Stuffed goose "Rhineland style"

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 1 large goose, 5 – 5.5 kg, with neck and giblets
• 8 Printe(n) , (Aachen herb printen), dried and crumbled
• 2 large onions, roughly diced
• 4 large apples (Boskoop), cut into wedges
• 500 g chestnuts, vacuum-packed, cut into pieces
• 1 bunch thyme (leaves only), finely chopped
• 2 tbsp mugwort, dried
• Salt
• Black pepper, freshly ground
• Offal (cleaned), neck and wing tips of the goose
• 200 g soup vegetables (celeriac, carrots and leeks)
• 1 large onion(s)
• 150 g chestnuts, vacuum-packed, finely chopped
• 200 g Printe(n) (Aachen herb printen), finely crumbled
• 70 ml goose fat
• 500 ml broth (goose broth), defatted
• 1,500 ml malt beer
• 2 tbsp thyme, chopped
• Salt
• Black pepper, freshly ground
• Sugar

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 5 hours 30 minutes; Total time approx. 6 hours 30 minutes

a fresh German free-range goose with sweet sauce

Wash and dry the goose (please ensure quality; only a fresh, free-range goose delivers true goose flavor. Good free-range geese must be ordered well in advance!), dry it, and if necessary, remove any remaining feathers with tweezers. Rub the inside of the goose liberally with salt, pepper, and mugwort. Peel the onion and roughly dice it. Peel and core the apples and cut them into pieces/wedges. Crumble the herb printen (German gingerbread) into small pieces. Wash and dry the thyme, pluck the leaves from the stems, and chop them. Mix the onion, apples, chestnuts, printen crumbs, and thyme together and stuff the goose. Sew the goose up, trim off the wing tips, and secure the legs and wings to the goose with roulade pins. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Pour 300 ml of hot water into the roasting tin, season the outside of the goose generously with salt and pepper, place it in the roasting tin and roast in the oven at 200 °C for 1 hour, brushing with any fat that runs over it during cooking. Reduce the temperature to 120 °C and let the goose roast for a further 4 – 4.5 hours, basting regularly, piercing the legs several times. Remove the goose. Drain off the stock and fat and separate it. Place the goose on a rack and return it to the oven. Place a dripping pan under the rack and roast the goose using the grill function at 180 °C until crispy. For the sauce, heat around 50 ml of goose fat in a heavy pan, brown the neck, wing tips and the cleaned giblets, a halved onion and the soup vegetables, pour in the goose stock and simmer for 15 minutes. Heat 2 tablespoons of goose fat in a saucepan, add the chopped chestnuts and crumbled gingerbread and let them roast. Strain the stock through a sieve into the pan, pour in 500 ml of malt beer and let it reduce. Pour in another 500 ml of malt beer and let it reduce again. Add the remaining 500 ml along with the thyme and let it simmer. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and a little sugar if desired. Place the crispy goose on a carving platter and carve at the table, serving the sauce separately. The sweet sauce goes perfectly with the rich goose meat. I like to serve it with potato dumplings, chestnut puree, red cabbage or finely chopped Brussels sprouts and apple sauce, as well as the goose stuffing. Using leftovers: Remove the remaining meat from the carcass, cut it into fine pieces, or coarsely grind it through a meat grinder. Heat some of the remaining goose fat in a pot, add the meat pieces, season with salt and pepper, and pour into clean jars while still hot. Simply delicious on Rhenish whole-grain bread.