A Wild Goose Chase!

Canadian Goose - Fun to Hunt, Easy to Cook, Delicious to Eat!

    As a Dental Hygienist, I get the luxury of having good conversation with many people daily! Living and working in a rural area, many, many people are avid hunters. I love to surprise them and mention how I, myself, am a passionate outdoorswoman that has great success! I often hear "Wow, who would have thought they could talk hunting with their Dental Hygienist!?" Well - I do love to talk about it, and I love to cook and eat it too! This is usually where I get the reaction "YUCK!! Isn't that really gross and gamey?!". My response? No, actually.. cook it correctly and you will want to eat it every day. If I had the option, I'd eat and prepare only wild game and never buy grocery store meat again. 

The Hunt

    I'm not the typical hardcore hunter wanting to wake at 3:30am and be out hunting by 4am. Truth is, I like sleep on my days off! My career is tough on my body so I relax when I can. Goose do not run on a time limit like other game. They spend their days on the river eating, floating, sleeping - you name it. There are many different ways to hunt geese: from a blind off shore, from a row boat, and my preferred way [which many people think I'm crazy for doing] out of a kayak! I find that I can get a peaceful float in with my kayak and the goose think I'm doing just that, and only that. This gives me an element of surprise on them, allowing me to maneuver to very close range before taking a shot. My shots need to be well planned and I have to be very conscious about my weight distributions so that I don't flip. My biggest reason for kayak hunting is that as a small-framed hunter, I can drag my kayak onto shore and through the woods to access smaller hunting holes. Also, I can paddle into small, shallow canals that are often safe havens for waterfowl. I made sure to purchase a smaller kayak to allow for easier transport. Kayak hunting is a whole other touchable topic we can reach upon in another post. Let's get to some meat preparation!

My Emotion Comet 8 Kayak

Cleaning the Goose 

   If you've ever had a down blanket, jacket, vest... you name it, you know how big of a mess it will make. Many people like to pluck each feather out to leave the skin for natural grease with cooking. However, if you are impatient like I am, you will do it my way. Step 1 - remove the head/neck and the wings from the bird. Get creative, do what you have to do. Step 2- rip a few feathers off of the breast to expose some skin, now you will know what I mean about messy... Step 3 - use a knife to slice the skin and skin the bird like you would any other animal, leaving only the meat on the body. Step 4 - take out the innards and chop off the legs. Give a good rinsing and ta-da! You are now ready for the oven!!!

Let's Make a Meal!

     My All-Time favorite recipe for goose can be found here. I make a few modifications to it. First off, I use a roaster pan to do this in to contain the goose, veggies and liquids - this is more of an informational tid-bit than a modification. As for changes I make, I use a whole small bottle of the Holland House White Cooking Wine and enough chicken stock to cover the bird 1/3 of the pan deep. The more juice the better! My next biggest modification is wrapping the entire bird in bacon. This will replace fats from the skin we removed, give a nice flavor and good moisture to the meats. Also, its super tasty to eat once cooked. For the veggies, I also dice up some potato and add that in and I don't measure my vegetables - I throw in what I see fit to fill the bottom of the pan. In addition to stuffing the goose with apples, I like to throw in some extra bacon, pears are great, and some broth and veggies as well. Other than these slightly changed measurements and additions, follow the recipe EXACTLY. You will be so pleased with the outcome! The goose should be medium-rare once done and it will be all dark meat with a steak-grain appearance to it. Slice as if carving a turkey, but avoid eating the legs - they will be tough and not worth your time. The breast meat is the true gold here. When you try this you will notice that the rosemary and thyme will leave your home smelling like heaven and that alone makes it all worth it. This dish will feed 2-4 people depending on the size of your goose. 

Questions??

   If you want to know more about goose hunting, harvesting, or cooking, subscribe and then use the contact me form to send in a question! I may address it in an entire blog posting or if there is enough varying questions, in a special Q&A blog. Stay tuned for more Hunt 2 Home topics!