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Roast Goose

A roasted goose stuffed with onions, sage, bread crumbs, mashed potatoes, raisins, apples, butter, salt, pepper, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA good hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. If the goose is old, parboil it by simmering in enough water to cover for about 2 hours.

Stuff and roast

  1. In a bowl, mix the onions, sage, bread crumbs, mashed potatoes, raisins, apples, butter, salt, pepper, and eggs until well combined.

  2. Stuff the mixture into the body of the goose.

  3. Place the stuffed goose in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) and bake for about 1.5 hours.

Serve

  1. Serve with apple sauce.

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

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

  2. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Sage + appletop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together755 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the stuffing so it holds together when cooked.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the stuffing body and structure.
Mashed potatoes
Add moisture and softness to the stuffing.
Apples
Add sweetness and moisture that balance the rich goose.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Parboiling an old goose. Simmering tough, older birds for a while softens connective tissue and helps render excess fat, so the roast ends up more tender. Skipping it on an old goose can leave the meat chewy.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, sage, bread, potato, apple, butter, pepper):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Plumfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, sage, bread, potato, apple, butter, 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.

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and Turkey 4with Apple Dressing 4Potato Stuffing for 3with Potato Stuffing 3with Sage and Onion Stuffing 3 See all 150 →

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