So the duck I bought for dinner tonight is actually a goose!

[Greaterthanthesumoftheparts]

I've never cooked a goose before, it's 3.2 kg, what are your tips?

No real tips for cooking it, but use the leftovers for soup stock and you won't regret it

Thanks Maverick

Excuse my ignorance and jumping on your thread but what is the difference?

You need to prick it all over before you roast it Put it on a trivet or crumpled up tin foil to raise it and then drain the fat that comes off it regularly. You will get a lot of fat! Keep it in a jar or plastic tub in the fridge and use it for making roasties for the next 6 months. Gorgeous.

There isn't a lot of meat on a goose, but you don't need a lot as it is very rich and the crispy skin is delicious. I want goose now.

Treat it like a big duck. Honestly not much different.

Thanks Liin I had pricked it and I also thought it didn't have a lot on the breast. It's in now so I'll let you know in a few hours how it goes. We'll be having a traditional English turkey roast tomorrow so I'll use some of the fat for the roasties.

He's just a giant goose. There'll be surprisingly little meat on it. I use Nigel Slater's recipe for duck and adjust the timings. Prick it, cook it over a thick bed of winter veg, sprinkle with thyme. Plenty of seasoning and save the copious amounts of fat.

A giant duck, I meant !

Roast it upside down and turn it the right way up about 40 mins before it comes out.
I'm doing goose tomorrow.

That sounds like the kind of mistake that could work out well! My husband has bought a joint of ready cooked ham instead of the uncooked gammon I wanted for dinner tonight. I am unreasonably pissed off. God know what we'd have ended up with if I sent him out for a duck or goose.

Have a clean jar/bowl ready to put the fat in to.

Ostrich longdiling

That would at least be interesting allalone, I reckon he'd probably get chicken nuggets.

I love goose. Too late now but Gordon Ramsey has a recipe I use most years.

I used Delia Smith's recipe for goose with prunes in Armagnac for Christmas one year, it was lovely. She suggests putting the goose on a rack in the roasting tin, that allows you to drain off the fat easily. As others say there will be a lot of fat and surprisingly little meat.

Thankfully I bought a new roasting tin with rack in Ikea for the duck, which fits the goose! 11 mins til it comes out to rest and I have to deal with Danish brown sauce (or gravy as we call it!)