There are these wild geese that frequent my campus, and I was watching them the other day, and thinking how tasty they would be, and how since there are so many of them, no one would notice one or two missing (especially since they will be leaving soon, to fly south I suppose). So my question is, what is the best way to process a wild goose for roasting? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to remove the feathers, etc... What is the best way to catch one with a minimum of fuss, and without arousing the wrath of the rest of the geese?
Wild Geese?
- Thread starter jasonr
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
You might want to talk to Bangbang.Okay...first you have to be able to kill "the" bird (lets constrain ourselves to "one" right now; you'll see why!
The best way to kill a wild goose is a 12 gauge shotgun with either #2 or BB shot; regrettably the birds know this too...you will see how the flock whether feeding or sleeping always has a number of sentinels on the perimeter, looking out for potential problems like Jasonr....and, at this time of year, they will typically run away from you, or, if necessary fly away...they are expert at spotting guns, and won't let you within 75 yards with one, buy you're not going to try that on the campus green, I hope!
And they do not die easy, either!
If you manage to somehow possess yourself of a dead wild goose, your next task is pull out each and every flight feather (Hint#1 at least a garbage bagfull will be produced(Hint#2 Break off the wings at the first joint-they are incredibly difficult to pluck)
Once you have the carcass plucked, it will be completely covered in "down" fethers (why geese don't get cold), so take the carcass to the enormous pot of water you had heating on the stove and had the foresight to melt about three to five bars of paraffin wax into...
Immerse the bird in the waxey water several times, until a significant quantity of wax is caught up in the down....remove the bird to someplace cold, and secure from dogs and cats, and allow the wax to "set" (and you will want a LOT of wax on it, so repeat the dipping as required)(remember to run the hot water a long time after you empty the pot-the wax clogs the drains)
Now crack the wax off in chunks, and watch as the down is "easily" pulled off the skin...
Go over the entire carcass, with tweezers and pull all the "pinfeathers" out-these will be about three quarters of an inch in length, and require carefull removal (they don't taste good!)
Chop the head off, and cut away the neck where it meets the spine (a cleaver will be handy, and a chopping block---see how you measure up as a 15th century "executioner"-
Make an inscision the length of the gut cavity, and very carefully circle the anus in order that you can cut it, with the "plumbing" attached without spilling...and carefullu extract the innards (these give their own, very "distinctive" scent, so you might want to do this outside...
You will likely have to do some "exploratory" work with a knife and/or fingers, to remove the lungs. Check at the very base of the tail, as this is where the kidneys repose, and you really want them out of there...
When you are sure you have the last of the guts out, and you've decided which is heart, liver and giblets and extacted same, firmly seal the guts in a double encased plastic bag and throw in the dumpster, as cats and dogs will find the scent of all you have stripped away "fascinating", and your neighbours might resent this...
Now, wash the bird inside and out.
A bread stuffing, prepared as for turkey with onion and sage is one route, a fruit based stuffing, based on either apples or aranges is your other stuffing option.
Cook as you would a turkey, but I'd suggest suspending the bird over the roaster with skewers, as goose dribbles grease like no tomorrow (I'm talking pints!)
It will be all dark meat, so an interior meat temperature, taken from both the breast and the thigh, should read 170 degrees (and cover in a foil tent, it will rise to the proper 180 after you've removed it)
Check the laws in your Province or State about "legal means" of taking migratory game birds...you'll find its strictly regulated. Likewise, if you are not using a gun and "hunting" in the "conventional" sense, the SPCA may havea few things to say in running up some charges on cruelty to animals....
Hunting wild goose is one of the most challenging hunting and shooting you can find, let alone the camouflaging, "calling" and shooting skills you'll need to acquire...remember to keep shooting at the same bird until it goes down, dead, as the rest of us take a dim view on just shooting them up and not retrieving the birds (and you can get jailed for that, too!)
Plan on being in the field about 0400, for geese!
Lifter
The best way to kill a wild goose is a 12 gauge shotgun with either #2 or BB shot; regrettably the birds know this too...you will see how the flock whether feeding or sleeping always has a number of sentinels on the perimeter, looking out for potential problems like Jasonr....and, at this time of year, they will typically run away from you, or, if necessary fly away...they are expert at spotting guns, and won't let you within 75 yards with one, buy you're not going to try that on the campus green, I hope!
And they do not die easy, either!
If you manage to somehow possess yourself of a dead wild goose, your next task is pull out each and every flight feather (Hint#1 at least a garbage bagfull will be produced(Hint#2 Break off the wings at the first joint-they are incredibly difficult to pluck)
Once you have the carcass plucked, it will be completely covered in "down" fethers (why geese don't get cold), so take the carcass to the enormous pot of water you had heating on the stove and had the foresight to melt about three to five bars of paraffin wax into...
