I have two goose breasts... any ideas?

[mudbug]

My potential brother-in-law just arrived from Michigan and brought with him two Canadian goose breasts which are frozen and waiting to be savoured.

Never had goose before. I hear it's very good.

I don't know if we're going to have them Thursday for Thanksgiving or Friday.

I am hoping some of you will be able to provide me with a tried recipe or a credible source from which to obtain one that you are familiar with. I've been searching on the net for recipes (no surprise to some), but I'd like to try suggestions from someone here.

I'd prefer it to be extremely tender, succulent, and pleasantly flavorful. Not too gamey, not overpowered by spices but enhanced by them by preferrably a marinade and/or slow roasting/cooking or broiling.

I'd like to avoid excessive fruit and barbequeing, unless you talk me into it. I'm open to general opinions regarding methods on the subject; also interested in what typically goes well with it (like lamb and rosemary). I'm curious about a confit, and if you'd like me to post the possible recipes for discussion, I'd be more than happy to.

Thanks in advance!


[This message has been edited by cchiu (edited 11-21-2000).]

[This message has been edited by cchiu (edited 11-21-2000).]

[cape chef]

CChiu, It is not to often that I prepare breast of Goose, I prefere it whole roasted, Then you can cook it slowly. I would shy away from slow cooking the breast however ( very little fat) And do a pan roast. I do Duck Magret mohoganey (sp?)To clean the breast, First turn the flesh side up and remove any silver skin,being careful not to remove the tenderloin. Trim off any fat on the flesh side. Turn over so skin is up, Trim outer areas of the breast and look at the breast part that would be closer to the wish bone. The reason is the fat may be thicker there, if it is trim it to the same depth as the rear section. Take your knife and make a tic tac toe design on the fat side being sure not to go down all the way to the meat.Rub it with asian 5 spice powder, this will help it tenderize. Let masirate in the fridge four 3 hours. While in the fridge,take some mollassas, jack Danials,fresh ginger root a little salt and black pepper and mix in a bowl. Add the Goose to the marinade and let sit in the fridge for 1 more hour. Remove the breast and pat dry and place in a cool saute pan and render the fat ( skin side down) until deep brown and you see the fat jumping about. This should be done on medium heat as to not burn the sugars. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. After brown turn over the breast and cook for 3 minutes, place a piece of tin foil right on the breast. Not as a tent you don't want to steam it and place in the pre heated oven for about 15 minutes give or take after ten minutes in the oven remove the foil. Remove the Goose from the oven and let it sit for ten minutes or more to let the juices solidefy. slice very thinly on a bias. I serve this with mashed sweet potatoes with charred shallots and sauteed apples , Just a Idea. Happy cooking
cc

Cape Chef, that sounds really good - a question, though. Molasses is something that I don't really care for; I'll use it in recipes where the flavor is masked. Would honey, sorghum or maple syrup make a good substitute? Or does the molasses mellow out in the cooking?

That's two questions, isn't it? Oh, well - tis the holiday season . . .

[cape chef]

Maryeo, they would all work. Althought the color and flavor would be different. The mollassas does not really mellow all that much,Actually it intensifise as it carmilizes.If you do not like Mollassas use brown suger and a little maple syrup. The Brown suger will give you that mohogany finish you want
cc

Either I'm old fashioned or I've cooked in too many European and German Restaurants but when I think of goose I think of Goose breast braised in caraway, apple and saurkraut served with spaetzle.
Or if I feel like going to the effort and expense nothing beats a Goose, Truffle and cabbage chartruese! ( I may have to change my Christmas Eve menu!)

After rereading the post please note that if all you have are breasts don't think about a confit. You don't have enough fat and also confit is (in my opinion) a waste on breasts. Save it for tougher, longer cooking pieces like the legs. While Confit D'Oie is great I can't help but think that Confit D'Canard is the ultimate in sensuous food.

[This message has been edited by chrose (edited 11-21-2000).]

[mudbug]

thanks to those who have responded so far...

cape chef, so on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the sweetest, how sweet is the overall flavor of your recipe?

[cape chef]

cchiu, Use fresh ginger root minced.

If the bird is skinless (which I dought)
Macarate for 1 1/2 hours istead of 3 hours
and reduce maranade time by about half.
If it is skinless do not use a cool pan use a medium high tempature,make sure it is preheated. Now at this time pat the breat dry put two tablespoons each butter and canola oil,wait until the butter stops bubbling and put the breast is the pan. Be sure to drap it away from you (toward the rear of the pan) so you don't splatter on yourself, cook for about 3 or 4 minutes on each side then place in the preheated oven for 5 minutes no foil.If you take your pointer finger and touch the fatty ball below your thumb as you move it closer to the center of the base of your hand it will go from soft to firm when the breast feels about what your hand feels like mid way to the center it is done pull it out lest rest and slice
cc

[mudbug]

Thanks cape chef. Looking foward to trying it!

[cape chef]

cchiu, It really is not a sweet dish,the mollassas really gives the color to the breast. It does add some sweetnest but not much,also the Goose if very rich in flavor so really everything plays very well off eachother. Ok Ok you wanted a number 5 3/8,
happy cooking
cc

[mudbug]

he, he

All right cape chef.

That last response right there may tip me into going for it!

Now, let me break this down, please note that I am not good at "a little of this and a little of that " which is why I'm a better baker. Also. I will be travelling to their family's house about 2 hours away and my not have access to the net so I need to be clear on everything before I go.

AND, I just called and currently can't get ahold of anyone to verify whether the breast has skin or not. It was a trade between hunters, fish for goose. So I need to know what I happens if there is no skin because I realize this may affect the flavor and moistness.

I'm going to write this like a recipe, could you please fill in the blanks, correct the quantities, instructions?

Duck Magret Mahogany

1 breast of goose with skin [***** need provisions for without!!!!]
2T five-spice powder
1.5T mollassas
2T Jack Daniels
1t ginger, minced (or grated? or microplaned?)
1t kosher salt
1t fresh ground pepper

Preparation:
1. To clean breast, turn flesh side up and remove any silver skin, being careful not to remove the tenderloin. Trim off any fat on the flesh side. Turn skin side up, trim outer areas of the breast and look at the breast part that would be closer to the wish bone. (If the fat is thicker there, trim it to the same depth as the rear section.)

2. Take your knife and make a tic tac toe design on the fat side being sure not to go down all the way to the meat. Rub it with five-spice powder, to tenderize. Let macerate in fridge 3 hours.

3. In large bowl, mix mollassas, Jack Daniels, ginger, salt, and black pepper.

4. After macerated 3 hours, add Goose to marinade and let sit in the fridge for 1 more hour.

5. Preheat oven to 425º. Remove breast and pat dry, place in cool saute pan skin side down. Using medium heat (so as not to burn the sugars), cook until deep brown and you see the fat jumping. About 10 minutes. When brown turn over and cook 3 more minutes.

6. Cover breast with a piece of tin foil (Not as a tent - you don't want to steam it.). Put in oven about 15 minutes, removing foil after ten minutes.

8. Remove from oven and let rest ten minutes or more (this allows juices to solidify).

9. Slice very thinly on a bias. Enjoy!