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First-class Christmas poultry
roast goose for Christmas
The Christmas roast goose has its origins in the tradition of the St. Martin's goose. On the day of remembrance in honor of St. Martin, goose was prepared festively with all kinds of dumplings.
The fact that goose is now eaten mainly during Advent and at Christmas was not always the case. In the past, Advent was a kind of fasting period that only ended after midnight mass on Christmas Eve.
It was only when this tradition died out that the delicious roast goose was able to make its way into the pre-Christmas period and is now eaten by many families, whether in a restaurant or prepared at home.
pre-cooked
pre-cooked
pre-cooked
A whole goose or parts?
This is the question you ask yourself first. As meat sommeliers, we naturally recommend the whole goose, which is carved at the table. This has two advantages: firstly, it creates an atmosphere of appreciation for the food and a bonding atmosphere. Secondly, the whole animal is eaten, not just a certain part of the animal, such as the chicken breast or beef fillet. The price-performance ratio is also better with a whole goose than with parts, as half a portion can often be taken from the back and carcass.
However, if you have guests or a group of people who don't want to eat a goose leg, then you'll have to prepare one or the other. Even for smaller groups, it's often not possible to prepare a whole goose because it would be far too many portions.
only from the 2nd Advent / pre-cooked
only from the 2nd Advent / ready to eat
WHEN ARE THERE FRESH GEESE?
The chicks are always raised at the beginning of the year so that they are housed at the end of April or May at the latest. During the summer months, the geese are then constantly out on the pasture. The first geese are slaughtered from October onwards, when the geese are still relatively untypically thin and not that heavy. The main season for geese starts from St. Martin's Day, i.e. November 11th, and reaches its peak and ends on the Christmas holidays, after which there are no more geese running around...
WHERE TO BUY GOOD GEESE?
From a specialist. This could be a passionate farmer who places great value not only on the rearing of his animals but also on the quality delivered to the consumer. But a specialist business such as a butcher's shop that serves its customers with the highest quality requirements is also a good place to go. That's why every year we offer the best quality from farmers we know personally.
WHICH SPICES FOR A ROAST GOOSE?
The typical goose spice is mugwort. This spicy herb, which is available dried in specialist shops at Christmas time, is put inside the goose when roasting. Mugwort is also the most prominent ingredient in ready-made spice mixes. Apples, onions and oranges are often used for the stuffing. These fillings are used to add flavour, especially to the sauce. But a free-range goose is also a real treat with fleur de sel, for example.
PREPARATION OF A GOOSE
Preparing a goose is not difficult, but it is very time-consuming. That is why more and more consumers are taking advantage of the offer to pick up the roast goose ready-made, i.e. hot, from a specialist, or to get the goose or duck pre-cooked as a guarantee of success.
Here you can find a report from the Nürnberger Nachrichten .
How much goose per portion?
A distinction must be made here as to whether one is dealing with a whole goose or with parts, or which parts.
For a whole goose with the sling and collar, you can expect to need around 600 to 900g per person, depending on whether there is a starter and dessert or not. For a goose leg, a raw weight of 400g is usually sufficient, but the free-range goose legs are usually larger and therefore a generous portion. For the goose breast with the leg, you can also expect to need 400g per person. For the goose breast fillet, 200 to 250g per person is sufficient.
But preparing the same pieces also has an advantage. The same pieces can be cooked to the same degree, which is probably the biggest challenge when preparing a whole goose.
How long can you keep a goose?
There are a few things to consider when storing a goose. A fresh goose can be kept in the fridge for up to a week after slaughter. However, a fresh goose must be distinguished from a fresh goose. What are the slaughter conditions like? Does the farmer have a professional and hygienically impeccable slaughterhouse with EU approval? If this is not the case, the goose is often slaughtered in a suitable room on the farmer's farm, with rather poor refrigeration options afterwards.
Such geese usually only last about 3-4 days in a standard household refrigerator. We rely on our farmers to use an EU-approved slaughterhouse with hygienically impeccable and professional cooling and transport facilities. This means that our geese always arrive at our customers clean and of impeccable quality.
If you freeze your goose yourself, you can leave it frozen at a minimum of -18 °C for around 3 to 6 months. With a shock freezing process at -40 °C, fresh geese can then be stored even at -18 °C for around 24 months.
Free-range goose, pasture-raised goose, oat-fed goose? What's the difference?
As with all types of poultry, there is a quality scale in Europe. This starts with the lowest category, fattening, extensive barn farming, free-range farming, farm production with limited access to the outdoors and farm production with unlimited access to the outdoors.
Our free-range geese come from the farmer Heiselbetz and are of the highest possible quality category for geese. They are kept on pasture, but fenced in. Our oat-fattening geese come from extensive barn farming. This takes place in a barn with daylight and enough space.
The two types of farming differ in terms of taste. The oat-fed goose is a little fatter with very tender meat, while the free-range goose tastes more intense, with tasty fat and marbled meat.
