Maybe not. No one in a hundred mile radius raises them for sale. The deliveries from Tennessee, Iowa, Oregon, and South Dakota are wicked expensive, $15-20/lb uncooked delivered. I am betting this is mostly related to the amount of work compared to other poultry, but suspect that all the non-GMO, organic, and nightly concerts by Yo Yo Ma add to the price as well. As an aside, this is part of why Amish farmers don't bother to go for organic certifications and the like. People see the word Amish and figure "close enough."
There have been a half-dozen places in NH that have made a go of it over the last 20 years, but all have dropped goose from their product line or gone out of business altogether. It must be a tough gig.
I gather it is hard to do industrial-scale geese, as they need to graze, they're aggressive, it's hard & labor-intensive to pluck them while leaving a presentable result.
ReplyDeleteI also recall that when we had so many houseguests at Christmas that my wife decided to do a "5 bird roast" from one of her British cookbooks, the goose was the least taken meat on the table, and not really appealing as leftovers. I suspect that most who decide to roast a goose for Christmas dinner don't repeat the effort frequently if ever.
I don't know NH hunting seasons, but it might not be too late to harvest a goose that ships itself, so to speak.
I can get goose locally. Do you recommend it? In addition to the Christmas references, there's a scene in The Three Musketeers where they are roasting a goose in a tavern while making a wager about the war. They recommend catching the fat with a drip-pan, as goose grease was said to be delicious with bread to dip in it.
ReplyDeleteGoose fat is praised often for roasting potatoes, but I wouldn't know myself. I confess I was mostly liking the idea of making a Christmas goose at least once in my life
ReplyDeleteWild goose is generally gamey, and quite tough if overcooked, which is easy to do. Haven’t had farm raised goose, I’m told it’s quite fatty, it needs time to render down a bit. Would go with duck as a first try, more readily available, not as costly, and, if nothing else, a trial run at cooking a water bird. They are different.
ReplyDelete"Goose, like duck, can only be considered gastronomically interesting when it is under 6 months old."
ReplyDelete- Julia Child
Julia Child knows more than I do. Case closed.
ReplyDeleteI too, would really like to do a Christmas goose. But I like turkeys well enough that the cost of a goose is more than I can bring myself to pay. And - per Julia's advice - hunting one doesn't seem the answer.
ReplyDeleteI've made goose. It's very fatty. My mother in law was a marvelous cook, but I think it takes a great deal of practice to cook geese nicely. Chickens, turkeys and ducks are much simpler.
ReplyDelete@ Cranberry - you're too late. I've already thrown the idea away. I no longer need to be convinced. Thank you for the effort, but you can switch your evangelism efforts from goose-suspicion to something else.
ReplyDelete