Smoked Goose Recipes For Whole Goose And The Breast

Smoked Goose Recipes

Out of all the smoked goose recipes that I've researched and tried, this is my absolute favorite bar none. It produces succulent meat and lovely warm golden color to the bird.

Goose used to be the traditional bird of Thanksgiving and Christmas but that seems to have faded somewhat and Turkey taken over which is a shame. Don't think the two things are the same though, they're both big birds of course but whereas Turkey is white meat (somewhat similar to chicken), goose meat is dark and has a much stronger flavor.

Essential to all smoked goose recipes (and to this one in particular) is the marinade together with a pre-prep stage as well, so you need about 5 days to complete the full preparation and cooking........but it's worth it. This marinade is right for a bird of about 8 -10 pounds (3.5 – 4.5kg) in weight. If it's any less then you'll want to halve the quantity of salt in the marinade.

Preparation Time:- 1 day
Marinade Time:- 3 days
Cooking Time:- 8 hours

Total Time:- 4 days 8 hours

Allergens:

Soy sauce is brewed from soya beans and most brands contain gluten.

Ingredients:-

3 tablespoons salt
¼ cup or 60ml sunflower oil
2 cups or 600g chopped onions
1 cup or 240ml red grape juice
¾ cup or 180ml sweet sherry
¼ cup runny honey
4 cloves garlic crushed
¼ cup or 80ml soy sauce
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoons rosemary

Method:-

The first step is to scald the goose to make the skin go really tight so that when the goose cooks, a lot of the fat will be squeezed out of the bird. You do this by placing the goose in a colander in the sink and pouring 4 or 5 kettles of boiling water over it (take care) and you'll see that the skin goes white and fluffy.

Once this has happened, place the goose on a large plate, puncture the skin with a skewer all over and then refrigerate for 24 hours – by the end of this time you'll see that the skin is dry and tight to the touch.

Now it's time to make up the marinade using the ingredients above and remember the point about reducing the salt content if marinading a smaller sized bird than the one I've got. Blend all the ingredients together and then coat all over the bird – I like to get a large resealable polythene bag and place the goose in it.

You now need to marinade the goose for three days, turning every 12 hours.

When your three days are up, remove the goose, place it on a vertical roasting rack (if you have one) and just leave out at ambient temperature for 2 or 3 hours to once again dry the skin.If you haven't got a vertical roasting rack then try using a cake cooling tray, you just need something to get the goose "off the ground" so that air can circulate around it.

Vertical Roasting Rack

It's now time to smoke the goose:-

Set up your smoker for indirect cooking with a large hot water bath / drip tray underneath and place the bird on top still seated on the vertical roasting rack. Cook at 250°F or 120°C for about 8 hours. Don't be alarmed, there will be a massive amount of fat released from smoked goose.

Note: As before, if you haven't got a vertical roasting rack then it's not the end of the world, just place you goose on the cooking grate. Be careful however when lifting the finished smoked goose because because rendered hot fat will accumulate in the cavity and could easily burn your hands.

To confirm that your goose is cooked, use an instant read temperature probe and look for:

60°C (140°F) on the breast
80°C (175°F) on the legs

Smoked goose recipes are no different to smoked turkey recipes in that to get the absolute best, let your bird rest before carving. This allows any juice which has been forced from the flesh by the cooking process to be re-absorbed and so make for a more succulent final result. It also ensures a more even heat spread throughout the bird.

Note that in the immediate minutes of resting the temperature of the goose will continue to rise (this is known as "afterheat" or "carryover" cooking) which raises two points:-

If you're close (within 5°C or 9°F) to the internal temperatures that I've stated above than you have flexibility to declare the goose cooked and remove it from the heat.
A cooked goose will retain internal temperature for a long time because of the low surface area / volume ratio.

I leave mine for at least an hour before carving and serve on hot plates.