I have never cooked or tasted roasted goose or duck. But I have a friend, whose husband is an avid hunter. She shared some roasted wild turkey with us. Ummm...have to say, not a fan. Very strong taste and quite 'chewy'. I'll stick with the store bought variety.

She also gave me a package of bear sausage, which is languishing in my freezer. I just cannot bring myself to cook it.

My goodness...I found a goose at our local store. I don't believe it! So...we're having goose for Christmas dinner. I'm definitely going to use the Julia Child recipe. She tells you to steam it first, to render much of the fat out of it, before it is roasted in the oven. I remember that the taste was rich, moist, but not greasy. Overall, it was pretty good!

Today, I'm going to shop for all of the sides. I'm not sure what I'm going to make to go with the goose. I like the idea of "Rosemary Popovers." They're kind of like Yorkshire Puddings. Easy to make too. Now, I need veggies and other sides.

What fun! Seems to me that it might be a time to investigate chestnuts. One of our local Asian markets used to have a hot roasted chestnut stand outside, don't know the status since Covid.,,

We do not have plans yet for Christmas, but our New Year's tradition is a duck. Specifically, a duck from Seattle International District institution, Kau Kau. We have easier places to get that style, but hubby likes to make a yearly venture into the city. Always was too small and crowded so will be ordered and picked up to go.
\https://www.kaukaubbq.com/

Wow...I looked that up. Looks very interesting and tasty!

My goodness!!! Was in my local grocery store & walked past the freezer case. There were frozen geese for sale at --- hold on--- $79.00 each!!!!!! For all of 9#s of bird!! Guess I know why my family never had goose for holidays! I know I sure won't.
sewverybusy1

As a kid we had one once. The meat was to greasy for me. All that dark meat was special since I like dark meat on a bird but the greasy meat was a bit to much for my taste. I am sure it was not done the Julia Child's way.

Update on the Christmas Goose. It was very good! Not greasy at all. That steaming really helped. My Dau was supposed to help me with the dinner, but she had worked the day before and was exhausted. She had a sip of wine and fell asleep on the couch. :( I had to prepare the entire meal by myself. Some things suffered...the Rosemary Popovers didn't make it and the Brussels Sprouts came out soggy, but the goose was delicious!

My dad did not like to hunt with anyone else. Said it was a good way to get shot! He grew up in the woods and really knew what he was shooting at and usually got it on the first shot. Anyway, he would go where noone else wanted to go. No corn field feed deer for him. He was out looking for the swamp bucks. Yikes, they had such a wild tast. I did have moose once and it was actually quite good. Did not care at all for the duck we got from a neighbor. wild partridge was pretty good as was lake trout.