The goose is wild, baked or stewed, but always fragrant and with spices. Dishes from this bird have long been considered a sign of the owner’s fortune and prosperity of his home. Therefore, the tradition of cooking it lives safely in the modern world.
Wild geese: photos and description
To get a truly wild goose is now not an easy task, because their populations are quite small, and due to large-scale development and expansion of the territory of the city, it is rapidly decreasing.
The wild goose is a waterfowl with a long neck and short legs. The beak is high, squeezed on the sides. The plumage is different: black, white, gray, etc. Geese inhabit the forests of southern Siberia and Europe. You can also see such birds in the eastern part of Asia and the forest-tundra of Russia.
The traditional habitats of wild geese are estuaries, lakes, wet meadows and river floodplains.
These birds feed on shoots of aquatic plants, young grass, seeds.
They begin to breed in the third, and possibly even in the fourth year of life. Lay an average of five to six eggs.
Having figured out what this bird is, now you need to talk about how to properly prepare and cook it. So, let's begin.
Preparatory stage
If the bird was shot by the family’s earner, it must be carefully doused with boiling water so that feathers and fluff can easily move away from the calf. Do not hold the carcass in a container of water for too long, because the skin may become too soft and will come off with feathers. No matter how the goose was plucked, small thin feathers can remain in the carcass itself. To remove this drawback, it must be rubbed with flour, like a scrub. The prepared goose should be scorched over an open fire. So the skin will not only be treated from minor imperfections, but will also become softer.
Next stage
Next, it is worth making a cut of the carcass and processing of the insides. Wild geese in cooking are known not only for delicious liver, but also light with a touch of bitterness, so they should not be eaten. The gall bladder of a bird also requires increased attention to itself, when cleaning it must be carefully cut, trying not to damage it. After the goose, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse with warm water so that blood clots do not remain inside. Next, you can chop off the neck and legs, which can interfere with the placement of the carcass on a baking sheet or pan.
Pickle
The wild goose has sinewy rough meat, therefore it will not be superfluous to soak it first in the marinade, so that in the future the meat easily absorbs seasonings and lends itself to heat treatment. For the marinade, you need one large onion (you should not take the blue one, it will give astringency). It must be cut quite large so that the juice comes out well when crushed. Next, the onion base must be filled with 3-4 tablespoons of vinegar and season with a tandem of salt and sugar in equal parts. Having mixed all the gruel well, it should cover the whole carcass and let it stand for a couple of hours. After that, 0.5 l of boiled water is added to the container, and everything costs overnight.
Cooking wild goose with apples
Most home-made ones enjoy a goose-baked goose in the company of homemade juicy apples. In Sweden, there is a recipe for this bird with applesauce, potatoes and delicious sauce.
To prepare such an unusual dish you will need:
- solid goose wild weighing 4-5 kg;
- 2-2.2 kg of well-digested potatoes;
- ½ tsp large quality sea salt;
- 6-7 medium juicy apples;
- half of fresh lemon (limes should not be used, their smell will interrupt the apple);
- 1 tbsp. l fine sugar;
- 3 medium onions;
- 250-270 ml of quality port;
- redcurrant jam - 2 tbsp. l .;
- a teaspoon of mustard powder (many take French beans -
2 tsp); - 4 tbsp. l olive oil;
- pink peppercorns - 10-12 pcs.
First of all, for such an unusual kitchen guest, it is necessary to preheat the oven to 220 º. After that you can tackle the pickled carcass of the game: the meat must be removed from the marinade, washed thoroughly and dried with high-quality, thick paper towels. Next, you should examine the goose and cut out the largest pieces of fat, you should not remove the whole one, because the melted one is mostly necessary for baking.
Then it’s the matter of sea salt: it is necessary to crush it in a wooden mortar and rub the inside and outside of the bird with this mixture. So that the wild goose in the oven does not lose its wings, they should be wrapped with foil along with the legs. Now the game is ready, and it can be safely laid on a baking sheet and sent to the oven. Every 20-25 minutes it is necessary to open the door and, if possible, drain excess fat, you should not allow the meat to fill with it, otherwise it will start to burn. After an hour of cooking, the foil must be removed.
