Anyone have any success smoking a goose?

Ed L.

Ed L.

Well-known member
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I'd been watching a group using an area close to the house the past week. I left work and setup in the area. Like clock work here they come. I'm laying in the fatboy when I get my chance and scratch one with his feet down. Woo hoo I got my Christmas Goose. The wife asks if I've ever smoked one. I haven't. Anyone smoke a goose? How did it turn out?

Merry Christmas all.
 
Hard to stuff the whole damn thing into the pipe too.....

On a more serious note, I would brine the goose overnight and stick it on the smoker. What do you have to lose??
I use a variation of Alton Brown's Turkey Recipe, works great for turkeys and I have used the brine for duck breasts as well. I have also used this to brine & smoke boston butts.

Alton Brown's Brined & Roasted Turkey: Ingredients
  • 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
For the brine:
  • 1 cup kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 gallon vegetable stock
  • 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
  • 1 gallon heavily iced water
For the aromatics:
  • 1 red apple, sliced
  • 1/2 onion, sliced
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 sprigs rosemary
  • 6 leaves sage
  • Canola oil
Directions
Click here to see how it's done.
2 to 3 days before roasting:
Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.
Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.
Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:
Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.
Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.
Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.
Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.
 
Ed, thats pretty much all I have done with geese for the past 15 years.

I discovered a company called Hi Mountain Jerky http://himtnjerky.com/ and thats where I get my "secret recipe". Following their directions, mix the "cure" and the "seasoning" together. They provide a shaker bottle and I use the contents of that for every batch of 6-8 breasts.

Lay your goose breasts out flat and cut 1/8 - 1/4" thick slices lengthwise until you have a pile ready to go.

Using a flat glass or plastic pan, sprinkle the jerky mix out to cover the bottom of the pan. Lay your goose strips side by side in that mixture until you have one layer completed. Sprinkle more mix over the top of that first layer, covering all of the meat, then start another layer over the first. Coat the top side of that layer then start another until you have all of your meat covered on both sides. Cover the pan with cling wrap or a lid if you use Tupperware, and refrigerate. I have found that a minimum of two days up to a week works great.

I have a couple of smokers but the one that works best for this is the Brinkmann electric. I found some replacement round grills a while back and added them to the existing two grills by adding some machine screws thru the sides to set them on. Fill the water bowl then start laying the meat out on each grill. Its best not to let the strips touch each other but there is some shrinkage that will separate them as time goes on. Stack the grills up in the smoker and you're almost ready to start smoking.

Now I am lucky around here because I have a lot of cherry and apple on the property. I have also tried oak and maple from the syrup trees but my favorite by far is the cherry and thats pretty much all I use anymore. Usually I will cut about a 2" thick slice of an 8" (or so) diameter log. I screw 4 drywall screws as "table legs" leaving about a 1.5" leg showing. I set that little wooden table right down over the electric elements and place the smoker barrel with the goose strips over it. As long as you keep the side door shut and the lid on tight, the wood will not flare up. If it does, a quick spray of water thru the side door will put it out. I usually leave it on for 3 hours or so, maybe longer in the winter, until the top layer feels and tastes right.

Thats about it...its pretty popular around here and every piece I make always gets eaten. As with everything, this isn't the only way to make jerky from game meat but its one way thats worked for me....and that includes duck, goose, venison, beef, turkey, moose and even bear.

I wish it was my superior cooking skills that make it so good but think the real secret is in that Hi Mountain product and now they have a ton of different flavors.

(You can find it at Cabelas, Bass Pro and some small grocery stores)
 
My father smokes all of my geese. They are really phenomenal. People who dislike game are usually the ones going for seconds. Brine it, keep it on the rare side, then a big trick to serving it. Slice it extremely thin against the grain. Basically you want to make your cuts so that they would intersect the breast bone (i.e. perpendicular to the breast bone).

Additionally, serve with a bit of horse radish to dip in - that really makes it.

Also sprinkling just a little brown sugar on the finished product is good.
 
I've never smoked a whole goose, but I've smoked many breasts after brining them. Between the brine and the smoking, they were moist and tender. Many a civilian has eaten it and liked it.
 
I've smoked the breast with a dry rub on them. I might not ever cook them another way. Its really good.
 
Hhhhmmmm, I bet I know where! LOL

I have never done it but would have to guess smoking a whole goose would be much the same as smoking a whole wild turkey. I have heard smoked wild turkey is delicious....

If it was me I would just smoke the breasts and use the legs for stew (my favorite way to eat them!).
 
I've smoked the breasts, soak overnight in some kosher salt and spices. the smoke for 3 hrs at 180 degrees.
when finished cut across grain and serve on a platter with some different dipping sauces. like spicy mustard, horseradish
sauce.
I have served this to people who normally will not eat anything gamey and there are never any leftovers
 
Scott,

I never thought about jerky. That sounds good. This is a lesser Canada. After getting though all the feathers it's not much bigger than a big red leg Mallard so I just breasted this one. I may just have to try this.

