#Ruth’s Roast Goose recipe

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Ruth’s Roast Goose

“‘Well,’ said Phryne expansively, taking another slice of breast, ‘that was the best goose in all the world.’

‘Never tasted better,’ beamed Miss Eliza.

‘Delicious,’ agreed Lady Alice, holding out her plate for more goose, brussels sprouts (and who would have thought they did taste that good with chestnuts? Even Jane had eaten some, Ruth marvelled, resolving never to doubt her texts again), potatoes, gravy, chestnut stuffing and peas. Ruth was delighted. not by the spoken compliments, though they were very nice, but by the second and even third helpings everone was asking.

Oh, I’ve longed to have a roast goose at Christmas for ages! Ever since I saw this old Sherlock Holmes episode where one of this birds had ingested sapphires... or other precious gems! I’ve wanted a Victorian Yuletide for years, and even more so when I read how the otherwise thoroughly modern Miss Fisher feasts in Kerry Greenwood’s Murder in the Dark! Well, there is heaps of outrageous partying in Roaring Twenties Werribee in this novel, but Christmas Day for the St. Kilda household is rather traditional, although Phryne’s guests, her socialist sister The Honourable Eliza Fisher, and her girlfriend Lady Alice, are not. And Ruth is happily in charge of the kitchen. So, it might just be the two of us this year, but I made Ruth’s Roast Goose, with all the sides, I flambéed a deliciously moist Pudding and made a pavlova where the velvety cream contrasts with sharp and tangy fruit, I sang carols, and Jules and I had a very merry feast indeed! Happy Christmas again, and I hope you all have a wonderful Boxing Day!

Ingredients (serves at least 6):

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion

1 sprig fresh rosemary

350 grams/12.35 ounces good quality pork sausage

250 grams/1 cup cooked chestnuts (bottled, canned or sous-vide)

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons brandy

1 Spring onion

4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley

1 (3.5-kilo/7.70-pound) fresh goose

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 freshly cracked black pepper

nutmeg

Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet, over medium-high heat.

Peel onion, and chop finely. Add to the skillet and fry, a couple of minutes. Remove leaves from the rosemary sprig, and chop finely. Stir into the skillet. 

Remove sausage casing, and add sausage meat to the skillet. Cook, stirring often, until browned. Stir in chestnuts. Cook, 3 minutes. Pour in brandy, and reduce heat to medium. Cook, crushing the chestnuts slightly with the back of your wooden spoon, to mash them a bit. Remove from the heat.

Finely chop Spring onion and parsley, and stir into the sausage mixture. Let cool completely.

Preheat oven to 240°C/465°F.

Remove pockets of fat inside the goose. Season the inside and outside of the bird with salt and black pepper. Grate a little nutmeg on top, rub the seasoning gently all over, and stuff with the chestnut and sausage stuffing. Tie the legs with twine, if necessary, so the stuffing doesn’t spill out.

Sit stuffed goose into a large roasting dish, and place in the middle of the oven. Cook, at 240°C/465°F, 10 minutes. Then, reduce oven temperature to 190°C/375°F, and cook, 1 hour and forty-five minutes*. Regularly baste the goose with its fat, which will seep from the roasting bird steadily. Be careful as it will be piping hot. Collect some of the fat in a bowl each time you baste it, and use it to make Ruth’s Roasted Potatoes.

Once cooked, carefully remove from the oven, and cover with foil. Let sit, a quarter of an hour, before serving and carving.

Serve Ruth’s Roast Goose with  Cranberry-Apricot Sauce, Ruth’s Roasted Potatoes and Brussels sprouts sautéed with chestnuts and bacon, and feast merrily!

*count half an hour of roasting per kilo (2 pounds)

Goose Fat: Once the roasting juices and fat have cooled, place the roasting tin in the refrigerator, covered with cling film. The following day, remove from the refrigerator and, with a tablespoon, gently scoop out the white goose fat and spoon it into a clean, sterelised jar, making sure not to scoop the congealed juices of the goose. Close tightly, it will keep for a few months (up to six) in the refrigerator, and will make delicious Roasted Potatoes!

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Luxury Goose Sandwiches

The Right Honourable John Montagu was onto something! One of the Christmastime tradition my sister and I have, is playing 221B Baker Street after our Christmas Lunch -or sometimes in the middle of it, to allow our appetite to be restored for the rest of the meal- and in the following days, whilst we’re both on holiday. It started five years ago, when Jules visited me in Toronto for the Festive Season, and gifted me the aforementioned board game. That’s when Lord Sandwich comes into play, as it were, since you can focus on the game -and this one needs your attention- better when eating a sarnie than something that requires a fork. But a sarnie can, and should, be a delicious affair as are those truly beautiful Luxury Goose Sandwiches! 

Ingredients (serves 2):

leftover Ruth’s Roast Goose, with plenty of meat on the carcass

4 strips smoked streaky bacon

4 large slices Soft White Bread

about 2 heaped tablespoons Honey-Fermented Carrot Jam

4 leaves fresh lettuce

2 fluffy sprigs fresh parsley

2 heaped tablespoon Apricot and Ginger Chutney 

Remove the Roast Goose from the refrigerator at least one hour before you intend eating your sandwiches. It will allow the meat to warm a bit and become more tender, as goose meat tends to be tougher when cold. 

Then, with a sharp knife carve the Roast Goose, cutting, preferably from the breast, thin slices, as much as you wish!

In a medium, nonstick frying pan, fry bacon strips over medium-high heat, about 2 minutes on each side until well-browned (but not crispy.) Remove from the heat.

Toast Soft White Bread slices. Place one on each serving plate, and generously spoon Honey-Fermented Carrot Jam onto each. Top with lettuce leaves,  Pile up Roast Goose and bacon rashers on top. Sprinkle  with parsley leaves. Spread a heaped tablespoon Apricot and Ginger Chutney onto each of remaining toasted White Bread slices and place on top of the sandwiches, pressing slightly. Cut both of the sandwiches in half.

Serve Luxury Goose Sandwiches immediately, with a hot cuppa, and enjoy both your meal and your game!