This recipe is in categories Victorians, Main courses,

Difficulty: 3
Comments: A whole goose is heavy to handle. Hot fat may need to be poured out into a dish from the roasting tin, if it becomes too full.
Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes for the stuffing.
Cooking Time: About 4 1/2 hours, see cooking time by weight in the recipe.
Number of servings: 6-8 servings
Serving suggestions: Serve with roasted potatoes and seasonal vegetables

Roast goose, usually with apple, was often served as the centrepiece of celebrations. It was traditional at Christmas and at Harvest suppers throughout the Victorian era. In Dicken's 'A Christmas Carol', Scrooge sends for a goose to be bought for the Christmas meal.

The stuffing is simply made with bread, onions, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme and bound together with an egg. The stuffing helps to keep the meat moist when it cooks and was scooped out and eaten with the meat. This also helped the meat to go further. There is a lot less meat on a goose than a modern turkey!

• 1 whole goose, giblets removed (about 10lbs in weight)
• 3-4 slices of bread
• 3 spring onions or 1 small onion
• 1 cooking apple
• 1 egg
• fresh herbs: 2-3 tablespoons parsley, 1 teaspoon rosemary, 1 tablespoon thyme, 1 teaspoon sage.
• optional: a pinch of mace and nutmeg

Preheat the oven to Gas 4,180C or 350F.

Place a raised rack into your roasting tin. Goose is very fatty and needs to be roasted above the roasting tin so the fat can drip down into it. You will need to check the fat level in the roasting tin as the goose cooks, to make sure it is not too full. If the tray fills you will need to tip the fat from it into a heat-proof bowl. DO NOT tip the fat down the sink or you will block the sink.

1. For the stuffing:
2. Roughly shred the bread into a bowl
3. Chop and add the onions
4. Peel, core and chop the apple and add to the bowl
5. Chop the fresh herbs and add them
6. Add the spices if you are using them
7. Add the egg and mix the stuffing weil with your hands

1. To roast the goose:
2. Stuff the goose. Pushing the stuffing in towards the neck
3. Tie the legs together if not already done
4. Place the goose onto the raised tray and put into the oven. The goose will take roughly 25-30 minutes per 450g/1 lb. So a 10lb goose will take about 4 and half hours to cook
5. Check the fat level in the roasting tin occasionally
6. When the goose should be done, Remove from the oven and test that the meat is done. To do this you need to insert the point of a knife into the meat, close to the joint where the legs join the body. Let the juice trickle onto the knife. If the juice runs clear (no blood) the goose is done
7. Lift the goose, by inserting 2 forks into it, onto a serving plate.
8. You could put roast potatoes around it or dress the plate with herbs as we have done
9. Serve hot