Immerse the bird in the waxey water several times, until a significant quantity of wax is caught up in the down....remove the bird to someplace cold, and secure from dogs and cats, and allow the wax to "set" (and you will want a LOT of wax on it, so repeat the dipping as required)(remember to run the hot water a long time after you empty the pot-the wax clogs the drains)
Now crack the wax off in chunks, and watch as the down is "easily" pulled off the skin...
Go over the entire carcass, with tweezers and pull all the "pinfeathers" out-these will be about three quarters of an inch in length, and require carefull removal (they don't taste good!)
Chop the head off, and cut away the neck where it meets the spine (a cleaver will be handy, and a chopping block---see how you measure up as a 15th century "executioner"-
Make an inscision the length of the gut cavity, and very carefully circle the anus in order that you can cut it, with the "plumbing" attached without spilling...and carefullu extract the innards (these give their own, very "distinctive" scent, so you might want to do this outside...
You will likely have to do some "exploratory" work with a knife and/or fingers, to remove the lungs. Check at the very base of the tail, as this is where the kidneys repose, and you really want them out of there...
When you are sure you have the last of the guts out, and you've decided which is heart, liver and giblets and extacted same, firmly seal the guts in a double encased plastic bag and throw in the dumpster, as cats and dogs will find the scent of all you have stripped away "fascinating", and your neighbours might resent this...
Now, wash the bird inside and out.
A bread stuffing, prepared as for turkey with onion and sage is one route, a fruit based stuffing, based on either apples or aranges is your other stuffing option.
Cook as you would a turkey, but I'd suggest suspending the bird over the roaster with skewers, as goose dribbles grease like no tomorrow (I'm talking pints!)
It will be all dark meat, so an interior meat temperature, taken from both the breast and the thigh, should read 170 degrees (and cover in a foil tent, it will rise to the proper 180 after you've removed it)
Check the laws in your Province or State about "legal means" of taking migratory game birds...you'll find its strictly regulated. Likewise, if you are not using a gun and "hunting" in the "conventional" sense, the SPCA may havea few things to say in running up some charges on cruelty to animals....
Hunting wild goose is one of the most challenging hunting and shooting you can find, let alone the camouflaging, "calling" and shooting skills you'll need to acquire...remember to keep shooting at the same bird until it goes down, dead, as the rest of us take a dim view on just shooting them up and not retrieving the birds (and you can get jailed for that, too!)
Plan on being in the field about 0400, for geese!
Lifter
this makes me think of an old peom i read in Ann Landers as a kid. i still remember it.
a hunter shot at a flock of geese that flew within his reach.
two were stopped in thier rapid flight and fell on the sandy beach.
the male bird lay at the water's edge and just before he died,
he faintly called to his wounded mate and she dragged herself to his side.
she bent her head and crooned to him in a way distressed and wild,
caressing her one and only mate as a Mother would a child.
then covering him with her broken wing and gasping with failing breath,
she laid her head against his breast, a feeble honk...
then death.
this story is true, though crudely told. i was the man in this case.
i stood knee-deep in snow and cold, and the hot tears burned my face.
i buried the birds in the sand where they lay,
wrapped in my hunting coat,
and i threw my gun and belt in the bay when i crossed in the open boat.
hunters will call me a right poor sport,
and scoff at the thing i did.
but that day something broke in my heart,
and shoot again?
God forbid.
a hunter shot at a flock of geese that flew within his reach.
two were stopped in thier rapid flight and fell on the sandy beach.
the male bird lay at the water's edge and just before he died,
he faintly called to his wounded mate and she dragged herself to his side.
she bent her head and crooned to him in a way distressed and wild,
caressing her one and only mate as a Mother would a child.
then covering him with her broken wing and gasping with failing breath,
she laid her head against his breast, a feeble honk...
then death.
this story is true, though crudely told. i was the man in this case.
i stood knee-deep in snow and cold, and the hot tears burned my face.
i buried the birds in the sand where they lay,
wrapped in my hunting coat,
and i threw my gun and belt in the bay when i crossed in the open boat.
hunters will call me a right poor sport,
and scoff at the thing i did.
but that day something broke in my heart,
and shoot again?
God forbid.
I don't want to bash "luvs_food" but would question if he's not a closet vegetarian with this post?
Is it any different if you raise "beef" or "pork" or "poultry" and march them on their own feet into an abbatoir?
Does anyone here "fish"? Is this any different, even tho' we spent countless hours and dollars trying to "outsmart" an animal with a brain somewhat smaller than a pea, a voracious appetite (are we any different?), indifferent hearing and/or sight, with less than spectacular success?
