Preparing a tender goose?

[CANOPY SAM]

What are some ways you folks get your ducks and geese to turn out tender? I enjoy eating waterfowl, and seasoning them to taste isn't difficult, but for some reason, likely the wild bird (low fat) factor, my birds too often turn out a little tough.

What are some ways to get them really tender and juicy?

The pic of the grilled bird above look good, although, as a master gardener, I would have gone with green beans that were younger. Those appear to be a little too mature, but that's just me. I'm picky about my veggies. Really tasty looking plate though!

[BrdHunter01]

Crock-Pot is the best I have found to make them tender and juicy. Don't be afraid to crock-pot them for 10+ hours....

[BoxMN]

We Breast them, slice them into smaller pieces, wrap each with half slice of bacon and put on kabobs with peppers and mushrooms between them. Put over low to medium flame on grill, and Don't let them get overdone (that is what bacon is for) and eat them hot and juicy! Even had my Mom and old aunt and Uncle eating them and loving them last weekend, and they don't like game.

I stopped doing whole birds myself, I just don't like the taste of them that way. Good luck, hope we all keep getting enough to keep eating them

[Matt Breuer]

100 agree. Crock-Pot is the way to go... We did the pulled fowl sangwiches last week, and I had them in the Pot for roughly 18 hours.

Have done ducks in a stir fry, and this keeps them nice and moist. Typically steam them a bit with the veggies.

If it's not tender, it's overcooked IMO. The worst thing you can do to fowl is overcook it!

[fishersofmen]

Crock-Pot is the best I have found to make them tender and juicy. Don't be afraid to crock-pot them for 10+ hours....

What he said is what I do for goose turns out fantastic. Usually do my duck breasts on the grill.

[CANOPY SAM]

Seems like duck breast is easier to prepare tender and juicy than goose. I love those big curly-tailed green-head breasts, all fattened up with Canadian corn.

18 hours! Really? That's a LONG time to cook anything! But I guess down south it's pretty common to take a few days to BBQ a brisket, or rack of ribs.

Making those kabobs sounds really good, but I see that as a pretty quick cooking method. The goose flesh turns out tender from cooking them only 20-30 minutes of kabob/grill time?

I basically did that by broiling strips of goose breast wrapped in bacon on a cookie sheet the other night. They broiled for about 25 minutes, until the bacon was fairly crispy, but the goose meat was very tough and chewy.

Matt, you shred a lot of wild game for sandwiches, and tortillas/tacos. What is your favorite seasoning to add to duck, goose, grouse...for this kind of preparation?

[HonkerDown]

We usually take just the breast wrap with 1 piece of bacon, cut up onion, greenpepper, apple, and jalepeno. Wrap all of this in a tin foil boat and bake 250 for 6 hrs. You do not even need a knife to cut the meat it is so tender but jalepeno can make it spicy and can be left out i have yet to find someone who hasnt liked this way

[carpshooterdeluxe]

marinade, hot grill, and a meat thermometer. 130 degrees and your goose is cooked. 140 and its over cooked. meat should be pink, grey goose meat is over done and tough.

[BrdHunter01]

18 hours! Really? That's a LONG time to cook anything! But I guess down south it's pretty common to take a few days to BBQ a brisket, or rack of ribs.

About 18 hrs is pretty common for me as well.

Last weekend was closer to 24 hours in the crock-pot. Brought home my three woodies after hunting sat morning, threw them in the crock pot around 130-2 and boy were they tender by the vikes game on Sunday!

[Todd Caswell]

I like crock pot duck and goose, I do it pulled with BBQ sauce, believe it or not both are really good stripped breaded and deap fried, I have a connection for KFC breading it's by far the best but seasoned flour will work as well. But by far my favorite is to grill it, med rare. The key to tender birds is to soak it for 4 to 6 days in a mixture of water and mortens tender quick. You don't need alot, a couple table spoons goes along ways in just enough water to cover the meat. Brined properly and grilled properly it will always be fork tender. Yes these were the last beans I picked out of the garden.

