Anne Shirley’s Roast Goose with Cranberry Sauce
“Well, never mind. You two needn’t egg her on like that. Dinner is ready now, and, Gilbert, DON’T let Mrs. Rachel carve the geese. I know she means to offer to do it because she doesn’t think you can do it properly. Show her you can.”
“I ought to be able to. I’ve been studying A-B-C-D diagrams of carving for the past month,” said Gilbert. “Only don’t talk to me while I’m doing it, Anne, for if you drive the letters out of my head I’ll be in a worse predicament than you were in old geometry days when the teacher changed them.”
Gilbert carved the geese beautifully. Even Mrs. Rachel had to admit that. And everybody ate of them and enjoyed them. Anne’s first Christmas dinner was a great success and she beamed with housewifely pride. — Anne’s House of Dreams, ch.xv
Ingredients
| Goose |
1 roasting goose
| Stuffing |
2 cups hot masehd potatoes
1 ¼ cup stale bead crumbs
¼ cup finely chopped salt pork
1 finely chpped onion
1/3 cup butter
1 egg
pepper, salt and savoury to taste
| Sauce |
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
4 cups cranberries (gather from wild at the foot of dunes in Anne’s time!)
Directions
| Goose |
1. Singe off all haris and down by holding goose over burning twisted paper. Draw out any pin feathers. Cut legs off at joints.
2. Make incision through skin below breat bone just large enough to admit hand. Remove entrails and cut out vent. Be careful not to break gall bladder which is attached to the liver. The lungs and kidneys are attached to the backbone and care must be take that every paticle of them is removed.
3. Introduce fingers under skin close to neck and remove windpipe. Draw down neck sking nd cut off neck close to body, leaving skin long enough to fasten under back. Remove oil bag in tail and wash bird by allowing water to run through it.
4. Scrub outside of goose with brush adn cold water but do not allow it to soak in cold water. Wipe it dry inside and outside. If there is any disagreeable odour wash inside and outside with soda water.
5. Fill body and breast with stuffing. Rub with butter, pepper and salt
6. Roast, allowing 20 mintues to the pound — goose weighed after dressing and before stuffing.
7. When goose is done make gravy as follows: Pour off all the fat into a bowl. Then put back in pan 8 tbsp fat and stir into it with a whip 8 of tablespoons flour. Cook and stir until fat has completely disappeared leaving only a brown flour mass. Have ready hot water and stir 8 cups into gravy. Season with salt and pepper.
| Stuffing |
1. Mix ingredients together well.
| Sauce |
1. Put sugar and water on together and boil for 5 minutes
2. Add the cranberrries, cover and let stand off fire for 5 minutes.
3. Boil 3 minutes. Keep tightly covered till cool.
Notes: Recipe comes from L. M. Montgomery, with modifications. Available in Aunt Maud’s Recipe Book edited by Elaine Crawford.
