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Deviled Goose
Take a good-sized goose, singe and draw, plunge it into a pan of boiling water and leave for thirty minutes or so; then stuff it with a mixture made of mashed potatoes, butter, onions, parsley, thyme and a little black pepper. Put a few slices of fat pork in a pan, place the goose on it and pour in a pint of broth. Put a little butter on the breast of the bird and pour over it a mixture made of two tablespoonfuls of each of pepper, vinegar, celery vinegar, made mustard and half that quantity of any acid fruit jelly. Sprinkle over salt and pepper, dust it well over with flour and put in a quick oven, basting frequently. When done take it out, lay it on a dish, skim the fat off the gravy, pour it over, and serve.
A whole roast goose dressed in the Victorian "devil" manner: mustard, vinegar and pepper laid on before roasting rather than after. The bird is straightforward; the deviling mixture is where the recipe needs reading carefully.
- The hinge: render the fatThe thirty minutes in boiling water reads as a scald rather than a cooking step, the apparent intent being to tighten the skin and start the subcutaneous fat moving, though the recipe does not say so. Prick the skin over the breast and thighs first, then dry the bird thoroughly before it goes in the pan, or the flour dusting will steam instead of crisping.
- "A quick oven"No temperature is given; the term is usually reckoned somewhere around 400-425F. Whatever the starting heat, a goose held there for the whole roast will scorch the deviling and dry the breast. Drop to 325-350F after the first 20-30 minutes and count on roughly 15 minutes per pound total.
- Two tablespoons of pepperTaken literally alongside two tablespoons each of vinegar and mustard, and with more salt and pepper sprinkled over afterwards, this is a punishing amount. Period "devil" mixtures often meant cayenne. A teaspoon of cayenne or a tablespoon of coarse black pepper gives the intended effect; use the full measure only if you know you want it.
- Made mustardPrepared mustard from the jar, not dry powder. A sharp English-style mustard or a Dijon suits this mixture better than a mild yellow condiment, though the recipe does not specify.
- Celery vinegarVinegar steeped with celery seed and celery leaf, once a standard cruet item and now rare. Steep a tablespoon of bruised celery seed in a cup of cider vinegar for a few days, or substitute plain cider vinegar with a pinch of ground celery seed.
- Fat porkSalt pork or fatback, sliced thin to line the pan. Thick-cut unsmoked bacon works; smoked bacon will assert itself over the devil mixture.
- Acid fruit jellyCurrant, crabapple, quince or barberry — something tart with enough pectin to glaze. One tablespoon, per the "half that quantity" instruction.
- The gravy and the fatA goose will throw off a great deal of fat into that pint of broth. Skim it as directed and keep it; goose fat is the most valuable thing the bird produces. The remaining gravy will be sharp with vinegar and mustard, so taste before adding further salt.
- Doneness and yieldRoast to 165-170F in the thickest part of the thigh, away from bone. A goose carries far less meat for its weight than it appears to; a 10-12 lb bird serves six to eight.
Goose was still a familiar American holiday bird rather than the specialty item it has become, and "deviling" was the standard vocabulary for anything treated with mustard, cayenne and vinegar — the term is generally traced to late eighteenth-century England, where a devilled bone or kidney was supper-table food, hot in both senses. What is unusual here is that the devil goes on before the roast rather than being applied to cold leftovers, which was the more common use; the mustard-and-vinegar coat is doing double duty as a foil to a very rich, very fatty bird. The mashed-potato stuffing points the same way: a starchy, absorbent filling that soaks up rendering fat. Celery vinegar in the mix is a small period fingerprint — flavoured vinegars filled the American cruet stand through the nineteenth century and had largely disappeared from home pantries by the middle of the twentieth.