Challenge 25: anything but turkey - GOOOOOOOOSE (and roast potatoes)

[miss_s_b]

Equipment needed:

• An Oven
• A fork (or two) with sharp tines
• a very large and deep roasting tin
• a cooling rack, or other similar wire rack thing that is big enough to go across the top of your roasting tin
• A meat board (this really is essential, sorry, I have one like this)
• Some kitchen foil
• a big (at least 2 pint) jug, and several jars for the goose fat.
• If you are going to go the whole hog, which I generally do with any roast bird, a hob and a massive stock pot to make stock from the carcass once you've etten it.

Ingredients:

• A goose
• Some potatoes - I recommend King Edward, Lady Balfour, or Maris Piper for this. Definitely not Saxon, Cultra, or a bunch of other cheap-but-rubbish ones.
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• A whole onion, some peppercorns, a bulb of garlic, and whatever else you might want to chuck in a Massive Stock Pot.

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180^oc or whatever your oven's equivalent thereof is.
• Chop your potatoes and put them in the roasting tin.
• Sprinkle them with salt and grind pepper over them.
• Put your rack on the top of the roasting tin, over the potatoes
• Check inside the cavity of the goose for giblets etc; if you find them, throw them into your Massive Stock Pot.
• Take your fork with sharp tines, and stab the goose all over. (I like to do this with a fork in each hand and frenziedly attack the goose with both hands in the style of Fanny Craddock saying "I find it helps at this point to think of someone you don't like very much..."). Make sure you do the top, the underside, both sides, and all the legs in your fork-stabbing frenzy.
• Rub salt and pepper over all the skin of the goose, and then place it on the rack over the potatoes.
• Shove the whole lot in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes per kilo of goose.
• When the goose has been cooked for the required time, take everything out of the oven, put the goose on the meat chopping board, cover it with foil (shiny side to the bird), and leave it to relax for 20 minutes.
• Carefully pour the vast amounts of fat off the potatoes into your jug. At this point with our goose today, the fat was completely covering the potatoes.
• Whack the oven up to 220^oc to megacrisp the potatoes while the goose is relaxing. This is the point at which you put the Yorkshire puddings in if you're doing them, too.
• Pour the fat from the jug into the jars and seal the jars while the fat is still hot.
• Do whatever veg you are serving with the goose.
• After you've eaten the goose, strip the remaining meat from it and put aside for future use sandwiches or curry or whatever; stick the bones, remaining skin, etc in the Massive Stock Pot and do your usual stockmaking routine.

We got 6 half pint jars of fat and a Massive Stock Pot full of stock out of the goose we et today :)

Comments

[st_aurafina]

It sounds so luxurious!

[miss_s_b]

It was so delicious

[gatheringrivers]

Yayyyy! Someone else who makes bone stock!

[miss_s_b]

Oh absolutely. You need it for making the gravy next time you roast something :)
Or risotto.
Or lots of other things.

[tree_and_leaf]

I couldn't find King Edwards anywhere - I am scunnered. Did pick up some Maris Pipers, though.

Goose is being etten tomorrow, when we're more awake.

[miss_s_b]

Marisses will be fine :)