Roast Goose. No Victorian Christmas dinner was complete without it. Although today we think of the Turkey as being the traditional bird of the season, Turkey has only become popular in the last 70 years, (it started gaining popularity towards the end of the Victorian era, ironically because it was expensive and therefore exclusive). Roast Goose should still be considered our bird of choice at a Christmas dinner – it is so much better tasting – as we know from Charles Dickens …
‘A Christmas Carol’, by Charles Dickens, 1843: “Master Peter, and the two ubiquitous young Cratchits went to fetch the goose, with which they soon returned in high procession … Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a goose the rarest of all birds; a feathered phenomenon, to which a black swan was a matter of course — and in truth it was something very like it in that house. Mrs Cratchit made the gravy (ready beforehand in a little saucepan) hissing hot …
It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs Cratchit, looking slowly all along the carving-knife, prepared to plunge it in the breast; but when she did, and when the long expected gush of stuffing issued forth, one murmur of delight arose all round the board, and even Tiny Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, beat on the table with the handle of his knife, and feebly cried Hurrah! … There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn’t believe there ever was such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavour, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration.”
With the recipe below you will be able to re-create the famous Roast Goose in ‘A Christmas Carol’. Roast Goose is a dark, gamey meat (but not overpowering like some game meats) and as a result it goes well with bitter herbs like sage, and sweet vegetables. Chestnut, apple, and firm, non-floury pears are also delicious with it. Try making the chestnut and sage stuffing, and serve with extra roasted apples and pears. Included with the Christmas Roast Goose recipe below is also a wonderful port and orange gravy, which goes really well with it, have it hissing hot in a little saucepan.
Note: There really is no need to wait all year just to cook this at Christmas, include it at other times of the year.
Related Recipe: You might also like to serve Roast Chicken or Roast Beef or Slow Roast Pork.
Christmas Roast Goose With Port And Orange Gravy Recipe
Recipe Ingredients:
For The Roast Goose
- 1 whole goose, giblets removed and kept to make the gravy (about 5kg / 10lbs in weight)
- A few sage leaves, a few sprigs of thyme and a few sprigs of rosemary (stripped and chopped small)
- Some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
For The Stuffing
- 6 slices of stale white bread, (crumbled small)
- 1 large onion
- 1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and cut up small.
- 200g chestnuts, (ready vacuum packed ones are great) chopped up
- 100g of streaky bacon, cut into pieces
- 400g of quality sausage meat (you can remove skins from bought ones)
- 50g of dried dates, cut into pieces
- 20g of butter
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Fresh herbs chopped small: 2 tsp sage leaves, 2 tsp parsley, 2 tsp rosemary, 2 tsp thyme
- sea salt and ground black pepper to season
For The Roasting Tray
- the giblets from the goose, (particularly the neck)
- 2 onions, (peeled and quartered)
- 3 large carrots (peeled and halved)
- 1 orange, quartered, (remove any obvious pips)
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- A few sprigs of rosemary
- A few sprigs of thyme
- 3 tbsp of water
For The Port And Orange Gravy
- 1 tbsp Plain flour
- 60ml Red Wine Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Demerara sugar
- 2 oranges, their juice and grated zest
- 500ml of fresh chicken stock
- 100ml Ruby port
- 4 tbsp Redcurrant jelly
Recipe Method
Prepare The Goose And Roasting Tray
Allow the goose to reach room temperature for a couple of hours before you cook it (make sure the Goose is not frozen) remove any giblets or modern plastic bags etc. from inside the cavity. Trim any excess fat from the cavity openings and neck. Pat dry the goose with some paper kitchen towel. Lightly score the skin, taking care not to cut through to the flesh.
Season the Goose all over with a rub, literally rubbing it in with your hands all over the lightly scored skin. To make the rub, in a small pestle and mortar add the sea salt, ground black pepper and the finely chopped fresh herbs, sage, rosemary and thyme – grind until a fine rub is made. There is no need to do anything else. Modern cooks putting on fancy glazes etc. spoil the wonderful natural taste of the crispy skin and juicy meat done this way. The Victorians knew best.
Into the bottom of a lightly oiled, large, heavy-based roasting tray add all the giblets, vegetables and herb ingredients (listed above in the ingredient section) intended for it. Then place a raised rack into the roasting tin over the vegetables.
Note: Roast Goose is very fatty (which is the main reason for its decline in popularity over the 20th Century) and it needs to be roasted above the roasting tin bottom so the fat can drip down into it. However, the upside to releasing the Roast Goose fat is its usefulness as a roasting fat. You will need to check the fat level in the roasting tin as the goose cooks, to make sure it is not too full. If the tray fills you will need to carefully tip the fat from it into a heat-proof bowl, use it in roasting vegetables.
