Question Can you please tell me how to prepare a goose from just being shoot to ready to cook? I have searched and searched on the internet and cannot find any articles. I have done this with duck but never goose and I am unsure of what should be done so we may get the most benefit from the bird.
Many thank
Miss O'B
Answer TC:
There are a number of ways.
If you want to roast the whole bird you should know that wild goose is lean unlike domestic goose, so you will have to take care that it does not dry out on cooking.
To prepare it, you can pluck it, skin it, or breast it.
I always breasted mine since I shot a lot of them and did not want to waste freezer space. I simply skinned the breast without plucking it, ran a knive under the thick breast meat and removed a thick sirlon like slab of breast meat. There is not much meat on the wing, leg or thigh, so the rest was waste. Simple and quick.
If you want to pluck it, it is best done while the bird was warm. Find a big cardboard box or go out in the woods, it is messy. Start plucking against the grain of the feathers. It takes a while. Once you have removed the down and feathers, I usually cut the wings at the first or second joint, since there isn't much meat. I cut off the feet. Use a propane torch or other open flame to singe off the pin feathers if you have one, else you just have to pick at them to get them all.
Cut the neck off. If you haven't already pulled the guts, cut along the bottom either along the rib cage or lower and pull out the guts with your hand. Puncture the diaphram and pull out the heart lungs, gizzard, liver and voice box. Save the heart, liver and gizzard.
Rince out the carcass. Remove any blood clots etc. You might want to soak the bird to remove excess blood.
Cut the heart, liver and gizzard from the entrails. Discard the the intestines. Cut the gizzard half way throught and wash out the seed and gravel. Use a sharp knife to cut the tough inner layer of tissue from the gizzard. Trim the liver and heart. Rince all and save for boiling or making gravy.
The bird is ready to roast. A lot of work eh?
The other option is just skin it. or take it to a place that can pluck it for you. In Katy, Texas, Gulf Coast goose capital there is a place that charges $1 a bird.
I hope this helps out.
In Europe, they use to hang the birds for a few days to let them ripen. They would hang the whole bird, feathers and all, ungutted and let the enzymes tenderize the meat.
