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Smoked Christmas Goose

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    Smoked Christmas Goose

    A couple days before Christmas I headed over to Costco to get myself a turkey to smoke for Christmas. I’ve smoked a couple whole turkeys in my kettle and have been pleased with the results and this year I was hoping to hang one in my WSM. I use it more like a PBC, but I find with my additions it’s an even more versatile cooker. (See my post on chickens, which has become my go-to method for doing pretty much all birds.) I almost always spend Thanksgiving out of town, so I don’t get to do any real cooking for that holiday.

    Costco had pretty much no turkeys and definitely nothing that interested me. They did, however, have geese. I have never done a goose. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten goose. In fact, there’s a relatively famous Christmas story in my family about my mom attempting to do a goose shortly after marrying my dad. It’s famous because it went very poorly. The final meal was greasy, tough, and left the oven smoking and dirty. Fortunately, I was around three-years-old at the time and have no recollection of the event.

    Remembering this story, I felt it was time for a rematch between the goose and my family. My mom, while a very capable cook, is certainly not the kind of weirdo that spends her free time hanging around cooking forums. It’s not like 1983 had this sort of thing anyway. Additionally, if goose is the sort of traditional Christmas thing—if it was part of A Christmas Carol there must be something to it, right?

    So I grabbed a 9 pound goose and from the moment I put it in my cart, I had a basic idea about how to cook it. I figured I’d head home and do more research to figure out some of the particulars.

    As it turns out, there is not a lot of info on cooking geese. I mean, it’s not barren wasteland, but I found far more "traditional" recipes and not a ton of the more "food hipster" stuff. The two best resources I found were a recipe at Thermoworks and PBC’s guide to doing duck (since, in many respects, goose is kinda to duck as turkey is to chicken).

    There were helpful. However, my cook was going to be more of what I typically do halve the bird and hang the bird. I’ll break it down here because, while there are some things I would change next time, the end result was absolutely delicious.

    Bird Preparation

    Splitting birds is pretty easy. I cut down the backs with a sharp knife to leave "guides" and then use kitchen or poultry sheers to cut the spine out. I crack the bird near the center, flip it over, and cut it in half from the front. After that, I salt it liberally. (Honestly, I don’t measure salt for dry brines anymore. I’m liberal with it. I have yet to over salt any meat doing this, at least to my tastes.)

    I let it sit for about 36 hours in the fridge, but that’s just because that’s when I had time. There’s nothing magical about that amount of time. Overnight probably would have been fine.

    On the morning of the cook I removed the goose and made large slices on the breasts and thighs in order to let the fat drain. I mostly cut through the skin and fat, but if you cut into the meat a bit it’s not gonna really be an issue. (See pictures.)

    Once that was complete I made a paste using a variation of Meathead’s Simon and Garfunkel Rub (I replaced the basil with marjoram because: 1. I had marjoram and no basil and 2. I find dried basil to be pretty weaksauce in general) and used probably half the mixture to coat the bird pretty well.

    From there it went back into the fridge so I could prep the cooker.

    Cooker Setup

    As I’ve said, I use my WSM like a PBC. I have Gateway Drum Smoker’s Rib Hanger Kit and Cajun Bandit’s Stacker Combo Kit. I cannot recommend these two additions enough. I’ve certainly gotten my money’s worth.

    I had a couple goals in the cooker besides the usual "cook the thing" goal. I wanted to:
    1. Smoke the excess skin, spine, neck, and other bits.
    2. Catch the rendered fat.

    The second goal meant cooking a little different than the typical PBC cook, so I cleaned out the water pan and left it in the cook, albeit with no water. After that, I put one of the grills on just above the pan and laid out all the extras. (See pictures.)

    Once all of that was in place, I got my coals going, brought the cooker up to around 225ºF, tossed in a couple chunks of apple wood, and let it stabilize.

    The Cook: Phase One

    I have read you can eat duck breast medium rare, however I was going for a more roasted well done cook, mainly because it seemed safer in terms of needing less precision and experience. Since waterfowl seems to be rather forgiving, in the sense that you have dark meats throughout and a lot of fat, I wasn’t too worried. I didn’t want to go straight to hot and fast though. Thermoworks’ guide went through two phases and explained why. It made sense, so I followed suit.

    It only took about 90 minutes to hit 145ºF. I suspect mind went faster because my bird was halved. I was playing cards with my family and didn’t really feel like going to deal with it. As such, I let the internal temperature hit about 160ºF, which took another 15–20 minutes. From there, it sat there. Of course it did! I’d hit the stall—but in this case it was fine. There was plenty of fat so there was almost no chance of drying the bird out unless I really let it cook for a long time so I kept going with cards for another bit. Probably another half hour. All that time it never climbed over 160ºF.

    The Cook: Phase Two

    Once I finished a fine game of Uno, I pulled the birds out of the cooker and reconfigured it for a hot, fast, and sorta direct cook. This meant removing the giblets and extras—they were good to go—as well as the drip pan which had almost a quart of fat in it. (As an aside, because the pan is over the fire, the fat was almost completely rendered already. It was a nice unintended consequence.)

    I got the fire up to about 325ºF near the top of the cooker and aimed less for a specific temperature and more for a look and feel. I wanted crispy skin, which 225ºF really doesn’t produce. I wanted to hit around 170–180ºF in the thigh, but again it was all about crispiness.

