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Roast Goose and Giblet Gravy
I YOUNG GOOSE, DRESSED SALT, PEPPER, THYME, SAGE, SWEET MARJORAM 1/2 CUP RAISINS, SEEDED 1/2 CUP CURRANTS 2 SOUR APPLES, MINCED 1/2 CUP BREAD CRUMBS I POTATO, COOKED AND MASHED BUTTER I TABLESPOON FLOUR Roast Goose Dust the goose well, outside and inside with salt, pepper and herbs, keep in a cool, safe place overnight.
When ready to stuff mix together raisins, currants, apples, bread crumbs and potato, with enough butter to bind them.
Stuff goose and set in oven, basting frequently. Roast 21/2-3 hours. Skim out some of the fat from time to time. Eat with apple sauce and:
Giblet Gravy Boil together gizzard, heart and liver in very little water. When done mince heart and gizzard, mash liver with flour, add water giblets were boiled in and when the goose is done, stir this giblet mixture into the pan gravy, adding a little more marjoram, sage and thyme.
Duck and its gravy can be done in the same way, and a big bowl of sweet sliced oranges is sure to make a hit with it.
A plain 19th-century-style goose with a fruit-and-potato stuffing rather than a bread forcemeat. The original gives no oven temperature and assumes a cook who knows how to manage several cups of rendering fat.
- Oven temperatureNone is given. Start at 425F for the first 30 minutes to set the skin, then drop to 325F for the remainder. The stated 2½–3 hours suits a young bird of about 8–10 lb.
- Doneness, not clock timeGoose varies enormously in fat and frame. Take the thigh to 170–175F and the stuffing to at least 165F; the legs are the last part to give way.
- Prick and drainBefore roasting, prick the skin over the breast and thighs with a skewer, avoiding the meat, so the fat can run out.
- The fat is the prizeA goose will give up a good deal of fat, often two cups or more. Ladle it out through a heatproof funnel into a clean jar as you go; refrigerated, it keeps for months and is the best possible medium for potatoes.
- GibletsSimmer gizzard and heart for 45–60 minutes in barely enough water to cover. Add the liver only for the last 10 minutes, or it turns granular and bitter. Do not use the liver from a supermarket giblet packet if it looks green-tinged near the gall.
- Stuffing safetyStuff immediately before roasting, never the night before, and pack it loosely. A tightly packed cavity will still be below temperature when the breast is dry.
- YieldA young goose of this size serves four to six, less generously than its weight suggests — the carcass is large and the meat sparse compared with a turkey.
Goose was the standard festive bird across much of northern Europe long before turkey displaced it, partly because a goose forages for itself on grass and stubble and needs little grain. The stuffing here — raisins, currants, sour apples, breadcrumbs, mashed potato — follows a fruit-based tradition rather than sage-and-onion: fruit and acid were used to cut the richness of a very fatty bird, which is also why apple sauce is served alongside. The instruction to skim fat repeatedly reflects a kitchen that valued goose grease as a separate product, for frying, for waterproofing boots, and in folk practice as a chest rub. The closing note about duck and sliced oranges is the same logic applied twice: sharp fruit against dark, oily poultry.