Cooking the Christmas goose in many families has already become a good tradition, and how such a dish can leave someone indifferent. Fragrant, ruddy, with an appetizing crust, a goose already with its presence on the table raises its mood and brings back fond memories.
The peculiarity of this dish is not only in excellent taste, but also in the ease of preparation. To cope with this matter, you do not need to be a guru in the field of cooking, just remember a few tips from chefs.
5 main principles
To get the Christmas goose with a bang, you need to remember a few secrets.
- Do not choose too large a carcass - if its weight exceeds 3 kg, then the preparation will be difficult and lengthy. In addition, it is a small bird that possesses the most tender and juicy meat.
- All fat from the goose is cut. If this is not done, then a lot of fat will melt during the frying process.
- The carcass is washed, carefully dried with a paper towel, and then rubbed with salt and spices.
- Traditional recipes involve stuffing a goose. For this, fruit vegetables or cereals are used.
- Goose is cooked in the oven. In time it takes 2-3 hours.
Ingredients for a Classic Christmas Goose with Apples
The Slavs most often stuff the goose carcass with apples. Malic acid impregnates poultry meat during cooking, which makes it much softer. In addition, these sweet and sour fruits give the meat a special aroma and piquancy of taste. This is the recipe that many consider classic.
For cooking, you need the following set of products:
- goose carcass weighing 3-4 kg;
- 4 medium-sized apples (it is advisable to choose sweet and sour varieties);
- 100 ml of low-fat sour cream (10% is enough);
- 1 liter of natural apple juice;
- 100-120 g of prunes;
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons of salt;
- 10-15 peas of black pepper;
- 1 teaspoon of red pepper;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of coriander beans.
How to cook a goose in the oven
Cooking takes place in several stages.
- At the goose carcass, the last phalanxes of the wings, paws and neck are cut off. The fat and offal are pulled out, the remaining feathers are removed (if any), washed thoroughly and dried with paper towels.
- The next step is working with spices. The salt is mixed with red pepper, the resulting mixture is rubbed on the inner surface of the goose and the skin. Using a medical syringe (any volume is suitable), apple juice is injected under the skin.
- Pickling. Moisten a piece of gauze in apple juice, squeeze slightly and wrap the carcass in it. Between layers of gauze pour grains of coriander and peas of black pepper. Goose is placed in a small container (the main thing is to fit in size) and pour over the remaining volume of apple juice. In this form, the goose should be at least 3 hours.
- While the goose is pickled in juice, the apples are washed, cut into 4 parts and the core is removed. They are mixed with washed and dried prunes.
- The pickled goose is taken out, the hole is sewn up from above and stuffed with prunes and chopped apples. To prevent the filling from falling out, the hole is sutured. In places with a large accumulation of subcutaneous fat, small incisions are made so that the fat is free to float when frying. Legs tied together.
- To prepare a Christmas goose with apples, a small deep shape is chosen, the bottom of which is covered with foil. A little water is poured into the mold, the wings are laid at the bottom, and the carcass is placed on them with the back down.
- Goose is baked at a temperature of 200 degrees. To exclude burning from above and to achieve uniform roasting, the goose is watered every quarter hour with the juice that has already formed and accumulated in the pan.
- After about 2.5 hours, the carcass is greased with sour cream and sent to the oven for another 30 minutes.
- Immediately after removing the Christmas goose from the oven, cover with foil and leave for another 20-30 minutes. This helps keep the meat juicy and flavorful.
Christmas goose in a sleeve
Based on the classic recipe described above, you can cook a bird in a sleeve (plastic bag). The taste and quality of meat when using these two recipes will be slightly different. What is the difference between ordinary baking and cooking in a sleeve?
- Many housewives find goose meat cooked in the oven harsh. Using a sleeve completely solves this problem - the meat is obtained as juicy and tender as possible.
- All herbs and spices used to grate carcasses perfectly impregnate meat precisely when frying in a bag.
- Christmas goose in the oven, baked in the sleeve, cooks soon. This characteristic is especially important for large carcasses.
In general, the preparation of the bird in this case does not differ from the preparatory stage in the classic recipe. Washed, grated with salt and spices and stuffed carcass are sewn up. However, instead of being put into shape, the goose is placed in a food sleeve and tied. A small carcass will be ready in about 2-2.5 hours.
Goose with apples and oranges
Winter holidays are associated not only with baked turkey or goose, but also with oranges. It is this fruit that will create a great company for apples when stuffing poultry. The basis is the traditional recipe for making a Christmas goose.
In the list of required products:
- goose carcass weighing 3-4 kg;
- 1 orange, 3-4 juicy apples;
- a few leaves of bay leaf;
- 3-4 cloves of garlic;
- red and black pepper and rubbing salt for the bird.
They wash the carcass, rub it with spices and salt from the outside and inside, make several cuts on the skin and put the garlic there. Orange is peeled and divided into several parts. Apples are cut into large slices and the seed part is harvested. The abdomen is sutured. You can cook the dish in the sleeve or just in the oven. Such meat will have a unique aroma and taste.
Goose with apples and potatoes
Such a recipe for making a Christmas goose allows you to get not only a meat dish, but also a side dish - a delicious crumbly potato.
Products:
- goose carcass;
- 4 medium apples (acidic varieties are better);
- 1-1.5 kg of potatoes;
- salt, black pepper, caraway seeds - the amount is selected according to your own taste preferences.
After preparation, the bird is stuffed with coarsely chopped apples, sewn up and placed in a mold. The form is covered with foil on top.
Advice! To prevent the meat from being burnt from above, a piece of goose fat is placed on the carcass in contact with the foil.
In the oven at 180 degrees, the bird costs 2 hours. After that, it is pulled out, the fat is drained and the peeled potatoes are placed in the form. If it is very large, it is worth cutting in half. 50 g of fat is poured on top and sent to the oven under the foil for another 40 minutes. If you need rosy potatoes, at the end of cooking, remove the foil for several minutes and increase the heat to 200 degrees.
Goose with nuts and apples
This delicious Christmas goose will surely appeal to guests, as it acquires the unique spicy taste that nuts give. The recipe itself is completely similar to the recipe for a bird in the sleeve. Feature is the filling. Here, chopped apples are mixed with steamed raisins (100 g) and chopped walnuts (150 g).
In the middle of frying, the sleeve with the Christmas goose is opened and greased with sauce (1 tbsp.spoon of honey, 2 tbsp.spoons of soy sauce and 50 g of melted goose fat).
In fact, there are many more recipes for this traditional dish. As a filling, you can use buckwheat, mushrooms, various fruits. Thanks to this diversity, every housewife will find the best option for herself.