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Roast Goose

Roast goose stuffed with bread crumbs, butter, onion, savory, and sage, then boiled and baked to produce a browned, flavorful bird.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage 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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the goose

  1. Wash the goose thoroughly and wipe it dry.

  2. Rub the outside and inside of the goose with coarse sea salt and pepper.

  3. Prepare the stuffing by mixing bread crumbs, butter, onion, savory, sage, salt, and pepper. Pour boiling water over the stuffing mixture until it is moist.

  4. Do not overstuff the goose; sew the openings with strong thread.

Cook the goose

  1. Place the goose in a covered pot with equal parts water and milk to cover it.

  2. Boil the goose until a fork penetrates easily.

  3. Transfer the goose to a baking pan with a little water.

  4. Baste the goose frequently.

  5. Turn the goose often to ensure even browning.

Make the gravy

  1. Place the baking pan on the stove to make the gravy.

  2. Skim off excess fat from the pan.

  3. Add water if needed.

  4. Season the gravy with salt and pepper.

  5. Add a smooth mixture of flour and water to the gravy. Stir the gravy constantly until the flour is well cooked.

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. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 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

Goose
Is the main protein, providing the meat and the rendered fat used for the gravy.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and butter in the stuffing, giving it body and a soft texture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the stuffing, carrying flavour and softening the crumbs.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and sweetness as it softens within the stuffing.
Flour
Thickens the gravy as its starch swells and sets when cooked with liquid.

The step that matters

Stir the gravy constantly while the flour cooks. Raw flour tastes pasty and can form lumps if it hits hot liquid unevenly. Constant stirring disperses the starch so it swells smoothly and the gravy thickens without a floury taste.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, bread, butter, sage, milk, flour):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, bread, butter, sage, milk, flour. 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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