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Roast Goose

Roast goose served with mashed potatoes, onions, sage, and apple jelly.

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

  1. Wash the goose thoroughly with salt and water.

  2. Boil the Irish potatoes until tender, then mash them smooth with butter or lard.

  3. Chop the parboiled onions and add them to the mashed potatoes.

  4. Season the mixture with pepper, coarse sea salt, and a little powdered sage.

Roast

  1. Roast the goose slowly at first, basting it with butter or lard.

  2. Dredge the goose with flour just before it is done to brown nicely.

  3. If baking, add 1 pint of water to the oven or stove pan.

Finish and serve

  1. When done, thicken the gravy with 1 tablespoon of flour rubbed smooth with water and seasoned with pepper and salt.

  2. Serve with apple jelly.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  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

Goose
The main meat, which slow roasting cooks through while its fat renders out.
Irish potatoes
Mashed smooth to form a soft base that holds the onions and seasoning.
Butter or lard
Fat for basting, adding moisture and helping the skin brown.
Flour
Dusted on the goose to brown the skin, and later thickens the gravy.
Onions
Soften in the potato mixture, adding sweetness and savory aroma.
Apple jelly
Adds sweetness and tartness that balances the rich goose.

The step that matters

Dredging the goose with flour just before it is done. Flour browns quickly under oven heat, so adding it too early can scorch and darken before the meat is cooked. Adding it near the end gives an even golden crust.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Applethe original

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

More roasted goose recipes

with Apple Dressing 4with Apple Sauce 3with Sage and Onions 3 See all 130 →

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