Canada Goose Thigh Tasso

[indaswamp]

Had a great hunt couple weeks ago with my buddy in Kansas.

Have a PILE of meat to play around with so I will be making a LOT of stuff with it! One recipe I have been wanting to try is Canada goose thigh tasso. I'm sure I'm not the only cajun to have ever thought of trying it; cajuns make tasso out of damn near everything- even garfish! So, since we shot some huge honkers, I pulled the legs and thighs out of a dozen birds. When I got home, I deboned the thighs so I had two pieces of meat, one on either side of the thigh bone...ended up with exactly 3# of meat.

Then I mixed up 0.25% cure #1 and 1.4% salt, coated the meat and in the fridge it went. I pulled the thighs out this morning. They have been curing for 9 days which is more than enough time. Fired up the smokehouse with some hickory and red oak and after seasoning, hung them in the smokehouse. I will smoke the goose meat @120* for 4 hours to get smoke on them, then crank the heat up to around 200*F for about an hour until I get the color I want on them.

 

[indaswamp]

I saved the thigh bones and legs. I have quail and chukkar legs and thighs in the freezer. I will be making a big gumbo soon and it will all go in the pot. I'll thow some of the goose tasso in there too along with andouille and smoke sausage!

 

[HalfSmoked]

Looking good. Gumbo did you say when?

Warren

 

[TNJAKE]

Heck yeah bud sign me up

 

[Brokenhandle]

Sounding good!

Ryan

 

[indaswamp]

Looking good. Gumbo did you say when?

Warren

Thanks Warren. I'll cook the gumbo soon, plan on bringing it to Nebraska in about 2 weeks when I head up there to visist a buddy and do some bird hunting.

Heck yeah bud sign me up

Thanks TNJAKE.

Sounding good!

Ryan

Thanks Brokenhandle!

 

[jcam222]

Man looks like you machine gunned down a whole flock haha. I’ll bet it’s going to be tasty.

 

[indaswamp]

4 hours of smoke @120-130*F...

Now to crank up the heat to 200-220*F for color and to dry the tasso put a little. Bring INT up to 160*F.

 

[indaswamp]

Man looks like you machine gunned down a whole flock haha. I’ll bet it’s going to be tasty.

...and that was just the first day! Took 35 on that hunt. We shot 63 over three hunts.

Thanks jcam222, I'm looking forward to sampling it to see how it tastes. The higher temp should render most of the goose fat off the thighs so all the off flavor should be gone.

 

[indaswamp]

WOW!! I will definitely be making this again!!! All the fat rendered off the meat. You can hardly tell it is goose!!

 

[oberst]

I weep every time I hear of goose hunters “breasting out” their birds, which means throwing away the legs and thighs. Indaswamp has a great idea here, and they smoke up wonderfully as well.
Here’s a before and after on goose thighs and legs:

About 5 hours of hickory:

Cut off the thigh; as good as it gets!

 

[indaswamp]

The cure REALLY helps out the flavor of goose meat. I was blown away first time I had goose pastrami, but this tasso might be the pennacle of them all! Wow....just WOW!

 

[Brokenhandle]

It looks excellent! Where abouts in Nebraska are you heading for when you go hunting again?

Ryan

 

[indaswamp]

It looks excellent! Where abouts in Nebraska are you heading for when you go hunting again?

Ryan

Thanks!
Around Wallace and/or Dickens, NE....

 

[HalfSmoked]

Dang man Nebraska is the wrong direction.

Warren