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Roast Goose

A whole goose stuffed with sage, onion, bread crumbs, butter, and egg, roasted with seasoning and served with gravy and apple sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Roast Goose

9 persons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the goose

  1. Select a goose with clean white skin, plump breast, and yellow feet; if the feet are red, the bird is old.

  2. If weather permits, let the goose hang for a few days to improve flavor.

  3. Pluck, singe, draw, wash, and wipe the goose.

  4. Cut off the neck close to the back, leaving enough skin to turn over.

  5. Cut off the feet at the first joint, and separate the pinions at the first joint.

  6. Beat the breastbone flat with a rolling pin.

  7. Put a skewer through the under part of each wing.

  8. Draw up the legs closely, put a skewer into the middle of each, and pass the same through the body.

  9. Insert another skewer into the small of the leg, bring it close down to the side bone, run it through, and repeat on the other side.

  10. Cut off the end of the vent.

  11. Make a hole in the skin large enough for the passage of the rump to keep seasoning inside.

Stuff and truss

  1. Make a sage-and-onion stuffing using the listed ingredients (recipe No. 504).

  2. Stuff the goose with the filling.

  3. Secure the stuffing by passing the rump through the hole in the skin and tying the neck skin to the back.

Roast and serve

  1. Place the goose on a brisk fire, keep it well basted, and roast for 1½ to 2 hours, depending on size.

  2. Remove the skewers.

  3. Serve with a tureen of good gravy and a tureen of well-made apple sauce.

  4. Serve the goose before the breast falls to avoid a flattened appearance.

  5. Do not pour a large quantity of gravy around the goose; serve it in a tureen instead.

  6. If a highly-flavored seasoning is preferred, use raw minced onions instead of parboiled; the mild seasoning is superior.

  7. Make a ragoût or pie from the giblets, or stew them to make gravy.

  8. Optional: pour a mixture of mustard, salt, cayenne, and port wine into the goose through a slit in the apron.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

131Calories
8 gProtein
6 gFat
12 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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

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

  2. Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Mustard + sagetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together372 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Onions
Adds sweetness and moisture to the stuffing as it cooks.
Sage leaves
Adds a savory, aromatic herb flavor to the stuffing.
Egg
Binds the stuffing so it holds together when cooked.
Made mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavor to the optional seasoning mixture.

The step that matters

Roast on a brisk fire and keep the goose well basted. Goose has a lot of fat under the skin. A brisk fire renders that fat and crisps the skin, while regular basting keeps the meat moist and prevents the surface from drying out during the long roast.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, sage, egg, pepper):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, sage, egg, pepper. 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.

More roast goose recipes

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