Make this showstopping Roast Goose for your Christmas feast this year, inspired by the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol
In A Christmas Carol, the Cratchit children go wild outside the bakery at the smell of sage and onion stuffing, and the whole family admire their goose’s flavour (and cheapness)
This recipe is from Christmas with Dickens, published by CICO Books (£9.99) Photography © CICO Books
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Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C/Gas 6. Chop off the goose wings and keep for the stock. Pull out all the fat from inside the bird and cut off any extra visible fat. (Melt this fat gently in a saucepan, then strain it through a fine strainer/sieve or muslin. Keep in a jar in the fridge.)
To make the stuffing, finely chop two onions, then sweat the onions in a little goose fat until translucent. Add the sage, breadcrumbs and seasoning, and bind with the eggs and a few spoons of hot stock – the mixture should be moist enough to bind together but not sloppy. You can cook the stuffing separately if you prefer. If you are using it to stuff the goose, you will need to weigh the stuffing first.
Prick the goose skin all over, without going into the meat below. Rub salt into the skin and cavity, and put a peeled whole onion and the sage/thyme (or stuffing), into the cavity.
To calculate the cooking time, add the weight of the stuffing to the weight of the bird if cooking the two together; cook for 15 minutes per 450g, plus 15 minutes; add 30 minutes’ resting time. Place the goose on a wire rack above a tray and roast for the required time. Baste from time to time. If it browns too quickly, cover the breast with foil.
To make the stock for the gravy, chop the goose neck and wings, then roughly chop 1 onion. Fry the neck, wings annd onion together with the carrot in a little goose fat in a large pan. Pour off any excess fat, add the giblets, bay leaves, peppercorns, and 1 litre of water. Simmer for 1½ hours, then strain.
About 30 minutes before the goose comes out of the oven, it is time to roast the potatoes and/or root vegetables. Pour out the fat from the tray, leaving enough for roasting. Continue to roast the goose on the rack, with the vegetables in the tray below.
If you are cooking the stuffing separately, place it in a gratin dish and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. When the goose is cooked, transfer it to a large plate, cover with foil, and let it rest for 20–30 minutes before carving.
To make the gravy, thicken the juices in the roasting tray with a little flour over a low heat, and add the strained stock.
