Meat, Game and Poultry

A big fat goose provides the warm-up to the Queen’s speech on 25 December in more households every year. Tough old birds can be avoided by fingering the carcass before you buy; a young fresh goose has clean white skin, soft and dry to the touch. The major branches of most supermarket chains usually stock fresh geese, at least in the week immediately preceeding Christmas. A 10-11 lb bird can serve 4-6 people.

Christmas is when most traditionally cured hams are sold. Nothing beats the dry-salted, properly matured varieties bought on the bone.