Canada Goose

[Paul Kribs]

Has anybody here ever tasted canada goose? A friend of mine had to cull a couple yesterday and has offered me one. He said it's quite a large one. Is it worth making sausages out of it? Also, it requires gutting and plucking. I have plucked chickens and pheasants before and it's quite a tiresome procedure, whereas if I were to make sausages I could just gut and skin it. I have tasted commercially reared goose and personally thought that duck tasted better, and wondered what a wild canada would taste like.

Does anybody have any nice recipes for a goose sausage Any advice would be appreciated.

[aris]

Never tried goose, but personally i'd make a confit or cassoulet.

[Paul Kribs]

I suppose I was asking a lot really, after all said and done it's only one goose and even with just the flesh and liver, I shouldn't think I would get more than a few pounds of sausages out of it.. Plus, I always end up with about 1/2 lb meat in the end of the filler. Oh well it didn't hurt to ask.

I reckon I will gut and skin it (can't be ar$ed with plucking it, although I know a lot of the flavour is in the skin) and then take the meat off the carcass and then decide. Reckon the cassoulet sounds nice, and skin will not be an issue. Anyway I'm supposed to be trying to drop some weight, wrong time really to take up making sausages

[aris]

A good cassoulet has sausage in it anyhow - so make some nice spicy sausage with loads of garlic in it, then put it in your cassoulet with the goose, and some nice lamb and bits of pork or game.

[Oddley]

Paul been thinking about your goose. As there is not a great deal of meat other than the breasts. You could stuff the breasts.

like mince the goose you get off the other part of the carcass mix that with mushroom, onion, bacon, breadcrumbs and herbs. Then use the carcass to make a nice stock.

[Fatman]

Hi

Canada goose is very different to farm geese, the meat is not to disimilar to beef believe or not, albeit lean but very tasty.
I would go to the trouble of roasting it in the normal way, you will appreciate all your efforts.

Regards

Fatman

[Paul Kribs]

Thanks for the advice guys. I must say that I didn't pluck it. I was told my the guy who supplied it that the easiest way is to cut down the breastbone and remove the skin outwards, then fillet the breasts off. He also said he doesn't normally bother with the legs. I did bother with the legs and got about 1 3/4 lbs of extra flesh (also found the bullet, always nice to remove that). BTW, skinning it with its feathers on isn't that easy either.

I must say that this was the first time with a fresh goose, and even though it had spent the night in a refridgerator was still quite 'strong'. Always knew that geese tend to honk He also supplied me with a frozen mallard and pheasant, all freebies. I quite like the look of that Chinese duck sausage, and normally marinate my belly pork slices in a very similar mix for the BBQ. The goose flesh is very lean, and in case it's going through the mincer I took the opportunity to remove the drumstick leaders as I know from experience these can be very hard. Decisions decisions...

[Deer Man]

Wild goose is out of season! Farmed is OK.

[Paul Kribs]

Deer Man, I have spoken with the guy who supplied the goose and he assured me that since 1st March Canadas can be culled under the Vermin License if they can be proven to be causing a niusance under various conditions including fisheries, which is where I believe this one came from. I thought I would check it out with him as he takes his shooting very seriously and I don't think he would do anything to jeopardise it.

regards Paul Kribs

[REF]

Hmmmm, Canada Goose!! I think that the meat from a Canada is better that Pinkfoot or Greylag goose. Maybe it�s because they don�t migrate, and therefore the breast meat has done less work & is usually more tender. The first one I shot was a big old bird of about 15Lb weight & I was worried that it would be tough as old boots. A friend of mine advised a method of cooking this bird of dubious age. He told me to roast the bird directly on the oven rack (not in a roasting tray), with an Accrington brick on the rack beneath it. After the required roasting time, I should remove both the goose & the brick from the oven, throw the goose in the bin & eat the brick covered in the goose fat, as it would probably be the more tender of the two!
Seriously though, if you have the time, plucking a goose & roasting it (in the �conventional� way) does this magnificent bird the justice it deserves. The taste is similar to beef & is not at all fatty as many think. Reserve all the fat that does escape for roast potatoes � just the best you will have tasted. If time is limited, you did right by removing the two breast fillets. These can then be cut in half lengthways, sliced & substituted for beef in a stir-fry.
If you are lucky enough to get any more Honkers from your friend, three birds should yield enough meat for a good batch of sausages (10Lb or so going on the ratios that �Sausagemaker� gave me when I asked about duck sausages), or else mix the meat with other wildfowl or game.

[welsh wizard]

Mixed game sausages are brilliant - As I have said previously game is very reasonable when purchased direct from the shoots. Yesterday I was clearing out my freezer ready for next season and I made sausages out of a variety of different game but interestingly I used a couple of breasts of lamb as fat - the end product was yum yum, especially with the venision.

[Platypus]

Mmmm......

I really must make an effort to get to know the local shoot. I love game of all types but seem to have trouble getting it at sensible prices. I live on the south coast (Hampshire) but all the shoots I know of round here seem to be clay. Not much good for making sausages, they tend to be a bit chewy

[Hobbitfeet]

One method I've come across...I worked at a school in London, where the Canadas caused such a terrible mess on the playing fields, that the kids were getting covered in it. The headmaster gave them both barrels of a twelve bore and brought down 12...I kid you not! Neighbours called in the police who said he was in the right to cull vermin. Is this now a precedent?

[welsh wizard]

Platypus Re finding game, try going to your local gun shop and ask them for a contact which will be the game keeper usually. In my experience they are only too willing to sell game during the season at very reasonable prices. I dont know about Hampshire but where I live I pay c80p - �1 a brace for pheasants and Partridge (both of these went down to 50p last year), c�1 - �1.50 for ducks (as we are inland they do bring a premium) and roe and fallow deer �1 a Lb on the whole beast.

Prices wil be dependant on time of year (start of the season and Christmas prices are high) and the quantity you are prepared to take. Game meat is a fantastic medimum to cook with and especially with the introduction of fruit are brilliant in sausages. Cheers.

Hi Hobbitfeet - Re culling I think that if you are to cull in an area that falls outside the law for shooting i.e. too close to a road, protected species, etc etc you have to aply for a licence before embarking on your cull. If in the case of your headmaster he was shooting within the law and on land for which he had the sporting rights then I think it would just be seen as a normal shoot as there are no legal limits that I know of for quantity of game killed.

[Platypus]

Thanks for the info Welsh Wizard, I'll look up the local gunshop. There used to be a gunsmith just a few miles from here, but he's in an area I don't pass often so I'm not sure if he is still in business. I think a trip out that way is called for