    I didn’t really time it. I just let the fire do its work and watched temperatures. I’m guessing it was about 30 minutes before I ended up with what I wanted. Once it looked good I pulled out and let it rest for about 10 minutes, mainly just to make carving without gloves doable.

    The Final Product and Observations

    I loved it. My family loved it. In fact, the bird never made it to the table. We were all huddled around the island in my kitchen eating chunks as I carved it up and handed it out. What took about three hours to cook disappeared and was picked clean in about 15 minutes by nine adults. The flavor was wonderful. The texture in some spots was wonderful—in other spots it was much chewier than I would have liked. (Although, the hanging skin near the bottom was some of the best tasting meat I have ever consumed.

    If I had it to do all over again, the main changes I’d make are to the time and temperature:
    1. There’s a ton of fat. I had a quart of rendered fat when I was done. Unlike chicken, even the breast meat is well-worked. You can treat the whole bird more like traditional barbecue meaning with the stall there to help out, it can be held at low’n slow for longer. I think next time I’d be find giving it another hour and maybe two.
    2. I don’t know that I would do the hot phase directly over the coals. I’d probably leave the water pan in there as a heat shield. That’d leave the cook a little more even. I’m not sure about that, but I’d try it at least once.
    Since goose isn’t around much, I think I am going to experiment with half ducks as a New Year’s resolution. I’ll try some Chinese five spice too, since it goes really well.

    Whatever, goose is going to be a Christmas tradition going forward.

    Any tips and tricks for my next go?
    Attached Files
    Last edited by binarypaladin; December 26, 2019, 04:19 PM.

    #2
    Great write up. Looks like I have a new bird to try out. Last time I ate goose was in the late 80's and was tough as an old boot.

    Comment


      #3
      I just got back from Costco with... another goose. So I'll do a follow-up next week. I think it'll make a good NYE dinner.

      Comment


      • DiverDriver
        DiverDriver commented
        Editing a comment
        Great write up and I really like your sharing of your mom's fail. I think goose is way under rated. Thanks a bunch!

      #4
      Very good writeup, and a nice way to cook goose. I've done a few, but it seems to be a hit or miss whether the goose is tough or not. I get them from a team of hunters, so I guess sometimes they shoot down ole' granpa of the flock...

      Comment


      • binarypaladin
        binarypaladin commented
        Editing a comment
        That's probably a big part of it. These are labeled "young goose" and probably fattier than the wild ones. Older ones, I imagine, would do well with the coq au vin treatment. I wonder if cooking your grandpa goose might work better if you held it in the stall for a couple extra hours?

        Whatever the case, the flavor was something else!

      #5
      Awesome write up. Never cooked a goose. Now i might need to try...

      Comment


        #6
        We've been eating goose forever, primarily farm raised though. I love it, but we have done traditional methods, served with dumplings and sauerkraut. My Czech Grandmother was the primary cook over the years, and she did them well.

        One trick I have used comes from Peking Duck recipes. The day before, dunk the goose in a pot of boiling water (you need a big pot, or have to dunk it from each side). This will suck a lot of the fat out of the skin and when you cook it, the skin will come out crispy.

        Comment


        • binarypaladin
          binarypaladin commented
          Editing a comment
          Funny you mention Peking Duck. The goose has emboldened me a bit and my wife's mother is native Chinese. I have wanted to find some dish from China that works well with BBQ. The hanging cooks like this are similar to Peking Duck so far as I understand it and I am considering trying it this year.

          I've seen the food hipster crowd employ air compressors to separate the skin from the flesh too, which helps crisp it all up better.

          I might try this out in a couple days.

        #7
        I ended up doing a second goose on Sunday and the results were consistent. The only two differences were:

        1. I held it at 225ºF for an extra hour. This lead to less chewiness.
        2. I had it higher over the open fire.

        Basically, you can treat the goose more like pork ribs than a turkey!

        Comment


          #8
          Very interesting. That you for sharing. The only goose I've ever cooked was, well. mine.

          Comment


          • binarypaladin
            binarypaladin commented
            Editing a comment
            A joke of this variety was made... multiple times over the past few weeks, lol.

          #9
          Thank you for posting this....I have always wanted to have goose for Christmas....no excuses this time around

          Comment


            #10
            I smoke wild geese. Spatchcock, and inject with something g that has phosphates. Prick the skin all over and rub with salt, pepper celery salt, and sage. Leave uncovered in fridge at least overnight 2 nights is better. Smoke like a turkey. I make a cranberry, bourbon, maple sauce for it.

            Comment


              #11
              Amazing this came up just a night after telling my daughter that I wanted to do a goose for Christmas! Im looking for a new tradition since we have retired from Thanksgiving dinner and now have standing reservations at one of our favorite restaurants ( I know I know but you should try it once…very freeing!).
              I always do a Ham or Turkey for Christmas, Prime Rib on New Years, Leg of Lamb on Easter. So I want to add a goose to the ham, turkey rotation. Thanks for the insight.

              Comment


              • texastweeter
                texastweeter commented
                Editing a comment
                I'm a goose or turkey on Thanksgiving, rib roast on Christmas, ham on new years, leg of lamb or rack of lamb on Easter

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