Learn how to make this delicious Roast Goose with Sage and Onion Stuffing and a scrumptious Port Wine Cherry Sauce for the perfect Charles Dickens Christmas Carol Dinner!
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Table of Contents
- A Roast Goose Just Like Mrs. Cratchit Made
- British Royal Favorite: Sage and Onion Stuffing
- The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
- A Variation on the Roast Goose Dinner
- What is the Best Cooking Temperature for Roast Goose?
- Use a Roasting Pan when Making Roast Goose
- What Can I do with Goose Fat after Making a Roast Goose?
- More Specialty Poultry Recipes
- Christmas Recipes and Gifts
- Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List
- More Holiday Recipes
- Merry Christmas, My Sweet Friends!
- Kitchen Academy Videos
- Roast Goose with Sage and Onion Stuffing and Port Wine Cherry Sauce Recipe
- Shop for items used in this blog post or video
A Roast Goose Just Like Mrs. Cratchit Made
One of my all-time favorite stories is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Mr. Scrooge’s journey of redemption brings such joy to my heart, especially during the Christmas season. And what better way to thoroughly enjoy this story than by recreating the tasty Christmas dinner Mrs. Cratchit made and lovingly served to her family.
So today, we’ll prepare Mrs. Cratchit’s roast goose with sage and onion stuffing. The skin of the goose will be delightfully crisp, and I guarantee that the stuffing will be some of the best you have ever tasted!
British Royal Favorite: Sage and Onion Stuffing
Sage and onion stuffing has a long history in England, and this recipe is over 500 years old. The stuffing was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth the First, who ruled England during the 1500s, and it is still enjoyed today by the modern-day Queen Elizabeth the Second.
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The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
Seasonal ingredients, traditional techniques, and nourishing recipes. Over 85 traditional, from-scratch recipes! Discover for yourself how you can use simple ingredients and traditional techniques to cook the modern pioneer way.
A Variation on the Roast Goose Dinner
We will deviate just a bit from the actual Cratchit’s Christmas dinner, but I don’t think you’ll mind.
Instead of the mashed potatoes and apple sauce that Mrs. Cratchit served, we’ll enjoy the most delicious potatoes roasted in goose fat and a sweet-tart Port wine cherry sauce that is the perfect accompaniment to a roast goose.
What is the Best Cooking Temperature for Roast Goose?
If you have seen my discussion about the best cooking temperature for roast duck, you will not be surprised when I share here with you that I like my poultry well cooked!
How the Professionals Make Roast Goose
Chefs may tell you that you can roast the breast of a goose to 135°F-145°F for rare to medium-rare meat. The United States Department of Agriculture recommends that you should roast your goose to 165°F for safety, but I simply can’t eat goose cooked to either of these temperatures!
I find that goose meat cooked to these temperatures varies in color from a deep purple to a deep red. However, it’s not just the color of the poultry meat that bothers me. I find the texture to be rubbery. This combination of color and texture is simply the last thing that I want to eat or would serve to my guests.
How I Make Roast Goose
I recommend that you roast your goose to a minimum of 170°F. And even 180°F is OK too. And I especially recommend these internal temperatures if you are serving this recipe at a celebratory meal or Christmas dinner, especially if your guests have never enjoyed goose before.
When cooked to a temperature of 170°F or 180°F, I am confident that anyone who enjoys poultry will enjoy this roast goose. At these higher temperatures, you will not encounter unsightly undercooked meat, and the meat’s texture will not be rubbery. Instead, every bite of your goose will be melt-in-your-mouth tender.
Roast Goose Cooked to Perfection
Goose roasted to an internal temperature of 170°F will be delightfully tasty and juicy. But, as you will see when I slice into the roast goose’s breast in my recipe video, the meat will not be dry.
If you find that 170°F is still a bit too pink for you, you can roast your goose to an internal temperature of 180°F, and it will be fine. If you encounter the least bit of dryness, which I really don’t expect, you will have the delightful Port wine cherry sauce to drizzle across the meat to add moisture and amazing flavor.
Use a Roasting Pan when Making Roast Goose
When roasting a duck, you can get away with using a baking sheet with a rack. However, a goose is generally quite a bit larger than a duck. Therefore, when roasting a goose, you need a full-size roasting pan with a rack.
When it comes to a roasting rack, if you have an angled one as I use in the video, all the better. The higher you can lift your goose off of the base of the roasting pan, the better.
A goose will render a lot of goose fat, and you do not want the bottom of your goose resting in that fat. Instead, you want the bottom of your goose raised above the rendered fat so that the entire skin of the goose will become delightfully crisp!
What Can I do with Goose Fat after Making a Roast Goose?
If you have never had goose fat before, you are in for a treat! Goose fat is a real delicacy, and it is getting harder and harder to find, at least here in the United States.
The good news is that your roast goose is going to render out a considerable amount of fat. When I roasted my goose, I was blessed with about 3 cups of glorious goose fat!
When it comes to cooking with goose fat, the possibilities are endless! Here are a few ideas just to get you started. You can use goose fat for:
- Oven-roasted potatoes or other tubers
- Oven-roasted root vegetables, including carrots, turnips, beets, and more
- Sautéing vegetables, especially greens
- Frying eggs
- A spread on toasted baguettes or other breads
- A baking ingredient to replace other fats like butter or lard
More Specialty Poultry Recipes
If you enjoyed learning how to make roast goose, be sure to watch the videos below where I show you how to make Rock Cornish Hens, as well as how to roast a duck. These specialty poultry make for a tasty celebratory meal or Christmas dinner.
