Snow goose sausage ideas

[chaws]

Went out and slaughtered a fair number of snow geese this spring up here in ND and have quite a few bags of breast meat needing some attention. Anyone have any good ideas for a recipe or two?

Previously I've gotten from the butcher brats and some spicy cheddar brats made up and those were damn tasty.

Also I'm using a Masterbuilt electric.

 

[richtee]

Snow geese? Don't they melt in the smoker? Canadian geese?

 

[funh2o]

Chaws....Her is one post on the subject from this forum

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...=Goose+Sausage


Steve

 

[waysideranch]

Chaws, I think ur crazy for trying Snow Goose. We callem Sky carp, here. Guess we don't know how to fix it. Try sand hill crane. They call it "ribeye in the sky". Never tried it myself but guys swear its good. But as you know we all are different. Good luck.

 

[lcruzen]

Assuming snow goose and Canadian goose is one in the same I'd try a liver sausage recipe. Tastes like beef liver to me.

 

[westernhunter]

Oh, the poor unbelievers.

After waterfowling for over 25 years, I have gotten pretty good at cooking goose. People swear my goose kabobs taste like fork-tender beef.

Chaws, I am processing 35 lbs. of Canadian goose breast tomorrow. We mix it 50/50 with pork butt so it doesn't dry out on the grill. Last time the Kielbasa turned out phenomenal, but tomorrow will be hot Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, and some other last minute sausage variety. Seventy pounds when we are done! And I still have 50 lbs. or so of goose breast in the freezer. Last season was good to us.

I finally bought meat processing equipment this year so I have only made brats, Kielbasas, and snack sticks so far. All of them were using goose. The snack sticks were too smokey but not bad, and I was not really fond of the brat recipe (it probably would have been good with all pork). I use recipes from Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytek Kutas. Can you post your brat recipe? Let me know if you want the Kielbasa recipe.

 

[supervman]

Dude -
With all due respect from a fellow hunter
Would you mind posting said stellar recipes?
I am a pretty darned good chef but I can't cook a goose to save my ***.
Too dry. I've tried buttermilk marinade, bacon wrap. It just doesn't work for me.
TIPS PLEASE.
SKOL
Vman

 

[westernhunter]

I take the goose breasts and cut them into kabob size chunks. These go into a large non-reactive (glass or plastic) container with as much water as possible and 1 Tbsp. each of salt and baking soda. I let them "brine" in this for at least a day but usually a couple days. The salt and baking soda brine will take A LOT of the blood out and your meat will be several shades lighter in color. I drain and rinse this very well and then usually just let it sit in plain water for an hour or two and then drain again to take some of the salt out of the meat.

The next marinade is pretty standard....Italian dressing with whatever other spices you like to add. I also add some Worchester sauce (couple Tbsp) and a little balsamic vinegar. Some kind of acid is key to tenderize the meat. I let this marinade go AT LEAST one day but usually several days.

Then they get wrapped in smokey bacon, put on skewers, and thrown on a HOT fire with some hickory chunks added. Turn them frequently to brown the bacon and then move them to a cooler side of the grill. The key is to keep them MEDIUM RARE!!! The goose meat will still be a little soft and RED inside. It may look too rare, but on that hot of a fire, they are done. I then brush them with some BBQ sauce when they are on the cooler side of the fire and let that caramelize as they pick up some more smoke flavor. Cooking time depends on the size of the chunks, but I figure about 6-8 minutes on the hot side and then a short while longer to finish on the cooler side. I prefer charcoal for this but have had great results with a gas grill with a smoke box added. Hickory smoke is my favorite for this.

Give them less time than you figure just to be safe because you can always throw them back on the fire. Of course let them rest after cooking like any meat...and then ENJOY!

DO NOT try to cook them until the bacon is cooked. At that point the goose will be as dry as shoe leather. Most of the bacon will be undercooked and some poeple eat it, some don't. Most of the goose will be super tender and red throughout, but once in a while you will get pieces that are really tough. That is just from the random old goose that is impossible to get tender. Those chunks go to the dog that retrieved the birds!! If your goose has gone from red to brown, it is overcooked and will be really dry. Remember that game meat has no fat marbling so it cooks super fast and dries out very easily.

Let me know how it works out.