So... what do geese and ducks taste like, based on their habitats?

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Mr. Bjorn

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Hello All,

This year I really want to provide the goose for a traditional Danish christmas dinner, and I suspect I'll be hunting them in a large marshy area up by Barrie, Ontario. Maybe go for some ducks too. But I am curious, what will they taste like compared to the geese we buy in stores? I have concerns they'll taste like a mud puddle, and it would suck to lay it out on the table and then have people spitting it up 5 minutes later. Thoughts or opinions?
 
As long you aren't cooking shovellers or mergansers, you'll be fine. Most geese are feeding in grain fields come fall, and so they 'finish' themselves like cattle. I've never had a goose with an off taste. Treat it like beef.
 
If it where me and I was going to be doing this for the very first time...
I would have a Traditional purchased bird to go along with the one harvested by you.
Why risk the chance of your family and guests not enjoying what you have accomplished ?
Just my over active Mal nourished brain thinking out loud today.
Rob
 
Agreed. Treat wild goose like beef, NOT poultry.... Either cook it medium rare, or moist cook the everlovin hell out of it for hours....anything else and you won't be able to eat it. Also, Canada's have no fat (unlike a domestic goose), so you'll need to add fat. Butter in copious amounts is your friend.
 
Some people, particularly wives, might find the smell of the goose cooking to be somewhat "disgusting". That's what wife #1 said anyway. Haven't tried it on wife #3 yet, and I'm getting tired of gett'n married, so think I'll save the next goose for a boys night.
 
Lol on the ex wife. I tried cooking domestic goose and it stunk up the house for days. I'll leave it to restaurants with massive blowers.
 
Cut in large pieces on the bone, mix with 2 small bottles/cans of light beer, pressure cooker 10- 15min or slow pot cook for 1-1:30 depend on age of the bird, take out the meat pieces, reduce and thicken the juice left in the cooker, use another pan, fry chili, onions, whatever, add meat in, keep frying, add seasoning, add splash of soy sauce, add reduced sauce, mix then service. You will thank me :) - it will be the best bird you have ever tasted. I was a chef in a fancy restaurant for few years.
 
Thank you folks! I didn't know that about the fat. With the store bought birds, as a kid I was used to seeing my grandmother pour cup after cup of boiling water over it to melt it off, I swear you'd get more oil out of it then the bird itself weighed! :) I also am a fan of butter, heh.

I'll make sure to get a store bird and do it side by side, yeah, I don't want to risk the enjoyment of family and guests.
 
Its a bit different thing to cook, duck you can fail pretty fast, first couple times i did it, it tasted bloody, salt water brine does wonders. Goose when cooked is like roast beef, tough unless cooked low and slow, remember those muscles they have are tough for all there flying they do.
 
I had a goose a few years back that was like rubber. It must have been a city park goose its entire life and was VERY old. All my goose go to pepperettes now
 
Old trappers favourite recipe. 1. Goose 2. Rubber boot 3. Onions 4. Bay leaves Place goose into rubber boot , stuff w onions and bay leaves. Place in a moderate oven 300* for 4 hours. Remove goose from rubber boot and throw away . Eat boot . :p seriously though , either low and slow w spices for a long time or, I breast the beast. Slice into chunks. Pound out thin into cutlets. Bread and spice, cook quickly in olive oil , just like a cutlet. Spice any way you want. Garlic, Cajun , whatever . A lot of work but it's about the only way I enjoy wild gooseys.
 
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