So what do we do with all these birds?? Well there were 5 of us this time, and the daily bag limit is 8 per person. So we each take 8 geese. Most of the first geese I took are being cured and will be smoked. I’d also like to try a smoked jerky. Some will be frozen, and then sent to a butcher to process into sausage. It will be shared with friends and family to an extent that will leave me without by the end of October.
Goose is a tremendous culinary challenge as a meat. Poultry meets beef, but SUPER tough. The texture forces you to scramble to find ways around it – and the intuitive things like wet cooking methods don’t necessarily solve the problem. I fell dry cooking methods like roasting and grilling inevitably result in disaster. The texture is even a bit of an issue when ground for sausage making. Duck poses another challenge: it tastes like organ meat, in my opinion. I call it ‘flying liver’. So if you’re into that, it’s good. If you’re not [my hand is raised], it also gets processed into sausage.
The bottom line is that there are far more culinarily desirable game meats, so I have to watch how much I take. I believe I’ve arrived at my limit.