[Matt Breuer]

Matt, you shred a lot of wild game for sandwiches, and tortillas/tacos. What is your favorite seasoning to add to duck, goose, grouse...for this kind of preparation?

You can't lump geese in with others IMO. They cook more like beef than birds. Grouse I almost always cube, ducks I almost always strip, same with sharpies and woodcock, lots of fajitas, stir fry's, etc... Geese are the only thing I really shred. Seasoning isn't important for that, as it's drowning in BBQ sauce. I typically use some Lipton when I first put it in, a bit of vinegar as well.

Ducks, sharps, doodles, etc... whether on the grill, as kabobs, stir-fried, etc... I like to use traditional stuff, nothing fancy. Salt, pepper, Lawry's maybe, garlic, ramps, maybe a bit of cajun seasoning a lot of times. Just a hint, as we don't like spicy stuff. I'm all over the board. I like to try new stuff.

Duck is pretty good fried alongside a nice steak. When the steak is done feed the duck to the dog and enjoy the steak.

[Maxxed Out]

Agreed with above the goose cooks much more like beef than anything. So we use it in a lot of the same ways we would beef. We do a lot of grilling with goose. We don't even marinade juse coat in olive oil and I use my favorite Chicago steak seasoning. I love steak medium rare but I have a tough time eating goose that way so I cook it just past medium and serve. What we don't eat we fry up with eggs in the a.m.

We also take it to the butcher (the Appleton MN butcher is absolultely worth stopping into if you're in the area...amazing) and make summer sausage. I had a bunch of jalepeno summer sausage made up and gave it to all the farmers who's land I hunt. Keep in mind I gave it to them during harvest and I had several call me from the combine to say thanks and tell me how good it was.

[Angry Irishman]

I agree with grilling ducks and geese and preparing it medium rare. Cube it up, water chestnut, pickled jalapeno, wrap in bacon hold together with a toothpick. Otherwise we use Buffalo Wild Wings Asian Zing sauce on it. Can't beat duck or goose stir fry either, my fiance will actually eat ducks now if I make it that way.

I agree too, Todd at Appleton Meats does excellent work, but we have been taking ours to Waldner's in Milbank, for jalapeno/cheese sticks and jalapeno/cheese brats. Also had some "sweet/heat" habenero and bbg sticks that were pretty good. The brats are awesome, they are smoked and simply need to be warmed up. They also make good summersausage. Had some full Mallards smoked last year and they were fantastic.....$2.00 a bird, well worth the pickin and waxin.

[TruthWalleyes]

I've never had tender goose meat unless it was 12+ hours in a crok.

I would bet you can do the same thing in a roaster pan with some water and veggies for several hours.

Ducks, you bet they can be tender when cooked to medium. Darn good too.

My last goose (a gift from my father) i marinated for 3 days like i would round steak for kabobs. Wrapped in bacon, skewered with fresh veggies...I ended up eating the vegitables, bacon, and tossing the tough goose. I couldn't believe that after 3 days of sitting in the amazing kabob mixture i have that they weren't tender. I did however accidently cook them to done instead of medium.

BTW the plate of food above looks amazing!!

[Angry Irishman]

I soak my ducks and geese for 1-2 days in milk, why, I have no idea, a buddy does it and I tell ya what it really breaks down any blood in the meat and does make them fairly tender. Agreed, goose will not be as tender as duck. I eat ducks and geese atleast once a week sometimes more, so I try alot of different ways to cook them, some better than others.

I have made goose fajitas, where I slice the goose breast real thin and then cook quickly in olive oil and worchestire, add peppers and onions, generally pretty tender.

[Finlander]

Dang! My mouth is watering just reading about this!

Last week for pot luck at work I had 4 goose breasts that I put in the crock pot for 6 hours on high after I put them in the crock pot the night before and added water to about the top of the breasts then added steak and grill burger seasonings, garlic powder, pepper, minced onions a few dropps of soy sauce. My chef brother told me to put a few drops of woystishire sauce but I didn't have any!