All,

I hope I didn't spoke'em to bad yesterday. I may need a few more to try all the good ideas here.

Mark....you stay away from there!..............just kidding. Yep...that's the spot.
 
If Uncle Sam was nice to us waterfowlers I know a spot where a lot are sitting right now.....lol....real close to my work.....

In about a week I will be looking for them on the IA side....

A lesser would be about the perfect size to smoke whole, will have to remember that if I get back out.
 
I had smoked goose just recently from a local taylored meat guy and its incredible. He smokes 2 full breasts wrapped together and when you get them, they look like a small ham. I had some a couple weeks ago while my partner and I were issuing a gentleman a warning for a hunting violation and we couldn't stay out of it! Even offered some to our "client" but he wasn't interested in trying it.
 
Ed-

Nice to hear you got a goose. I tried something new this year....a smoked blackbellied whistling duck. OOOOHHHHHH LOOOORDY it was most delicious. I cooked it with the thanksgiving ribs and chicken. Not a whole lot of prep work. Plucked, brined for about two hours then put it in the smoker and let the smoker do its thing for about three hours. That really was a bit long, IMO. My family loved it but I like duck a little more rare (like it ought to be), so next time I'll cut some time off of it. The blackbelly was smoked with apple wood and apple juice mixed in the water. Then I duped the carcass and legs into a pot for soup, added more duck meat from other ducks and made an OUTSTANDING smoked duck and dumplings soup.

I've also smoked a wild turkey. DEEEEEEEELICIOUS. Takes forever to get ready for smoking IMO, but well worth it. My first turkey I hunted on my own was a touch over 18lbs prior to cleaning...not sure how that equates to cleaned and plucked, but I ended up smoking him for 12 hours and it was PERFECT. The turkey was smoked with hickory chips.

So, if you decide to do it, good luck and I would be most interested in hearing how you do....

BTW you're missing a great season down here. I shot my first gadwall this weekend and another one today (gorgeous drake), LOTS of teal, gotten into both fulvous and blackbellies, ringnecks, mottled ducks, pintail, shovelors, seen a couple true mallards,.....all in one small area....if you get back down here this season (or any time further in the future) you're welcome to join me and see what species decide to come on through...

Dani
 
Smoked goose is incredible.

You can do the breasts alone as mentioned below (which is VERY good), but having done it whole, changes how you will look at waterfowl!!

One of the BEST books on cured meats is CHARCUTERIE by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. They take all the mystique out of smoking, salting, and curing meats. All of which can be applied to wild game.

I would recommend trying a whole goose after brined for at least 24 hours, and 48 would be better. Plucking it will be a pain in the $ss, but the end product is worth it!

Brine recipe is:
1 gallon of H2O
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
optional seasonings (anything that has been listed below is great).
Bring water to a slight simmer so all ingredients are dissolved. Allow to cool, and place bird in brine and refrigerate.

I use a hot smoker, and I personally find that the delicate spices really don't show up in the finished product. Hot smoking is salt, sugar, and smoke!! But try for yourself.

I have a large box smoker that has the burner at the bottom, pan for wood chips, water pan, and then 4 racks.

Low and slow works well, and take your time. The BEST advice I can give, is invest in a leave-in meat thermometer. Watching temperature is critical.

http://www.oxo.com/p-558-chefs-digital-leave-in-thermometer-stainless-steel.aspx

Put the probe in the center of the breast right next to the keel bone (from the direction of the head), and pull the meat when it hits 140 F, cover with foil and towels and allow to rest for a 1/2 hour. If you try to do this without a thermometer, then you run the risk of overcooking and it will turn to liver.

I did this two years ago at deer camp, and there was a lot of lip smacking going on......

Best,
Steve
 
Dani,

It took buying (2) out of state lic. this year! That's the most expensive fowl I hope I'll ever eat.

I've been checking in down there. Seems everyone is having a pretty good season. keep up the good work and Merry Christmas.
 
Steve thanks for the link. I was showing the thermometer to my wife. We now have one on order.

Merry Christmas.
 
Hey Ed...by coincidence, I just finished loading a mess of jerky in the smoker for the holidays. I think there is around 6 lbs in there and I'll be surprised if we have any left by Monday what with holiday visitors and all. Tomorrow, I'll load in three 5.5 lb beef briskets. The first two will use our barbecue rub recipe and one of those goes to a friend who really likes the way they come out. The third one is an experiment using the brine recipe I usually use for pork loin to make smoked pulled pork. Never brined a brisket before so it'll be a surprise whatever happens. I think theres a ham and a turkey around here somewhere too so we'll be feeding an army this Christmas.
 
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