The Sunday Roast · England-wide

Roast Goose with Sage & Onion Stuffing

Name: Roast Goose with Sage & Onion Stuffing
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h 40 min
Total time: 3 h 10 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 1 × 4.5kg oven-ready goose; 1 orange, halved; few bay leaves; For the stuffing: 2 onions sweated in butter, 200g breadcrumbs, 2 tbsp chopped sage, 1 egg, 100g sausagemeat; 300ml chicken stock and a splash of port for the gravy; Plain flour for the gravy, 1 tbsp

Before turkey there was goose — burnished, rich and generous, with its own lake of precious fat for the best roast potatoes you will ever eat.

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 160 min
Total: 190 min
Yield: Serves 6
Difficulty: Involved
Era: Michaelmas / Dickensian

Ingredients

1 × 4.5kg oven-ready goose
1 orange, halved; few bay leaves
For the stuffing: 2 onions sweated in butter, 200g breadcrumbs, 2 tbsp chopped sage, 1 egg, 100g sausagemeat
300ml chicken stock and a splash of port for the gravy
Plain flour for the gravy, 1 tbsp

Method

Oven220°C425°FFan 200°CGas 7

Heat the oven to 220°C / 425°F (fan 200°C, gas 7). Prick the goose’s skin all over with a skewer, avoiding the flesh, and season inside and out.
Mix the stuffing ingredients and fill the neck cavity; put the orange and bay in the body cavity.
Sit the goose on a rack in a deep roasting tin. Roast 30 minutes at 220°C / 425°F, then reduce to 180°C / 350°F (fan 160°C, gas 4).
Roast 30 minutes per kilo more (about 2 hours), draining off the fat every 40 minutes — save every drop for roast potatoes.
The goose is done when the leg juices run clear. Rest 30 minutes under foil.
Make gravy with the flour, stock and port in the tin. Carve and serve with apple sauce and the sage and onion stuffing.

Oven temperatures are given in Celsius, Fahrenheit, fan and gas mark throughout. Quantities are metric, as cooked and written in the UK.