Well, I always thought there should be some way to make Canada Goose legs into soup, but never tried before now. So on 31 December, myself having been left alone with the dog and with no adult supervision, I decided to give it a whirl. Over these last three months while spending interminable hours in deer stands with murder in my heart and nothing in the kill zone, I often thought about ways to cook things that I kill. (Other than brain cells maybe, they seem to cook themselves even as I kill them.) Anyways, I had thawed a package of 8 goose legs and so that was obviously going to be the first ingredient, and in that precise quantity. If you have NINE goose legs in a package, well then you are in for some painful math to decide what is nine eights times one half and other sophistries. Or hell, when you make soup everything is approximate anyways.......... 
I got to thinking that the only good way to eat goose legs is when they have been cooked a powerful long time, in liquid, and it helps if there is some sweetness in the liquid. Even at that, when you chow down on the horny hide of a twenty year old honker, you had best have sharpened your chompers first. And that is just for the skin!
The recipe is not a quick preparation type of recipe, and indeed it takes quite a while to put the soup into the bowls. But if you take the time to drink while you are cooking, it helps the day go by faster, and makes knife work MUCH more exciting. I chose to start with sweet sherry and lived to regret it, but at least I poured the last of the bottle into the soup rather than my cake-hole. Sherry is not a good foundation for champagne and rye, and both in pailfuls, as I discovered somewhat later.
The enclosed recipe is really quite excellent, even if I do say so myself. I had a large helping for New Year's Eve supper. But an independent, and sober, soup tester across the road declared the soup AWESOME, and she ate both her serving and that of her husband, who was late coming home for dinner. BTW when I made my own pot of soup, I put in double the amount of rice noodles that I settled on for the recipe. It made for a VERY thick soup, more like a meal than an appetizer, and was quite tasty, but most folks would consider a soup that thick to be a noodle dish. I think one could sprinkle soya sauce on the soup, but I did not try that. Next time!
ENJOY!
Doug
DOCTOR DOUG'S ORIENTAL GOOSE LEG SOUP
8 GOOSE LEGS
3 L COLD WATER
10-12 CARDAMON SEEDS
½ TSP CELERY SALT
2 LARGE CARROTS, SHREDDED
1 LARGE SWEET ONION, DICED
4-5 RIBS CELERY, SLICED ON THE DIAGONAL
BUNCH GREEN ONIONS, SLICED
2-3 OZ SWEET SHERRY
SPRINKLE OF CUMIN SEEDS AND FRESH GROUND NUTMEG
1 TSP HY'S SEASONING SALT
100 GRAMS RICE NOODLES (VERMICELLI)
WASH THE LEGS AND REMOVE ANY FEATHERS, FAT, SHOT, DAMAGED MEAT, ETC. PUT THEM IN THE WATER IN A GOOD SIZED STOCK POT, ADD THE CARDAMON SEEDS AND CELERY SALT, AND COOK AT LOW TO MEDIUM HEAT FOR ABOUT THREE HOURS. REMOVE THE LEGS AND STRAIN THE STOCK (JUST IN CASE THERE IS ANY STEEL SHOT....AND BONE FRAGMENTS!) ADD THE CARROTS, SWEET ONION, CELERY, SPICES AND SHERRY TO THE STRAINED STOCK AND COOK FOR ABOUT 20 MINUTES UNTIL THE VEGGIES ARE THOROUGHLY COOKED. IN THE MEANTIME, REMOVE THE MEAT FROM THE BONES AND CUT IT INTO BITE-SIZED PIECES, THEN ADD THE MEAT BACK TO THE SOUP. ADD THE GREEN ONIONS AND COOK FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES, THEN ADD THE RICE NOODLES AND COOK FOR ABOUT ANOTHER FIVE MINUTES, STIRRING OFTEN. SERVES ABOUT 8.
I got to thinking that the only good way to eat goose legs is when they have been cooked a powerful long time, in liquid, and it helps if there is some sweetness in the liquid. Even at that, when you chow down on the horny hide of a twenty year old honker, you had best have sharpened your chompers first. And that is just for the skin!
The recipe is not a quick preparation type of recipe, and indeed it takes quite a while to put the soup into the bowls. But if you take the time to drink while you are cooking, it helps the day go by faster, and makes knife work MUCH more exciting. I chose to start with sweet sherry and lived to regret it, but at least I poured the last of the bottle into the soup rather than my cake-hole. Sherry is not a good foundation for champagne and rye, and both in pailfuls, as I discovered somewhat later.
The enclosed recipe is really quite excellent, even if I do say so myself. I had a large helping for New Year's Eve supper. But an independent, and sober, soup tester across the road declared the soup AWESOME, and she ate both her serving and that of her husband, who was late coming home for dinner. BTW when I made my own pot of soup, I put in double the amount of rice noodles that I settled on for the recipe. It made for a VERY thick soup, more like a meal than an appetizer, and was quite tasty, but most folks would consider a soup that thick to be a noodle dish. I think one could sprinkle soya sauce on the soup, but I did not try that. Next time!
ENJOY!
Doug
DOCTOR DOUG'S ORIENTAL GOOSE LEG SOUP
8 GOOSE LEGS
3 L COLD WATER
10-12 CARDAMON SEEDS
½ TSP CELERY SALT
2 LARGE CARROTS, SHREDDED
1 LARGE SWEET ONION, DICED
4-5 RIBS CELERY, SLICED ON THE DIAGONAL
BUNCH GREEN ONIONS, SLICED
2-3 OZ SWEET SHERRY
SPRINKLE OF CUMIN SEEDS AND FRESH GROUND NUTMEG
1 TSP HY'S SEASONING SALT
100 GRAMS RICE NOODLES (VERMICELLI)
WASH THE LEGS AND REMOVE ANY FEATHERS, FAT, SHOT, DAMAGED MEAT, ETC. PUT THEM IN THE WATER IN A GOOD SIZED STOCK POT, ADD THE CARDAMON SEEDS AND CELERY SALT, AND COOK AT LOW TO MEDIUM HEAT FOR ABOUT THREE HOURS. REMOVE THE LEGS AND STRAIN THE STOCK (JUST IN CASE THERE IS ANY STEEL SHOT....AND BONE FRAGMENTS!) ADD THE CARROTS, SWEET ONION, CELERY, SPICES AND SHERRY TO THE STRAINED STOCK AND COOK FOR ABOUT 20 MINUTES UNTIL THE VEGGIES ARE THOROUGHLY COOKED. IN THE MEANTIME, REMOVE THE MEAT FROM THE BONES AND CUT IT INTO BITE-SIZED PIECES, THEN ADD THE MEAT BACK TO THE SOUP. ADD THE GREEN ONIONS AND COOK FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES, THEN ADD THE RICE NOODLES AND COOK FOR ABOUT ANOTHER FIVE MINUTES, STIRRING OFTEN. SERVES ABOUT 8.
