CHRISTMAS GOOSE
Jim Schiltz doesn’t understand why people
don’t eat goose more often—-say, 20 to 30 times a year, the way his family
does—instead of only at Christmas. Of course, Schiltz raises geese in
South Dakota, so you’ll forgive him for being a bit biased. As his wife
Marcia says, “Nobody in our family likes turkey. We prefer dark meat.”
That dark meat (including the breast) is more full-bodied and more
interestingly flavored than turkey meat, which means more wine-matching
possibilities for Christmas dinner.
“Goose is dark and delicious, with a nice
richness,” says Katy Sparks. “It’s different from duck, a little gamier.” At Quilty’s,
her former restaurant in New York,
Sparks wrapped the legs and
breast of goose in bacon (after removing the bird’s skin), braised them
with sage, rosemary and cider, and served them with root vegetables and
chestnuts. For the holidays, Adrian Hoffman, at One Market Restaurant in
San Francisco, will make ravioli stuffed with goose confit, served on
truffled savoy cabbage and goose “coq au vin” with goose legs. For parties
of four, he’ll serve a roasted goose with roasted winter fruits such as
Rome apples and Bosc pears.
Many associate Christmas goose with
Victorian England. In 19th century England, geese were served
at an older age than those of today—up to 9 months as opposed to the
current 4 to 6 months. So, to tenderize the meat and remove some of the
gaminess before cooking, they needed to be hung.
Modern geese still have a whiff of
gaminess, but just enough to make them appealing. There is no need to
tenderize the meat, though it is firmer and a bit chewier than turkey,
which I find attractive. Most turkeys today are pretty mushy as a result
of being over-bred. Geese have been spared this fate because, unlike
turkeys, geese can’t be easily inseminated artificially. So we’re stuck
with the cycle of nature: Eggs are laid in the spring, geese are generally
born in June, and mature birds are ready for slaughter somewhere between
late September and mid-October.
But few people think of eating goose until
December. Grimaud Farms in Stockton, Calif., sells all its geese
(about 2,000) within a week or so in mid-December. “We could sell four to
five times more, but it’s hard to organize for one month out of the year,
which happens to be the biggest month for our other products,” says owner
Claude Bigot.
Like Schiltz, Eberly Poultry in Lancaster County,
Pa., and Quattro Game Farm in Dutchess County, N.Y., Grimaud uses the
Emden, a white English goose, which has emerged as the favorite over the
gray Toulouse French goose, primarily because of color. “Americans don’t
like gray meat,” explains Schiltz, who has developed a breed of Emden with
a larger breast that includes some bloodlines from the Toulouse as well as
Chinese geese. While geese are normally fed a mixture of mostly corn with some
wheat or soybeans, Grimaud's geese, raised on a farm in Salinas, Calif.,
are fed scraps from a vegetable and salad packing plant in the area.
In size, geese are somewhere between ducks
and turkeys, from about 9 to 18 pounds, though birds weighing 10 to 14
pounds are the most common. Larger animals are no less tender than small
ones, but the larger the goose, the greater the ratio of meat to bone and
the more tasty the breast meat. Figure on about 1.5 pounds raw weight per
person.
Of the two birds, both which were
free-range, I preferred the fresh Eberly goose over the frozen Schiltz
goose. The former was moister and more intensely flavored, though the
difference between them wasn’t huge.
Methods of cooking goose abound, in part
because everyone has his own way of rendering the bird’s blanket of fat. I
tend to side with the simple methods of producers such as Marcia Schiltz.
She roasts 12- to 14-pounders for about three hours at 350° F, or until
the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh reaches 170° F. Another
test for doneness is if the legs loosen easily when twisted. While Schiltz
doesn’t baste, I think basting gives the breast a more even color.
Otherwise, it has a less attractive, mottled look.
Matthew Levin of
Moonlight restaurant in New Hope, PA lets his goose dry out for a week in
the refrigerator, which obviates the need of pricking the skin to leach
out the fat, and also makes the skin very crisp when cooked. Before
roasting (a 12 to 14 pound bird will take about 4 hours at 250° F) in a
convection oven, he rubs the skin with a thin layer of hoisin sauce to
promote caramelizing. At Cetrella Bistro and Café in Half Moon Bay,
Calif., chef Erik Cosselmon blanches the goose for a few minutes to
tighten the skin, then pricks it to allow fat to drain while cooking.
Ariane Daguin, co-owner of Newark, N.J.-based D’Artagnan, which sells
geese and other game and fowl, doesn’t see any problem with fat. But she
hails from southwest France, the world capital of goose-eating. Daguin roasts geese at 475° F for
15 minutes, then reduces the heat to 375° F and bastes regularly with the
rendered fat in the bottom of the pan.
Be careful when handling the fat.
Cosselmon’s father once burned down the family house when fat spilled over
a too-small roasting pan into the oven. In addition to using a
sufficiently large pan, put some water in the bottom to prevent
splattering. You may also want to pour out the fat halfway through
cooking. But don’t discard it. Vegetables cooked in goose fat are
heavenly, especially potatoes. Brussels sprouts, cabbage and root
vegetables such as parsnips, rutabaga and turnips are also excellent.
Stuffing for goose can be similar to turkey
stuffing, but with the flavor turned up a notch to match the more robust
nature of goose. For example, Levin says that dried fruit such as raisins,
figs or prunes can be plumped with rum or brandy. Use rye or black bread
instead of white bread and porcini or other wild mushrooms in lieu of
button mushrooms. But because the goose cavity is small, I’d cook the
stuffing separately and stuff the bird with aromatics such as onion,
apple, celery, orange or lemon.
Unlike turkey, which often needs gravy to
moisten dry meat or add flavor, goose doesn’t require a sauce. A better
choice might be a kind of chutney made from nuts and fall fruits.
Cosselmon makes one with grape must, pears, apples, figs and hazelnuts.
I was prepared to prefer red rather than
white wines with goose, because of its dark meat and hearty nature. And I
did like all the reds I tried, including an Haut-Médoc from 1997, a Cahors,
Madiran, Barbera and Nebbiolo, though I preferred a peppery Syrah-based
St.-Joseph from the Northern Rhône. However, to my astonishment and
delight, two whites bested all the reds. Condrieu, the famed Viognier-based
Rhône white, was rich enough to stand up to the goose and had a spiciness
that cut through the fat. A nicely aged (1989) Vouvray was equally
luxurious (with a healthy dose of sweetness from botrytis), and made up
for its lack of spice with bracing acidity. An Alsatian Riesling was also
goose-friendly. I’d even drink these whites with goose after
Christmas.
How to Get It
-
D’Artagnan, Newark, N.J., (800) 327-8246; www.dartagnan.com (mail-order
sales for Eberly and Quattro)
-
Eberly Poultry, Stevens, Pa., (717)
336-6440, www.eberlypoultry.com (for retail stores where geese are
available and directions to its outlet store)
-
Grimaud Farms, Stockton, Calif.,
(800) 466-9955 (no mail-order; available at Whole Foods Market, Fresh
Fields and Bread & Circus markets)
-
Schiltz Goose Farm Inc., Siseton, S.D., (877) 872-4458,
www.schiltzfoods.com (for retail stores and mail-order sale)
This
article first appeared in the December 31, 2002 issue of Wine Spectator.