Prepare The Stuffing:
Cut up the onion and bacon and fry in the butter gently until the onions are soft and translucent, for about 7 minutes. Tip into a mixing bowl and allow to cool.
All the ingredients should be chopped up small, and roughly to the same size. Into the bowl with the cooled onion and bacon put the crumbled stale bread, the sausage meat, the peeled, cored and chopped apple, the chopped chestnuts and dates. Chop up the fresh herbs fine and add them. Season with salt and pepper. Add the beaten egg and mix the stuffing well with your hands until everything is fully brought together.
To Roast The Christmas Goose:
Preheat the oven to 220C / 425F/ Gas Mark 7
Stuff the goose with the suggested stuffing mix given in the recipe above. Pack the stuffing in deep towards the neck, but leave the top of the cavity free, for hot air to circulate whilst roasting. Note: Normally we would recommend cooking the stuffing separately, but in a Victorian Christmas Roast Goose it is expected to be in the bird (as seen in the Cratchit Household above).
Weigh the bird with the stuffing to calculate the length of the cooking time. Then cover the legs of the Roast Goose in foil and wrap them up tight to stop them burning. Place the goose onto the raised tray in the roasting tin and put it into the oven.
After 45 minutes of roasting turn the oven down to 180C / Gas 4
Calculate Cooking Times
The goose will take roughly 25-30 minutes per 450g (1 lb) So a 5kg (10lb) Goose will take about 4 and half hours to cook. IMPORTANT: Do not forget to include the weight of the stuffing inside the goose. Weigh the goose with the stuffing inside before roasting to make sure you know how long to cook for, and this way you will get a perfect Roast Christmas Goose.
Check the fat level in the roasting tin occasionally. And an hour before the finish remove the foil from the legs and use some of the hot fat to start roasting some vegetables, (see instructions below)
Test The Goose Is Cooked
When the roast goose has had its allotted time, and should have been fully roasted, remove it from the oven and test that the meat is cooked through. To do this you need to insert the point of a knife or skewer into the meat, close to the joint where the legs join the body. Let the juice trickle onto the knife. If the juice runs clear (no blood) the goose is cooked. Test in several other places to make sure. A modern meat thermometer is also excellent to use.
Lift the roast goose, by inserting 2 large forks into it, onto a serving plate. Leave to rest on its serving dish in a warm place, under some loosely tented foil, for at least 30 minutes, do not carve straight away.
Pour off most of the fat from the roasting tray, (as previously instructed, keep the fat and use it later on) leaving any brown bits and tasty juices in the bottom to use as the starting point for gravy.
When ready to serve, use a sharp carving knife and meat fork to carve slices of meat and the stuffing pulled out of the cavity. This can be done at the table in front of guests for Christmas.
For The Roast Potatoes
Using the extra goose fat coming off the roast goose:
Goose fat is perfect for crisping roast vegetables like potatoes and parsnips; three-quarters of the way through the roasting of the Goose spoon some of the clear (very hot) juices and fat all over the par boiled, drained, root vegetables you are going to roast. Also pour in a few millimeters of the boiling hot fat (be very careful) in the bottom of a roasting dish to turn the roasting veg in whilst cooking, place the roasting tray back in the oven under the goose, turn once or twice while roasting, and you’ll get the best tasting, and crispest roasties ever.
For The Port And Orange Gravy
Remove the roasted Goose to its carving plate and remove the raised rack. Drain off all the fat and all but 6 tbsp of the cooking juices from the goose roasting tin (remove the orange wedges, but you can leave any herbs, onion, carrot and giblets etc. in and mash them down into the gravy, they will be sieved out later). Put the roasting tin directly over a medium heat on the cooker hob, and using the back of a fork mash any remaining veg, herbs and giblets down into the juices, stir in the plain flour and cook until the mixture is golden and the raw flour has ‘cooked out’.
Pour in the red wine vinegar and add the demerara sugar and cook for 1 min, stirring continuously and continue to mash everything down. Sieve this mixture from the roasting tray into a medium saucepan, squeeze out of the veg any remaining juice in the sieve. Bring the strained gravy in the saucepan back up to a boil and gradually stir in the orange juice, the chicken stock, the port, and any juices that have come out of the goose whilst it has been resting on its serving plate. Simmer the gravy and reduce the volume by a quarter or a half to thicken. Finally stir in the redcurrant jelly to create a smooth gravy and heat it through.
Pour the gravy once more through a fine sieve into a gravy boat or jug, garnish it with the grated orange zest.
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