Danish Roast Goose with Prunes & Apples

From: kimmy #2

On Dec 1, 2005

My recipe was a little different. It is half and half apple and prune with a little onion. Do not soak the prunes as they will absorb the grease and add sweetness to the meat. You will still have too much grease but the meat will be a little sweeter.

From: suzidoer

On Jan 1, 2008

Wow, what a terrific recipe! Usually when I roast a goose, the skin is too soft or too crispy. Cooking the goose on the SIDE instead of breast up remedied this problem. The skin roasted beautifully like a turkey or chicken. I never once covered this goose with tinfoil and didn't have to. The skin did not burn at all. The fat must travel through the whole bird and the breast to drain and thus the goose meat was savory and moist like I've never been able to cook it before. I did soak the apples in rum about 30 minutes before. I did not soak the prunes on the advice of another reader. Now, I did chop up a couple of gloves of garlic and 1 small onion and stuffed the goose with them along with the prunes and the rum-soaked apples. I believe the alcohol releases the sugars in the apples and the whole combination of the apples, prunes, garlic, onion, and lemon juice permeated the goose meat beautifully and gave it a very Christmas taste-- sweet and savory. Best goose we ever had. Our Christmas guests, mostly elderly people who remember eating goose for Christmas dinner, raved about how good it was. Do use a meat thermometer properly inserted just behind the drumstick into the body. Cook to 185 degrees for perfect bird. I cooked an 11 lb bird. Baste the goose infrequently, like every hour. Too much opening the door lets out the steam and the goose can get dry. I also used 1 cup of wine (red or white is fine) mixed with the goose fat I got after 1 1/2 hours of cooking. The wine and goose fat made a beautiful basting that flavored the skin and meat exquisitely! We are Portuguese and like garlic and wine on everything! How did we get the goose to stay on it's side? It just did, all by itself! I was concerned before trying it that it wouldn't stay put, but it did perfectly with no propping up of any kind. Remember to use a low-sided pan so the bird is not covered. Best to use a 2" side pan with a rack under it to lift the goose up so all parts are exposed to the cooking so the skin is roasted evenly. Lovely recipe, thanks for posting it, it will be our Christmas Goose recipe tradition from now on. P.S. I did not use any of the stuffed items, prunes, apples etc, to make anything else, just tossed them. Our stuffing recipe does not call for them. I did use the goose liver, gizzards in our stuffing though.