Christmas Eve - cooking our goose

Part one

The goose is now in the oven, so I've got a bit of a break before I have to start the next longest cooking items.



The first order of business was to remove the goose from the marinade.  There wasn't a whole heck of a lot to take it out of.  I decided to leave some of the marinade herbs on the goose, putting more into the cavity.  Then there was the job of piercing the skin with a fork all over.  Some areas were very hard to pierce.  I hope I was thorough enough.  I didn't truss it, though I did cut slits on either side of the tail bone and tucked the ends of the drumsticks in.






I was thrilled to find a turkey lifter a couple of days ago.  It's got little legs to keep the bird lifted.  For the cooking/basting liquid, I combine roughly 1 cup each of red wine, orange juice and boiling water.  Mdm Benoit seemed adamant about not using anything cold on a goose in all her recipes, so I thought adding the boiling water might be a good idea.

The goose is seasoned with our favourite spice mix.  As for the wine, I picked this one for cooking with because it was cheap.  I'm trying a glass to drink right now, and I can't say I'd recommend it for drinking.  You know how, when tasting red wine, you're supposed to swirl it in the glass to check the viscosity?  It doesn't seem to have any.  Why that makes a difference, I don't know.  Either way, it's a pretty mediocre wine.  Not bad, but not good, either.  I'm not a wine drinker, though, so take it for what it's worth. *L*

For the meal itself, I picked a Big Ass Zin.  We've tried Big Ass Cab before and enjoyed it.  I considered getting it again, but wanted to try something different.  I have to admit, I bought the brand for the label art!  Like I said, I'm not a wine drinker, and I don't know brands.  So I usually end up picking them based on descriptions and, lately, humour (we picked up some Vampire wine recently, too).  Not the best way to pick a wine, I must admit!  When I saw the Big Ass Cab label, I was smitten by the joie de vivre.  I couldn't help but think that a company that had such a lively sense of humour just had to have good taste, too!  Thankfully, the wine lived up my hopes.  I would definitely recommend it.  Hopefully, we'll be just as happy with the Zin as well.