Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

How to Cook Goose in 2 Delicious Recipes

Let your Francophile flag fly this Christmas and cook goose (or oie, if you’re fancy and happen to know Old French). Goose is a common meal served in France during the holidays, enjoyed for its gamey and strong bird flavor, closer to fine red meat than a turkey or seafood dish.

The Manual leaned on skilled Chef Max Mackissock of Morin (a modern French restaurant in Denver that experiments and updates traditional French cuisine) for two Christmas goose recipes — one easy and one more difficult — that will wow family, friends, and most of all, mom.

Related Videos

Mackissock adapted his insane goose recipe from Morin’s holiday Joie de Noël menu because let’s be real, our kitchen talents are admittedly more Guy Fieri than Joël Robuchon — not that there is wrong with the Mayor of Flavortown.

But, with so many options for Christmas meals, why choose something as different as a goose?

Because it’ll make you step out of your comfort zone, bucko. “It’s really not as hard as people think,” Mackissock says. “It’s also healthier.”

Tips for Cooking a Goose

  1. Buy a good goose. Mackissock suggests purchasing a bird online from D’artagnan out of New York. Short on time? Run to Whole Foods, but do not buy frozen or it’ll taste astringent.
  2. Plan to cook the legs and breast separately. “Especially with larger birds like turkey and geese, I recommend roasting the legs and breast apart since they like to cook at different temperatures,” Mackissock says. “Legs need to go to a higher temp to cook through and be tender.”
  3. Goose is really only available during the holidays on a consumer-retail scale, so take advantage!

Now, let’s get to cooking that bird.

Goose Recipes

Seared Goose Breast

cooked goose recipe
Nikada/Getty Images

Start your recipe 2 days before you plan to cook. Rub in koji (can be ordered online) to denature the raw goose protein once per day; remove with damp towel and store in fridge.

Ingredients for the Stock:

  • 1 goose
  • Honey (for garnish)
  • Crystalized ginger (for garnish)
  • Pink peppercorns (for garnish)
  • 3 goose bones
  • 1 onion
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 celery stalks

Ingredients for the Sauce:

  • 16 oz reduced goose stock
  • 10 oz cubed cold foie gras
  • 1 oz sherry vinegar
  • 1 tsp salt

Method:

  1. For the stock, remove the breast and cut up the legs and wings on the joints.
  2. Cook the stock for 4 hours; strain and reduce by half (this will serve as the base for sauce).
  3. Put the foie, vinegar, and salt in a high-powered blender.
  4. Slowly pour in hot reduced stock and blend for 30 seconds on high.
  5. Now cook the breast by seasoning with 1 teaspoon salt and place into cryovac bag and cook for 1 hour at 128 degrees Fahrenheit.
  6. Remove from bag and over medium heat in a nonstick pan, cook until crispy. Glaze with honey, crystallized ginger, and pink peppercorns.  Serve and enjoy!

Kale-Wrapped Goose Sausage

Kale-Wrapped Goose Sausage
Morin

Ingredients:

  • .5 lb goose meat
  • .5 lb pork meat
  • .25 lb back fat
  • 7.5 g large kosher salt
  • 6 g chopped garlic
  • 2.5 g chopped sage
  • 1 g white pepper
  • 2.5 g dried juniper berry — ground in spice grinder
  • 3 g orange zest

Method:

  1. Begin with the meat by cubing, mixing, and partially freezing (you want to keep the fat cold so it does not melt).
  2. Remove the meat from the freezer and mix in all herbs & aromatics.
  3. Grind on medium die first, then do a second grind on smaller die.
  4. Put back in fridge post-grind for 5 minutes.
  5. Paddle in KitchenAid for about 30 seconds until the mix is somewhat sticky (you’re breaking down the myosin).  (Pro tip: keep the meat as cold as you can throughout the process.)
  6. Clean and de-stem kale leaves then blanche in salted boiling water for about 15 seconds. Shock in ice bath and remove.
  7. Line terrine mold first with plastic wrap (or caul fat) then line terrine walls with kale leaves; add in meat mixture then top w/kale leaves and the terrine lid.
  8. Cook in water bath until 140 degrees F.
  9. Let cool in terrine. Remove, then slice and serve.

