"Christmas Goose" and Red Cabbage

I was paging through the Schumacher cookbook a few weeks ago, and came upon this recipe for Christmas Goose. Schumacher's was a restaurant in New Prague, MN near my grandparent's farm that made lots of German and Czech foods - a combination of both my maternal grandparents.

Not having yet made a plan for the day, goose roasting and eating with loved ones seemed as good a project as any. Plus I saw that geese were on sale at the Seward (turns out they are pretty pricey). I later learned that my grandfather loved goose, but that my grandma wouldn't let him cook it in the house - only outside (probably on the outdoor stove he used for making maple syrup). The goose turned out delicious. They are much fattier than other fowl (I have plans to render the fat at some point), and also dry out more easily - hence the large amount of water in the recipe. *I also made the Red Cabbage recipe from the cookbook, which was amazing.


1 Goose, 6-7 pounds
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 T. caraway seeds
1 large peeled onion
1 quart water
*My Goose was over 9 pounds, which meant longer cooking. I also used almost twice as much of the salt/pepper/caraway.

Remove all internals from the goose cavity (see photo). Save the liver, heart, gizzard, and neck (I used this to make gravy.) Remove wings at elbow joint (this required some bone snapping and the use of a knife). Wash goose thoroughly making sure cavity is clean. Season inside and outside with salt, pepper, and caraway seeds. Stuff cavity with whole, peeled onion. Place in roaster on top of wings and neck bone with one quart of water, breast side up. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 3 1/2 hours (this one cooked over 4 1/2 hours). Goose is done with this handy tip: pull legs in opposite directions, if they spring back the goose is not done. Please note in the top left photo that the leg was definitely sprawled when removed from oven...no spring action was occurring!

When the goose is tender and ready, drain off water and fat. Return to oven, uncovered for 10 minutes to dry and crisp skin (mine was already dry and crisp, so I skipped that step). They recommend a cranberry-orange sauce, but my dinner party determined that the trifecta of goose, potato, and gravy was a stellar combo. yum.