When it comes to chicken/turkey meat I like that dark (legs/thighs) more than the white (breasts).

I just saw some people cooking goose on TV and all the meat was dark.  Anyone ever had goose before?  Is it all like that dark meat from chicken/turkey?

EDIT....I do love goose liver, but that doesn't tell me what they meat taste like.

I have once - ordered one from Moonlite Bar-B-Q (http://www.moonlite.com/OP.html) for Christmas a few years ago. It was kinda dark, like duck or wild turkey. Really lean, and easy to overcook as a result. I'm not remembering all details of the instructions they sent with it, but guarding against drying it out rings a bell. Taste-wise it wasn't as flavorful as wild turkey, but still fairly rich for poultry. Moonlite was the only place I've seen to sell goose, and maybe it was a Christmas time special only, since I don't see it on their website now.

(10-25-2016, 10:33 PM)wildcats forever Wrote: I have once - ordered one from Moonlite Bar-B-Q (http://www.moonlite.com/OP.html) for Christmas a few years ago. It was kinda dark, like duck or wild turkey. Really lean, and easy to overcook as a result. I'm not remembering all details of the instructions they sent with it, but guarding against drying it out rings a bell. Taste-wise it wasn't as flavorful as wild turkey, but still fairly rich for poultry. Moonlite was the only place I've seen to sell goose, and maybe it was a Christmas time special only, since I don't see it on their website now.

Love me some Moonlite. I have a publication that inserts into the Owensboro area papers in the spring so I have to truck the copies up there. I always plan the trip so I can hit Moonlite around the lunch buffet.

As far as the OP, I'd agree with Wildcats. It's been several years since I had any goose, but I'd say it's like combining a turkey and a duck. Not as flavorful as turkey, not as gamey as duck, little on the dry side. I've never cooked it, only eaten it. But if I was cooking it, I'd say it would be best to treat it like turkey.

Wild birds will tend to have a darkness to them overall because they will actually use those muscles more consistently resulting in more myoglobin/oxygen build up in muscles that are typically white meat in a domestic bird. The breasts are actually used in flight (though not as strenuously) and so they will have more oxygen build up in birds that can use their wings.

All that being said, I'm a big fan of goose. It does have to be cooked right, but it can be very delicious. I've had both wild and raised, and the taste difference is a lot like that between wild and domestic turkey.

(10-25-2016, 10:33 PM)wildcats forever Wrote: I have once - ordered one from Moonlite Bar-B-Q (http://www.moonlite.com/OP.html) for Christmas a few years ago. It was kinda dark, like duck or wild turkey. Really lean, and easy to overcook as a result. I'm not remembering all details of the instructions they sent with it, but guarding against drying it out rings a bell. Taste-wise it wasn't as flavorful as wild turkey, but still fairly rich for poultry. Moonlite was the only place I've seen to sell goose, and maybe it was a Christmas time special only, since I don't see it on their website now.

I don't think I have ever seen goose available except maybe at Tewes. I suspect you are right about it being seasonal.

(10-26-2016, 10:42 AM)xxlt Wrote: I don't think I have ever seen goose available except maybe at Tewes. I suspect you are right about it being seasonal.

That's interesting. I can get goose all year round at my local Martin's and Kroger.

(10-27-2016, 06:54 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: That's interesting. I can get goose all year round at my local Martin's and Kroger.

Wow. When I searched online at Kroger's it returned no results for goose except for non goose products (alcohol, etc) w. Goose in the brand name. The search function on Martin's website does not seem to work. Searched Publix and also found nothing except the Goose branded products but not actual goose. When I was a kid my dad always shopped a local meat market and when I got older I shopped it until it closed, then switched to another meat market. Never saw goose in either of them. I wonder if it is a regional thing. You are pretty far north, right?