Put in the crock pot at 5am until 11:30am. Took breasts out of pot drained the crock pot shreaded the goose breasts with 2 forks, added 1 can of beef broth then another dash of minced onions.

Set crock pot on low and sevred! Everybody at work loved it! Said it tasted like roast beef!

[NAMASafetyDirector]

Last weekend we killed some ducks in the morning, sliced them up in thin 1/4 inch slices, breaded them with some fish batter and deep fried them. Then put them in a soft shell tortilla with some fresh chopped cabbage, white sauce and some green chili sauce. Awesome duck tacos!! Basically any fish taco recipe will do!

[Jim Uran]

Duck is pretty good fried alongside a nice steak. When the steak is done feed the duck to the dog and enjoy the steak.

[ChuckN]

We Breast them, slice them into smaller pieces, wrap each with half slice of bacon and put on kabobs with peppers and mushrooms between them. Put over low to medium flame on grill, and Don't let them get overdone (that is what bacon is for) and eat them hot and juicy! Even had my Mom and old aunt and Uncle eating them and loving them last weekend, and they don't like game.

I stopped doing whole birds myself, I just don't like the taste of them that way. Good luck, hope we all keep getting enough to keep eating them

Kabobs is my favorite. I will add: marinate the cubed meat in Italian dressing for 24 hours. Put on a stick with mushrooms, bacon, pineapple, peppers, jalepenos and onion. It's well worth the effort.

[Gordie]

Goose if cooked right whole can be very tender and juciey. If I want to do it this way I will pluck the bird and baste it with honey and stuff the cavity with apples and oinions and a bit of molasses and put on the weber or in a roaster with water and apple juice and cook like a turkey.

Now I'm hungry for goose so i better hunt one down this weekend

[TylerS]

I usually vacuum seal a couple Canada goose breast good and tight, then run over them several times with my F150. That nearly makes them tender enough to bite through without ripping out fillings

[pikestabber]

I usually vacuum seal a couple Canada goose breast good and tight, then run over them several times with my F150. That nearly makes them tender enough to bite through without ripping out fillings

I was wondering why my geese were still tough after trying Tyler's recipe, then it dawned on me...I drive a Ford Ranger. There's no way I have enough weight there!

Actually, we have had good luck with simple salt, pepper, garlic, a quick rub of oil, then into a browning bag and in the oven. Turns out moist and juicy!

[CANOPY SAM]

Geez that's funny!

Appreciate the tips, and recipes guys. There's some great ideas here.

BBQ sauce in the crockpot, eh Matt? You know, there's a lot of borderline BBQ sauces out there. Some are not very good. Some are terrific! Which BBQ sauce do you use for waterfowl in the crockpot?

I've really gotta learn how to use a meat thermometer while cooking for the fam. My mother-in-law even bought me a digital meat thermometer for Father's Day. She said it was on sale, but I'm thinking it may have been a slightly veiled hint?

I absolutely love hunting everything, but I feel really guilty if we don't eat everything I bring home. I really feel we shouldn't kill anything we don't intend to eat. My family enjoys venison, bear, pheasants, and of course fish, but they struggle a little bit with grouse, ducks and geese.

If I can find a truly slamdunk way to prepare geese that they'll enjoy eating I can start bringing home a lot more birds. As it is, I'm pretty careful to let most of em' fly, and just be selective about a couple for the dinner table.

Thanks again for all the great ideas guys! Please keep em' coming.

[dan z]

Just dunked some sliced up goose breast in milk. Now I gotta wait an hour or so to layer the parmesan cheese and a crushed up saltines, then in the hot box at 250 till taste tested to perfection

[Matt Breuer]

BBQ sauce in the crockpot, eh Matt? You know, there's a lot of borderline BBQ sauces out there. Some are not very good. Some are terrific! Which BBQ sauce do you use for waterfowl in the crockpot?

We use Beer's, which I've only seen available in Bemidji, or the honey BBQ from KFC Masterpiece or whatever it is... we enjoy it, and it's always in our house. Be sure you do water or apple juice, etc... prior to adding the BBQ sauce.