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Potted Goose

Potted goose is a preserved goose prepared by roasting, cutting, and layering in a jar with fat and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Potted Goose

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the geese

  1. Rub the geese with coarse sea salt.

  2. Stuff each goose with sage leaves.

  3. Roast the geese for about 1 hour without basting.

  4. Save all the fat in the dripping pan.

  5. Remove the roasted geese.

  6. Cut off the legs and wings.

  7. Slice the breast meat.

  8. Allow the meat to cool.

Make the fat

  1. Combine the saved fat with an equal amount of lard in a kettle.

  2. Boil for 10 minutes.

Pot and store

  1. In a tall stone jar, layer two legs of goose at the bottom.

  2. Season the legs with salt and pepper.

  3. Add a laurel leaf if desired.

  4. Add two wings, seasoning them as well.

  5. Season the sliced breast meat similarly.

  6. Fill the jar to the top with the boiling fat.

  7. Ensure the upper layer is covered with at least 1 inch of fat.

  8. Cover the jar with parchment soaked in brandy.

  9. Store in a cool, dry place until the next day.

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. Sage + laureltop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together322 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + laureltop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Laurel + brandytop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together239 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes).

  5. Sage + brandytop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together55 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Geese
Provide the meat that is cooked, then preserved submerged in fat.
Lard
Adds richness and fat that seals the meat from air once it sets.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the meat and helps draw out moisture for preservation.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor to the parchment cover over the jar.

The step that matters

Ensure the upper layer is covered with at least 1 inch of fat. Meat exposed to air can spoil and oxidize. A thick layer of fat over every piece creates a barrier against air and microbes, so the fat must cover the top layer completely.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, laurel, brandy):

  1. Clovefits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, laurel, brandy. 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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