Cut the remains of a cold goose into small, convenient-sized pieces. Put some sliced onions into a stewpan with a piece of butter, and let them fry until they are tender, but not burnt. Add as much stock or water as will be sauce for the hash, with a little pepper, salt, a bunch of sweet herbs, the bones and skin of the goose, and a glass of port or claret, if liked. Boil gently, until the gravy is well-flavoured, then strain it, thicken it, if necessary, and put in the pieces of goose to get hot, but the gravy must not boil after the meat is added. If any goose-stuffing has been left, heat it in the oven. Place the goose on a hot dish, pour the gravy over it, and garnish with shapes of toasted bread and little heaps of stuffing. Time, three-quarters of an hour. Probable cost, 4d., exclusive of the cold meat, etc.
A Victorian way with leftover roast goose: the carcass makes the gravy, the meat is only warmed through in it. The hinge is that last instruction — once the sliced goose goes in, the sauce must stay below a simmer or already-cooked meat turns dry and stringy.
- Don't boil the meatBring the strained gravy to about 160-170F, slip in the goose, and hold it there for five to ten minutes. Boiling reheated roast meat squeezes out what juice is left in it.
- The stock is the recipeMuch of the three-quarters of an hour in the timing is presumably the bones-and-skin simmer. Chop the carcass small so it fits under the liquid, and skim the goose fat off the top before straining — there will be a lot of it, and it keeps in the fridge for roast potatoes.
- A glass of port or claretRead this as roughly 2 fl oz (a wineglassful by period reckoning), added to the simmering stock so the alcohol cooks off before straining.
- Sweet herbsA bouquet of parsley, thyme and a bay leaf, tied with string or in a muslin bag. "Sweet" here means aromatic rather than sugared.
- Thickening"If necessary" assumes a stock gelatinous enough to coat on its own. If it isn't, whisk in a beurre manié (equal butter and flour, about 1 tbsp of each per cup of gravy) and cook it out for two or three minutes before the meat goes in.
- Stuffing and ovenGoose stuffing of the period was usually sage and onion. Reheat it covered at 350F for 15-20 minutes so it doesn't dry to a crust, then break it into the small heaps the recipe wants.
- Shapes of toasted breadSippets — bread cut into triangles or diamonds and toasted or fried. Cut them from a firm white loaf and add them at the table, or they go soft in the gravy.
- Yield and costThe carcass of one goose with the meat picked from it might feed three or four, depending how much was left. The "probable cost, 4d." covers the onions, butter and herbs only, and belongs to the later nineteenth century.
Cassell's devotes a great many entries to what to do the day after, and this is one of them: goose was a celebration bird — Michaelmas and Christmas above all — bought whole, roasted whole, and expected to reappear in some other form for a day or two afterwards. Hashing was one common technique for that second life, and the logic here is thoroughly economical rather than gastronomic: the bones and skin that would otherwise be thrown out are simmered into the very gravy that dresses the meat they came from. The insistence that the gravy not boil once the meat is in suggests a kitchen well used to reheating roast meat. The optional glass of port or claret, and the garnish of toasted sippets, are the touches that let a leftover dish be sent to table looking deliberate.