Stuffed Goose According to Grandma's Recipe

Ingredients

• 750 g chestnuts
• 0.5 l poultry stock
• 1 goose (about 4.5 kg)
• Salt
• Pepper
• 400 g sour apples
• 2 stalks mugwort
• 0.25 l boiling water
• 1 kg red cabbage
• 1 onion
• 1 piece ginger (about 3 cm)
• 30 g clarified butter
• 0.125 l red wine
• 100 ml apple or pear juice
• 2 cloves of mace
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar
• Salt
• pepper (ground)
• 100 ml red wine
• 50 ml pear juice
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 4 small pears

Instructions

1. 1.

   Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.

2. 2.

   Score the chestnuts crosswise and roast them on a baking sheet until the shells crack. Peel and let cool. Bring the poultry stock to a boil, cook the chestnuts for 10 minutes, drain and cool. Wash the goose, pat dry, and rub with salt and pepper. Peel the apples, remove cores, and halve them. Mix apples, mugwort, and chestnuts; fill two-thirds of the goose with this mixture. Tie the opening with kitchen twine and bind wings to the body, tying legs together. Place the goose breast-side down in a fat pan or large roasting tin in the oven. Baste with boiling water and roast for 4 hours.

3. 3.

   After one hour turn the goose over and pierce the legs several times to let fat drip out. Arrange remaining filling around the goose and cook further, basting repeatedly with stock.

4. 4.

   At 3.5 hours, brush the goose with cold salted water.

5. 5.

   Meanwhile, prepare the red cabbage: remove outer leaves, halve the cabbage, cut off the core, and slice finely on a mandoline. Peel onion and ginger, dice very finely, and sauté in hot clarified butter until translucent. Add cabbage, cook briefly, deglaze with wine and juice. Add spices and simmer over medium heat for about 40 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper at the end.

6. 6.

   For pears, boil wine, juice, sugar, and lemon juice. Peel pears and poach them in this liquid for 4-5 minutes until firm.

7. 7.

   Serve the finished goose on a preheated platter. Dissolve roasting stock with hot water, strain, and top up to 1/2 liter. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

8. 8.

   Lift pears from the liquid and arrange on ginger-red cabbage. Serve alongside the stuffed goose, optionally with dumplings.