Christmas Goose
This gamey goose is moist and delightfully aromatic with crispy, sticky skin that melts in your mouth and makes the perfect stand-out dish for Christmas Day.
Ingredients
- 1 goose, thawed
- 2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
- ½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
- 4 Tbsp freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup kosher salt
- 5 large carrots, scrubbed and ends chopped off
- 4 yellow onions, halved
- 1 1-2" piece fresh ginger
- 1 whole garlic bulb, cut in half (the root end should stay in tact and the other half will likely crumble into small clove halves)
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 16 oz chicken stock
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F degrees. Rinse the goose inside and out, and pat it dry with paper towels. Trim as much of the excess fat as possible from the opening of the cavity and remove any large lumps of fat from inside the bird. Save all of the removed fat to put in the bottom of the roasting pan to melt down if you plan on saving the fat for later use. If the wings haven’t yet been trimmed, remove the first and second joints and set aside to use for a stock.
- With a sharp knife (I prefer a smaller knife, like a paring knife), prick the entire surface of the goose skin, being careful not to cut into the flesh. Fold the neck flap under the body of the goose, and pin the flap to the body with a wooden toothpick.
- In a small bowl, combine the kosher salt, black pepper, nutmeg, and Chinese five spice and mix until combined. Generously sprinkle the cavity with the seasoning mixture, and insert a carrot cut into two halves as well half of an onion. Next, add the garlic bulb pieces, ginger, and rosemary to the cavity.
- Remove the skins and ends from the onions and arrange them with the carrots on the bottom of a large roasting on and pour in the chicken stock. Generously rub the underside of the goose with seasoning, and then flip it and do the same to the rest of the bird. Using a piece of kitchen twine, tie the legs together.
- Place the goose breast-side up on a wire rack set in the roasting pan. The wire rack is important because the goose will release a LOT of fat and cooking the bird directly in the fat will make it greasy.
- Roast the goose in the oven, removing as much fat as possible from the roasting pan with a baster every 30 minutes (leaving just enough to cook the vegetables, about 1/2 inch or so) and save to use for cooking potatoes and vegetables. After the first 30 minutes, remove and drizzle the honey all over the breast and legs. Return to the oven and roast until it turns a golden brown, about 1 hour. Once the goose is golden brown, reduce the heat to 325 degrees, and roast until the goose is very well browned all over and an instant-read thermometer inserted into a breast, not touching a bone, reads 180°F, typically about 1 hour after reducing the temperature. If it browns too quickly, cover with foil and return to the oven, checking the temperature again every 15-20 minutes until it's fully cooked.