Christmas Goose

Good luck! I've had goose once, and vowed never to have it again!
Way too gamey tasting for me. Farm raised might be a different story.

I've smoked ducks on several occaisions. They allways turned out great. I imagine there isn't much difference between a large duck and a small goose.

Key to a good goose would be to drive a RR spike through the bottom of the smoker to drain the grease. When finished bury it.

BrooklynQ said:

Anyone have any experience with BBQ goose? I don't know why, but I have this strange desire to BBQ a goose for Christmas.

I've never eaten one, let alone cooked one. Is goose any good? I like long island duck a lot (never had wild duck), is goose similar in taste, texture and cooking requirements?

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Phil better keep an eye on Sirshitsalot :wink:

Key to a good goose would be to drive a RR spike through the bottom of the smoker to drain the grease. When finished bury it.

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My moderator ruling - OT!!

I smoked a Canada Goose one time. We got it fresh from a friend. As I recall I plucked and dressed the thing and used garlic and Boars Breath (Belly Buster) rub on it. Put it in the smoker with a turkey. The thing turned out pretty good. It was all dark meat and when it was sliced it tasted similar to pastrami. It made great bleu moon samiches. Mine was not too gamey but that is really a function of what they have been eating. I would not try this on a special dinner without trying it a couple of times. The good thing to do is to smoke it with a slam dunk like a pork butt, brisket, or turkey. That way if the goose is not good then put it through the meat grinder (bones and all) and feed it to the dog. Then you can eat the good stuff.

I would go with a store bought goose. Rub it down with some olive oil and your favorite bird rub. Slice up some onions and garlic cloves and stuff them in the cavity of the bird. Throw in some fresh sage just for fun. Toss it in the smoker and cook like you would a whole chicken only it will take a little longer beacuse of the size. Use a meat thermometer to tell you when its done. I spray mine every hour with apple juice.

Farm Raised goose is way better than wild but around here it costs about $2.50 a lb. It will look like the dark meat on turkey and will taste close to the same.
I like to serve both goose and duck with a cherry whisky sauce or an orange cherry sauce.

If you have wild goose, marinate it overnight and wrap in bacon and toss in smoker. smoke till done and slice thinly, serve on crackers or with several different types of dipping sauce.

I have never tried this in my smoker but you could make goose rumaki:

Cut goose into thin slices. Wrap each slice around a water chestnut and wrap each with a half piece of bacon. Grill or smoke untill bacon is done.

I make them like that all the time in my oven using the broiler, they realy taste quite good.

For smoking a goose duck or pheasant this is good and simple:

2 cups of red wine
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion sliced
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1/4 cup olived oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp crushed marjoram leaves
half an apple
rap of celery
half an onion

Place the bird(s) in a non metal container. Add wine with enought cold water to cover, add onion, garlic and bay leaves. Cover and refigerate 18 to 24 hours. Remove bird(s) pat dry. Rub with Olive oil and sprinkle with salt pepper and marjoam. Stuff cavity with the apple celery and the half onion. Pour the marinade into the water pan or not. Smoke for 3 hours.

Trout

I've done the skin pricking on a duck and pricked to deep in a few spots and could see the blood that cooked out. i recommend be cautios when cutting. use a really sharp and be careful not to overdo it. I would definitely say it is better to underdo it then overdo it.

Doing it verticaly beer can style may help drain.