Editors' Recommendations

Fun app helps home cooks find new recipes and has a thriving community
See what's cooking with this new app
Man and woman cooking in kitchen

Most of us have at least a few recipes saved somewhere on our phones or tablets. As we peruse social media and the plethora of YouTubers, Instagram influencers, and our favorite bloggers urging us to try this or that new dish or cooking technique, it's hard not to have established a considerable collection of digital recipes.
Part of the joy in collecting these recipes is sharing them with friends and family when you've found a winner. Years ago, apps like Pinterest and Facebook helped us do that to an extent, but, if we're honest, those sites are pretty dated and limited when it comes to recipe sharing.
Thankfully, there's a new recipe app in town. One that will help you save all of those tempting recipes, share them with your friends, and even assist you with things like grocery shopping and keeping your screen from going dark while you're trying to cook.

Sisters and founders of Spillt, Maddy and Ann, created the clever app in the early days of COVID. The two were living together with their mother and, like everyone in those days, found themselves cooking...a lot. It didn't take long for them to realize the need for an easy, updated, fun way to share recipes with each other and with their friends. And thus, Spillt was born.

Read more
How to make the perfect breakfast burrito at home
The breakfast burrito: Everyone's favorite grab-and-go breakfast is easier to make than you think
breakfast burrito recipe 5

Is there anyone who doesn't love a good, hearty breakfast burrito? These satisfying little bundles are an easy, delicious, hearty yet simple way to start any day. Or, for that matter, end any day. Breakfast burritos make for a divine dinner that absolutely everyone, including the kids, will love.

As popular as they are, though, breakfast burritos aren't necessarily something we often think to make for ourselves. We usually think of them as a grab-one-with-your-morning-latte-at-the-corner-store kind of food. But if you know how to make a breakfast burrito, you possess a skill that will make you pretty popular. And you'll probably save a ton when you're not dropping six bucks every morning for the corner store version.

Read more
Oyster Blade: The delicious cut of steak you’ve never heard of
Oyster Blade: Get to know your new favorite steak cut
oyster blade steak cuts 13839614695 d08e418609 k

We love a lesser-known cut of beef. Tri-tip, for example — one of the most delicious of all steaks and a prized treasure to any Californian — away from the West coast, is often dismissed as a curious cut with no real culinary value (how dare they). Until the last few years, flank and skirt steaks were both scoffed at as cheap, tough cuts, hardly worthy of the time spent to prepare them. It's hard to believe this blasphemy, yet somehow, it's true. Underappreciated, shier types of steak often fly under the radar for decades without anyone pausing to appreciate their unique character and flavors. We say it's time to end this nonsense.
Enter the Oyster Blade. Commonly brushed aside due to its center vein of connective tissue, this flavorful piece of meat is one of the best steak cuts in town. Similar to the flat iron, the oyster blade differs only in the way it's butchered. A flat iron comes from the meat being cut along the long grain from the top and undersides of the gristle. When the meat is cut across its grain, the gristle line lies in the middle of the steak, and that is an oyster blade cut. Both cuts come from below the shoulder blade and are tremendously flavorful and savory.
Because of its signature line of gristle, oyster blades are too often overlooked. But if you know how to prepare this delicious cut of beef, your flavor reward will be immense. Like most lean cuts, the Oyster can be tough, but only when prepared incorrectly. While it can be deliciously pan-seared or grilled, our favorite preparation is a slow-cooked braise. Giving this flavorful cut of beef time to release its meaty flavor will give you one of the most savory stews or roasts you've ever prepared.

Oyster Blade braise recipe

Read more