I'd have to agree that if "Jasonr" goes out and attempts handheld murder of migratory game birds and/or the foolish use of firearms I'd be the first to condemn, but hunters are first to preserve habitat, and be "sporting" (usually about being "outsmarted"!) and the common "taxpayer" does little to help the duck, goose, deer, moose (pick your species!) in any way or form...
Elf will be angry, but you Americans have a choice in getting through "platitudes" like the "Ann Landers" thing, and putting it into perspective when you vote...
Give your heads a shake! Take a harder look at that burger or those wings, or even the pepperoni on the pizza...
Lifter
Is it any different if you raise "beef" or "pork" or "poultry" and march them on their own feet into an abbatoir?
Does anyone here "fish"? Is this any different, even tho' we spent countless hours and dollars trying to "outsmart" an animal with a brain somewhat smaller than a pea, a voracious appetite (are we any different?), indifferent hearing and/or sight, with less than spectacular success?
I'd have to agree that if "Jasonr" goes out and attempts handheld murder of migratory game birds and/or the foolish use of firearms I'd be the first to condemn, but hunters are first to preserve habitat, and be "sporting" (usually about being "outsmarted"!) and the common "taxpayer" does little to help the duck, goose, deer, moose (pick your species!) in any way or form...
Elf will be angry, but you Americans have a choice in getting through "platitudes" like the "Ann Landers" thing, and putting it into perspective when you vote...
Give your heads a shake! Take a harder look at that burger or those wings, or even the pepperoni on the pizza...
Lifter
i love a nice steak. so as not to insult vegans, i shall put a cork in it and leave it at that.Lifter said:
and BTW, i'm not a 'he'. i'm a 'she'. i'd be willing to bet you knew that already. passiive-agressivity...
my avatar is PINK, lol. come ON, now... :roll: one more thing, if i were to be a vegan, why on EARTH would i hide the fact? vegans make the choice not to eat certain foods; that is not a shameful thing, LOL! one of my best friends is vegan... i love her just the same. it's not like it makes her any less of a person. :roll:
Sorry, "luvs_food", but I don't think according to gender in writing (at least I don't think I do?)
Nor do I have any big thing on the colour pink...I just know that an ex-redhead like me never had a pink shade that looked like anything, but dark haired people and blondes can carry it off...a man can be a man, regardless of the colour of his drink (and I like your little character! Reminds me of the order "Put down that Punch-Bowl!" in a former life...!)
And I didn't write to make any offensive comment to you or anyone else...the vegetarians and vegans are doing their thing, its certainly not mine, but I've no axe to grind with them...Southern Ontario certainly appreciates any goose hunters as we are being infested with the birds, who have few if any natural predators outside of mankind, and the goose crap all over anywhere is enough to make them a fair target...likewise the actual "migrators" strip crops like nothing you've seen...and I'd hate to be the farmer that loses a couple sections of barley to geese...
Anyways, it was not my intent to offend...
Lifter
Nor do I have any big thing on the colour pink...I just know that an ex-redhead like me never had a pink shade that looked like anything, but dark haired people and blondes can carry it off...a man can be a man, regardless of the colour of his drink (and I like your little character! Reminds me of the order "Put down that Punch-Bowl!" in a former life...!)
And I didn't write to make any offensive comment to you or anyone else...the vegetarians and vegans are doing their thing, its certainly not mine, but I've no axe to grind with them...Southern Ontario certainly appreciates any goose hunters as we are being infested with the birds, who have few if any natural predators outside of mankind, and the goose crap all over anywhere is enough to make them a fair target...likewise the actual "migrators" strip crops like nothing you've seen...and I'd hate to be the farmer that loses a couple sections of barley to geese...
Anyways, it was not my intent to offend...
Lifter
southerncook
Senior Cook
after the aforementioned cleaning. pot roast w/ half a bottle of merlot and a bag of seasoning blend, a bay leaf and s&p. cover, cook till almost tender, throw some turnips in there, finish off w/some butter in the gravy, maybe some thyme and/or sage. serve w/rice. maybe some sauteen mushrooms and onions on the side.
southerncook
Senior Cook
jasonr said:
Fowl play!
well, I figured if you did kill the geese, I'd give you a good recipe to cook for your jailers. might get time off for good behavior.
ronjohn55
Head Chef
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2004
- Messages
- 2,080
And strangely enough, unlike the humour in the other thread, I believe that these critters ARE considered a protected species at least for part of the year. Obviously the people making these rules never get out to this area. All these birds nee protection from around here is overpopulating. 
One of the funniest sights I've seen in the last few years was a Michigan DNR truck hauling a trailer full of caged geese out of state. (Um guys, they have these things called WINGS!!! They can fly back...)
John
One of the funniest sights I've seen in the last few years was a Michigan DNR truck hauling a trailer full of caged geese out of state. (Um guys, they have these things called WINGS!!! They can fly back...)
John
Similar threads