Christmas Recipes and Gifts
Festive Recipes: Holiday Cooking Marathon
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Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List
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More Holiday Recipes
As you get ready for your Christmas or New Years’s Day dinner, here are some tasty recipes you can prepare for your dinner table. You’ll find cloud-soft yeast dinner rolls, Italian Christmas cookies, and fermented cranberry sauce. The sauce is delicious and outstanding for digestion!
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Roast Goose with Sage and Onion Stuffing and Port Wine Cherry Sauce
Equipment
- Large roasting pan with roasting rack
- Baster
- Glass storage jars with lids
Ingredients
Roast Goose Ingredients
- 9-10 pound Goose, raw
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1/4 tsp Ground black pepper
Sage and Onion Stuffing Ingredients
- 9-10 cups Stale bread cubes
- 4 medium Yellow onions, peeled and diced
- 1 tbsp Ground sage You can also substitute Bell's Poultry Seasoning
- 12 tbsps Butter, melted I used salted butter, so I did not add any additional salt to the stuffing mixture. If you use unsalted butter, you may add 1/2-1 teaspoon of salt for flavoring.
Port Wine Cherry Sauce
- 2 tbsps Butter, melted I used salted butter for this sauce. If you use unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt.
- 1 cup Port wine If you prefer not to use alcohol, you can substitute a 1/2 cup of grape, cherry, or apple juice diluted with a 1/2 cup of water.
- 1 large Jar of Cherry jam or preserves My jar was 17 ounces, but any 12-16 ounce jar will work in this recipe.
Roasted Red Potatoes
- 5 pounds Red skin potatoes, medium size
- 1/2 cup Goose fat
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 bunch Flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
Instructions
Roasted Goose Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Prepare stuffing and set aside. (See below.)
- Unwrap goose and remove giblets. Reserve neck to make bone broth with the goose carcass after you've finished eating your meal.
- Reserve the heart and the gizzard to include in the stuffing.
- Cooks Note: Sauté the liver in some butter and enjoy as a cook's treat!
- Remove wing tips, and reserve the tips with the neck to make bone broth with goose carcass after you've finished eating your meal.
- Remove the tail and reserve it with the neck and wing tips to make bone broth with carcass.
- Trim off any extra fat or skin from the goose. (See video.)
- Pierce the skin of the entire goose with the tines of a sharp fork. (See video.)
- Stuff the goose with all the stuffing, and place the goose, breast side up, on a rack in a roasting pan.
- Place the roasting pan into the oven and lower the oven temperature to 325°F.
- After 30 minutes, open the oven door, remove the roasting pan from the oven, and place the pan on a heatproof surface. Using a baster, remove the rendered goose fat from the bottom of the roasting pan. (See video.)
- Return the roasting pan to the oven and continue to roast the goose. Check the roasting pan every 30 minutes to remove rendered goose fat.
- A 9-10 pound stuffed goose will take approximately 3 1/2 hours to roast to an internal temperature of 170°F. (See the video where I discuss different internal temperatures based on how rare or how well done you want your goose meat to be.)
- If the goose browns too quickly, you can tent it with aluminum foil. Just remember to remove the foil at about the last 5 minutes of roasting time.
- Once the goose is finished roasting, remove the roasting pan to a heatproof surface and allow the goose to rest for at least 10 minutes.
- Remove the stuffing from the goose and place it in a serving dish.
- Carve the goose and serve it with Port Wine Cherry sauce on the side. (See recipe below.)
- Goose is best enjoyed when first cooked. However, you can store the leftovers well-wrapped in the refrigerator or freezer. If stored in the fridge, the goose will stay fresh for 3 days. If stored in the freezer, the goose will stay fresh for 2-3 months.
- Reheat the goose wrapped in aluminum foil at 325°F until warmed through. (If frozen, allow to thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.)
Sage and Onion Stuffing Instructions
- Place stale bread cubes in a large bowl.
- Chop goose heart and gizzard into small pieces and add to melted butter. Stir well. Set aside.
- One at a time, add onions, ground sage, and then butter with giblets into the bowl with bread cubes. Mix well after each addition.
- Use this stuffing mixture to stuff the goose.
Port Wine Cherry Sauce Instructions
- Add butter, Port wine, and cherry jam or preserves to a small saucepan and bring up to a simmer on the stovetop, continuing to stir well. Once the mixture comes up to a simmer, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and allow the mixture to reduce by half. This process will take approximately 30 minutes. Once reduced, set aside and keep warm.
Roasted Red Potatoes Instructions
- Scrub the exterior of the potatoes and then cut each one in half.
- If you have an angled roasting rack, you can place the potatoes cut side down into the bottom of the roasting pan one hour before the goose has finished cooking. The potatoes will roast in the rendered goose fat.
- If you do not have an angled roasting rack or prefer not to roast your potatoes in the oven, take 1/4 cup of the goose fat and pour it into a large skillet set to medium-low heat on the stovetop.
- Once the goose fat has warmed, place the cut potatoes cut side down into the skillet until the skillet is full. You will need to do this in two batches if you are using 5 pounds of potatoes.
- Cover the skillet with a lid and allow the cut side of the potatoes to brown and each potato to cook through. Depending on the size of your potatoes, this process may take 15-20 minutes.
- Check the cut side of the potatoes periodically to make sure that they are not over-browning. If they begin to brown too quickly and are not cooked through, lower the heat setting from medium-low to low.
- The potatoes are done once a knife can pierce through them smoothly without any resistance.
- Repeat this process with the next batch of potatoes, adding an additional 1/4 cup of the rendered goose fat to the skillet.
Video
Notes
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Favorite Kitchen Supplies
- Favorite Aprons
- Fork (sharp tines)
- Roasting Pan with Rack
- Baster
- Glass Jars
- Glass Jar Lids
- Meat Thermometer
- Transferware Platter
- Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
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