Friday 21 June 2013

Food that Money Can’t Buy

freshly plucked Geese

 

Our Plucking Goose Party was held much latter this year mainly due to extreme hot weather. But now the chestnuts are harvested and sold it the time was  right to get this task done and secure a good supply of goose goodies.

We decided to make some goose prosciutto so we boned out a goose. After the breasts ,the neck skin was removed, the back portion was used as a roast.the rest of the meat was scaped off. The bones going into stock and the meat along with a little fat, onion,garlic,carrot and parsley was put through the mincer and then stuffed into the neck skin and sewn up.Not surprising there was mixture left over so these where made into rissoles for another meal.The goose sausage was then roasted and served in slices with roasted  vegetables from the garden.

GOOSE PROSCIbreasts curingUTTO

Place a mix of 3/4 cup pickling Salt, 2 tablespoons sugar 4 finely chopped garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon paprika , 1breasts curing 1 tablespoon ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon of dried oregano (Or seasoning of your choice) in a plastic container. Add breasts and rub in seasoning to both sides. Place the breasts on top of seasoning mix and place in the fridge.Leave for 3 days turning over once a day.

Rinse off spice mix and pat breasts dry. Place on a rack skin side down for 1-2 hours  to ensure its dry.

 

 

Insert a hook or some string and hang on a rack so they are not touching anything. Hang for 3 weeks. The temperature needs to be between 10-16oC with a humidity of between 60-85% . As there where european wasps around  we used a fridge which was mostly turned off but a couple of times when the humidity crept up it was put on its lowest setting for a few hours  to dry out the fridge a little.

breasts hanging   

They a now ready. On has been frozen for future celebrations (Everyday is a celebration!)And the other….well it tastes GREAT.

Goose processing may not be the most enjoyable task around but it well worth it with the reward of quality produce and knowing how and where your food is raised. Geese in particular provide us with so much, they are our grazing animals for their web feet tread lightly on the earth, They produce manure for the compost, they entertain us as they go about their daily tasks, they provide wonderful eggs and tasty meat neither of which can readily be purchased.  They reflect our lifestyle in the slow lane.

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