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Devilled Goose

A stuffed goose baked with a vinegar and jelly glaze, served with its own gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Devilled Goose

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the goose

  1. Plunge the goose into a pot of boiling water and let it cook for 30 minutes.

  2. Prepare the stuffing by mixing mashed potatoes, butter, minced onion, sage, parsley, thyme, and black pepper, then stuff the goose with the mixture.

Season and roast

  1. Place the stuffed goose in a pan with a slice of fat pork and broth.

  2. Mix pepper vinegar, celery vinegar, mustard, and acid fruit jelly, then pour the mixture over the goose.

  3. Butter the breast of the goose and season it with salt and pepper.

  4. Place the goose in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

  5. Dredge the goose with flour.

  6. Baste the goose frequently until done.

Serve

  1. Serve with its own gravy.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Sage + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,445 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Goose
Is the main protein, and its fat renders during roasting to moisten and brown the meat.
Irish potatoes
Mashed into the stuffing, they add body and absorb juices so the filling stays moist.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the breast skin brown in the oven.
Broth or meat liquor
Provides liquid in the pan that keeps the goose moist and forms the base of the gravy.
Pepper vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that cuts the richness of the goose fat.
Acid fruit jelly
Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the sharp vinegars and help the glaze brown.

The step that matters

Plunge the goose into boiling water. Brief scalding tightens the skin and loosens fat beneath it, so the skin can crisp and less fat remains in the finished bird. Timing matters because overcooking the surface before roasting can toughen the skin.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, sage, parsley, thyme, pepper, pork):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, sage, parsley, thyme, pepper, pork. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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