You don't have to roast a whole St. Martin's goose! How to process the individual parts?
There are several ways to prepare St. Martin's goose. "Someone invites family or friends for a festive lunch, sets aside enough time for its preparation and roasts the goose in the classic way, whole, long and at a low temperature. However, a smaller family or couple can get by just the legs or breast," says Martin Štangl, chef at Štangl restaurant in Karlin.
How to carve a goose? Simple!
You can rarely find individual parts - buy a whole goose and carve it up yourself at home. Carving can be a challenge at first, but mastering it is one of the the basic skills of any chef. Even the pros recommend buying whole meat - in buying whole poultry, you'll save significantly, and then you can use the individual parts to make a whole variety of dishes.
Rule number one: A large kitchen cutting board with a wet dish towel to hold it in place. Then, prepare smaller boning knife - it must be really sharp - or poultry shears.
Advice: Before you start carving, wear closed shoes of sturdy material to protect your feet and toes. Just in case you accidentally drop your knife.
Next?
- Clean, wash, and dry the goose thoroughly with a paper towel. Then place on a cutting board with the backside up.
- With the wings close to the body, cut all the way around, break them at the joint. Cut the wings off and set aside. Cut off the excess skin at the neck. Don't throw it away!
- Do the same for the thighs. Cut around the torso, break them at the joint and cut them off.
- Turn the goose so that it is breast up.
- Palpate the sternum and guide the incision from the neck to the end of the sternum. From one side, carefully cut the meat from the breast, letting the ribs guide you. Cut off any excess skin and save for later. Repeat on the other side.
- Cut the remaining skeleton in half to make it easier to handle later - smaller parts are easier to stack in a pot. From the thoracic part, cut out the lungs and wash and preserve them.
Breasts for grilling, thighs for confit
Don't worry, no part of the goose will go to waste! However, each part lends itself to a different cooking method.
Breasts are the tastiest grilled, nicely pink. "In Štangl, we first cook the goose breasts for four hours at 60 °C in a sous-vide before grilling them. The goose breast muscle is covered with a thick skin - put it on a cold pan and then heat it slowly. This will cause the fat to slowly render out of the skin and it will become much crispier than if you put it on a hot pan," explains Martin.
In contrast, goose thighs taste best confit and well-done, so that the meat separates easily from the bone. "Salt the legs, season with cinnamon and star anise or ginger, add onions, pour over the browned goose fat and confit at 80 °C for about 12 hours in a convection oven or oven. Serve with a legume or semolina scramble. This is an excellent combination,' recommends Martin Štangl.
He adds: "Use the leftover thighs to prepare traditional French rillettes. Tear the confit thighs, mix with a little lard, salt, pepper and season with your favourite spices or perhaps finely grated citrus zest. Mix thoroughly, put in a clean jar and pour in the rest of the lard, which preserves the spread. Leave the rillettes to rest for at least a couple of hours and serve spread on fresh bread."
Tip: You can also bake, braise or bone the thighs to make stuffed rolls.
What about carcasses and lard?
"Wings, backbone and adjacent bones can be used as the basis for a strong broth or sauce. It lends them a nice, cooked flavour," says Martin. Put the skeletons on a baking sheet and roast them in the oven. During the baking process they'll release the fat, which you can use to confit the thighs. If there is a lot of fat, collect it in a sealable jar and store it in the fridge where it will keep for up to several months.
In winter, it is excellent in onion bases, under any meat and can be used in the preparation of dishes instead of vegetable oil. Its advantage is that it does not contain water, has higher smoke point (approx. 190 °C) and is relatively stable at high temperatures. It is therefore also suitable for frying.
Guts and skin should not be thrown away!
"Process the remaining offal into traditional kaldoun, a strong broth. It should contain dumplings made of liver and gizzards, some pasta and a little cooked meat taken from the neck. The goose has a big, meaty one," adds Martin Štangl with a warming tip at the end. Prepare confit liver in the same method as the legs, or served roasted, in delicious pates or terrines.
To use up skin and lard, render the fat and at the same time you get crispy crackling.
