goose cleaning

M

MadScientist

New member
I watched (and tried to help) my brother-in-law clean the first(?) goose that he ever shot. We were trying to follow the instuctions in "the Joy of Cooking". It was messy.
Can anyone direct me to a good website with buthering instructions for water fowl? Possibly one with real photos?

Also, how do I get over the gag reflex I get when I see goose guts :(
 
Hey, it's no different than a chicken or a turkey! Ya just gotta practice!

The easiest way to get the feathers off is to first dip the bird in a big pot of almost-boiling water, for maybe a minute or two. After that, the plucking is easier.

Innards? Just carefully split the skin over the abdomen, reach in and grab a handful, and pull! With two people, the other guy can cut the windpipe for you. Similarly for the craw (or crop, as you prefer.) It's up to you to figure out which is the liver, heart or gizzard. :D

Gag reflex? Just do it a lot. Never bothered my grandmother...

:), Art
 
Do you want the goose plucked, skinned or just breasted? If you want it plucked, first get a big pot and fill it half way with water. When the water boils, drop the whole goose in the pot. Let it sit for 3-4 minutes. Then, you can commence plucking. It'll make removing the feathers much easier. If it's still difficult, boil it for another minute or so. Just be careful that that you don't actually cook through the skin.

If you skin it, I personally prefer to start at the breast bone and skin it side to side. I chop off the wings and it makes skinning a lot easier.

If you breast it, pluck most of the feathers off the breast. Make an incision along the breast bone and commence skinning until you get under the breasts. Then, carefully cut out the breasts. You can also remove the legs in this manner. A big butcher knife to chop the wings and feet will help greatly.

As for the gag reflex, like Art stated, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

I've cleaned 15 birds since opening day Saturday because my 'buddies' either can't clean worth a hoot or have the 'gag factor'.
 
Funny how one's background in the growing-up years affects the gag factor.

Guess I was lucky. My grandparents had a farm/ranch operation near town; I spent a good bit of time with them around age six through 12.

A calf wandered up behind one of the plow horses, one day. The horse kicked the calf in the head; an eye popped out. That did bring out a gag reflex, but my grandfather's yelling to get Granma to call the vet stopped that...

Helping him doctor screw worms in the baby calves also got me over it. Pretty much for all time, I guess. Killing and digging out fly larvae from open wounds will do that.

After that, dealing with Mrs. Hen for Sunday dinner was nuthin' at all.

:), Art
 
Hey MS-You've got no excuse! You grew up on the farm-I'm the suburbs boy! :D I'll help you get over that gag reflex by downing a couple more and letting you scoop the guts out ;)
BTW, see my thread below for some of ArmySon's recipes. Between these and "Joy of Cooking" we might be able to improve on the flavor of the next ones......
 
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