To make the wild baked goose more attractive in appearance, it is necessary to supplement it with potatoes. For this, the tubers should be peeled, boiled until soft, and put on a plate to remove excess water. After the potatoes must be placed in a baking sheet, after pouring the accumulated fat into a plate. The meat should be covered with foil so as not to spoil it during further baking. Potatoes can be shed with some fat and left to bake for another 10-12 minutes.
Meanwhile, the turn of applesauce came up: for it, you need to peel the fruit, remove all the bones and skin and cut into convenient slices. Lemon should also be washed, cut off the excess zest and cut into large pieces. After mixing the fruits in a strong saucepan, you need to add the prepared sugar to them and stew for 30-40 minutes, then the mixture must be crushed in a blender.
Cooking sauce
Spicy sauces with wild goose are best combined. To prepare the sauce, you need to peel the onions, fry in olive oil until a beautiful golden color is formed. Next, you need to add jam to the pan, stir and let fry for 5 minutes, then a turn of mustard powder and peas. Having mixed the whole mixture, it is necessary to add 740-750 ml of hot water to it and boil for at least 15 minutes. At the end, add the mustard seeds to the finished sauce and pour into a baking sheet with meat and potatoes. After everything goes for 10 minutes to languish in the oven. For serving, you can prepare another portion of the sauce and decorate everything with greens.
With bacon
Wild geese look no less presentable with bacon, the photos of the cooked dish are so attractive that most do not even have a shadow of doubt about the unusual tandem. To create such a masterpiece you will need:
- wild goose;
- 1 large or 2 medium onions;
- 4-6 slices of quality (home) bacon;
- a pinch of thyme and ½ tsp rosemary;
- salt, pepper and caraway seeds.
The pickled carcass must be washed and dried. After the meat you need to evenly rub with salt, aromatic thyme and rosemary and let stand for about 30-35 minutes. Many recipes advise immediately to transgress to baking, but game is not so easy to grasp seasonings. Therefore, these half an hour is necessary for the softness of the finished dish.
Next is the onion: it needs to be cleaned carefully, keeping the lower part, which keeps the petals “on the heap” (so when baked, they will not spread throughout the inside of the goose). A clean and washed onion must be put inside the goose and carefully cover the opening with pieces of skin or meat. Next is the turn of bacon. He is advised to lay on already half-prepared meat, but then his taste will be weak.
Next, the prepared carcass must be put on a baking sheet and pour 2 cups of boiled water, some first lay the thick rings of carrots on the bottom - so the back does not burn, and the aroma of the meat is incomparable. Next, cover the entire baking sheet with foil so that the steam removes the stiffness that wild geese have. The description of recipes often misses this point, because many people like crisp, but the steam part of baking in the case of wild meat is very effective, because the first 3-4 hours help to completely cook hard meat.
After the foil is removed and the whole carcass is allowed to fry, at this time the bacon impregnates the meat abundantly and gives it piquancy. The ready-made goose is showered with caraway seeds and served with a light side dish, such as rice or buckwheat.
With prunes
Some recipes suggest combining wild goose meat with prunes and potatoes. For this, the carcass is prepared in marinade, washed and dried. Then 2-3 kiwis must be cleaned and cut into convenient pieces, then put them in a blender along with 3 cloves of garlic and a handful of washed prunes. Grind the mixture several times so that the rigid structure of prunes does not spoil the overall appearance. The resulting marinade must smear the goose carcass and leave it to get wet for a couple of hours.
Next, the carcass is placed in the sleeve familiar to the housewives and sent to the oven for 3 hours, after which the cooked potatoes are attached to it and everything is baked for an hour. Serve the game with greens and crushed garlic.
Conclusion
Now you know what a wild goose is, we also provided you with recipes for its preparation. We hope that you can cook such a bird at home.