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Goose, Grilled
Take the remains of a cold goose. The legs, back, rump, and gizzard are especially suitable. The breast, etc., may be made into a hash. Dip the joints in clarified butter, and score the flesh in two or three places, pepper them rather highly, strew a little salt over them, dip them in finely-grated bread-crumbs, and, again, in the butter, and broil them over a strong clear fire until brightly browned. Serve either dry or with grill sauce (see GRILL SAUCE). Time, three or four minutes to broil.
A Victorian way of dealing with the awkward parts of a cold roast goose: the joints are buttered, crumbed and grilled hard for a few minutes. It works on any leftover roast bird, and the whole thing hinges on the fire being fierce enough to brown the crumbs before the meat inside dries out.
- Strong clear fireThis means a bed of coals with no smoke and no flame, giving steady radiant heat from below. A modern gas or electric broiler preheated to its highest setting, with the rack close to the element, is the nearest equivalent; a charcoal grill burned down to grey coals is closer still.
- The three or four minutes are realThe three or four minutes are plausible -- The meat is already cooked. The grilling is only to crisp the crumb and warm the joint through. The book's time covers the whole grilling, not each side; much longer and the crumbs will scorch.
- Clarified butter, not butterWhole butter has milk solids that will scorch and taste bitter under a hard grill. Melt butter gently, skim the foam, pour off the clear fat and leave the milky residue behind. Ghee substitutes directly.
- ScoringCutting through the skin and into the flesh in two or three places lets the seasoning and butter reach the interior.
- Bread-crumbsFine crumbs, grated as the recipe directs. Commercial dried crumbs are heavier and brown faster; if using them, keep the joints a little further from the heat. Coarser crumbs such as panko may not cling as well through the double dip.
- The gizzardOnly useful if the bird was roasted with the giblets in or the gizzard was cooked separately until tender. A raw gizzard needs an hour or more of slow cooking before it will take to the grill.
- "Peppered rather highly""Pepper them rather highly" -- The seasoning is meant to be assertive, in the same spirit as the devilled leftover dishes of the period, though the recipe itself calls only for pepper and salt.
- YieldThe book gives no yield; two goose legs with the back and rump would make a dish for about two. Serve with something sharp -- mustard, or the grill sauce the book points to -- since goose is rich and the crumb coating adds more fat.
Grills of this kind belong to a whole Victorian genre of second-day cookery: devilled bones, grilled turkey legs, kidneys on toast, all designed to turn the unglamorous remains of a large roast into a hot dish for breakfast, luncheon or the supper table after the theatre. The recipe assumes a household that roasts a whole goose and then must account for every part of it over the following days -- the breast to a hash, the legs and back to the gridiron. The strong seasoning is not incidental; cold roast meat loses savour, and pepper, mustard and a browned crust were common means of restoring it. Devilled bones were a tavern dish by the late eighteenth century, and grills of this kind were well established in domestic cookery books by the later nineteenth century.