Poultry and Game

Recipes in this chapter vary from those for high days and holidays to those for simple weekday meals. A roast goose is dealt with in some detail, for a bird like this represents a considerable investment in money and time – a worthwhile investment too, and immensely satisfying when you consider all the other things that can be done with the various bits and by-products, such as rendered fat and giblets. I have learned from experience that, to be on the safe side, if you want a goose for Christmas, it is not too early to put your name down at birth as it were (that is at the goose’s birth in the spring), though you might still get one if you ask nicely in September. Free-range and organic farm turkeys should be ordered well in advance of any festivities, too, to be sure of getting what you want. As with everything, it is worth paying more for a free-range, humanely reared, slow-growing bird, which has been fed on what birds normally eat.