Christmas goose - Weihnachtsgans

Try this - classical german christmas birdie with classical stuffing - just to get you started, here is how it looks after 2.5 hrs of baking at 350 deg F:


But how did I get there?
If you start with a frozen goose, you might want to thaw it over night in water, i.e. have it in it's plastic bag in the sink covered in water. Mostly the package tells you how long this will take, but 12 hrs is a safe bet.

Take it out of its bag, drain it, wash it, take its innerds and the neck out, and cut some of the big chunks of fat off the orifices.

Here is a picture of the stuffing before it was baked: cut up
- a bunch of parsley,
- 3-4 small apples,
- half an onion and
- 3-4 shallots,
- 3-4 rolls or an equivalent piece of bread (I like whole wheat bread with good crust and lots of seeds). Mix in
- a cup to two of raisins, chop up
- the goose liver and add it, spice the whole thing with
- pepper and salt, and add
- 250 ml milk,
- 2 eggs and just mix it all nicely together. Smell it, it's already a whole pot of goodness and really nice.. :)Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Put the bird in a pot that you have put some water in - enough to cover the bottom of the pot.
Stuff the bird with the apple mix, put the whole thing into the oven, and set your timer to 15-20 minutes - the reason being that you want to baste the bird with the juices about every 20 minutes. I put a thermometer into the leg too (typically you want it to reach 175 deg F), although with a stuffed bird that is not too helpful - I changed it later measure the stuffing temperature instead, also to reach 175-180 deg F.
At some point during the baking I add the stomach, heart and neck to the pot. They are done in about half an hour to 40 minutes. I just cut up part of stomach and the heart for my kitty cat and tested a little bit of the stomach myself. That makes for two happy predators in this house.. :)

Altogether, for my about 12 pound bird, it should take about 4 hours to be done - although that depends on whether you stuff it or not, and probably a little bit also with what.

I make Apfelrotkraut to go with this - also very typical for a german christmas dinner.
Merry christmas!