Green-Goose Pie

A boned-bird pie of the old raised-pie school: two young geese, one packed inside the other, seasoned hard and baked under butter. The work is nearly all in the boning and the seasoning; the baking is slow and long.

• Green-goose means a very young birdA green goose was killed before it had fed on stubble, generally understood as under four months old, and was smaller and leaner than a modern supermarket goose. Two small young geese are the nearest match, and a single larger bird boned and rolled around a boned duck gives a similar effect.
• "Every plug"The plugs are the stubs of pinfeathers left in the skin after plucking. They pull out with tweezers or the point of a small knife, and singeing over a gas flame takes off the remaining down. Skipping this leaves bristles in a pie that is meant to be eaten cold and sliced.
• BoningBone the birds from the back, leaving the skin whole, and leave the leg and wing bones out entirely since the legs are to be drawn inwards. Keep the carcasses for stock; a little reduced goose stock poured into the finished pie sets to jelly and fills the gaps left as the meat shrinks.
• "Season them high"Cold-eaten meat needs far more salt and spice than hot. Reckon roughly 1 teaspoon of fine salt per pound of boned meat, with mace, allspice and black pepper in the region of half a teaspoon of each per bird. Fry a scrap of the seasoned trimmings to taste before you assemble.
• Oven and timingThe recipe gives neither heat nor time. A moderate oven, in the region of 325F, and roughly 3 hours covered would suit a pie of this size; if using pastry, protect the crust with foil for the first two-thirds. Cook until a skewer into the centre comes out hot to the lip and an instant-read thermometer shows 165F in the middle of the meat.
• Crust or no crustBaked "without crust" means the dish is simply covered tightly, as a terrine; foil under a lid does what a luted paste lid once did. With crust, the paragraphs referred to are short crust and puff paste, neither of which is reproduced here, so use any firm hot-water or short pastry that will stand up to three hours.
• The butterBesides basting, the fat setting over the surface would help seal it from air, the same principle as potting, which may be part of why the original claims long keeping. Note that the recipe puts the butter over the birds before baking rather than pouring it over the cooked meat.
• Ignore the keeping claim"It will keep long" belongs to a cold larder and a butter seal, not to modern expectations. Refrigerate the pie as soon as it has cooled, eat it within three days, and do not leave it standing at room temperature for a buffet.
• YieldTwo boned geese make a very large pie: 12 to 16 servings cold, with pickles, mustard and bread.