Cooking my goose

My local farm gate people have just let me know they will have geese available for Christmas. I had expressed interest last year but they had problems o it didn’t happen. In a moment of madness I’ve ordered one not even knowing what I’m doing at Christmas. If no opportunity arises to share it I’ll go for broke and break it down for confit and…
Any ideas or tips or experience with a goose you would like to share?

If you've roasted a duck before, a goose is more or less a very large duck.

There was a semi-humorous article called "How to Cook Your Goose" years ago. They said that a 10 pound goose will yield about 12 pounds of goose fat. When I cooked a goose, it certainly did seem that way. Seriously, you will get a lot of goose fat. Be sure to save it--it and duck fat are the kings of fats and oils.

-Paul W.

The two distinguishing things about goose is that there is less meat on the bird than you think there is (one goose can feed four people as long as they aren't too hungry) and that you have to cook them on a rack above the bottom of your roasting pan. And as Paul said, keep the fat after you skim off any solids once it has solidified in the fridge. it last just about forever and does things to potatoes that should really be done only behind closed doors!

We treat ourselves by occasionally frying eggs in duck or goose fat - yum!

PS - if you want to have a stuffing (but cook it outside the goose instead of actually stuffing it) fruit and nut based dressings work well. Currants, apples, prunes, apricots, chestnuts, all work well. Personally I am not a fan of sage with goose, BTW.

I like goose but it does require a bit more fuss than a duck:
- As Bill said, you won't get as much meat off it as you think. It has a very heavy skeleton with a big arch to it.
- The fat is part of the prize. Try not to have stuff drop into the fat while the bird is cooking. The fat is better for other purposes and keeps longer if it's clear. And you should expect the bird to generate between a pint and a quart so have containers ready.
- I'm not a big fan of celebrity chefs but this vid by Gordon Ramsay is great... a strong and simple seasoning, a couple good carving tips, minimum of silly banter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88MHrk0qA1c

Thank you gentlemen that is very helpful.
I’m looking forward to goose fat.
I’m also in conversation about getting the liver etc. this is the first time for them so they are learning Chris is a chef by trade so should be able to relate to that.
I’m excited to be able to get a goose from 3 km from my house! Several years ago When I wanted to give a goose a go I had to jump through hoops to source one.