Goose, Sous-Vide, Whole

Looking for any experience to help guide me here.

I want to do goose for christmas this year and i'd very much like to sous vide it. Here are my problems: I really want to serve the bird whole at the table, big tradition for me and i'd hat to come out with bits and pieces. That means the whole bird has to be cooked at one temp in one bag. I'm thinking spatchcocking is the way to go as I don't have a chamber vacuum sealer handy. Its a bit of a compromise to have my lovely big bird look like its been run over but i can live with it unless anyone has any ideas of how to do it without spatchcocking? Also we have the problem of temperature. I would ideally want different temperatures for the breast and the legs so what would be the best compromise temperature? I also need to work out a searing method. I was thinking a broiler but the oven will be pretty crowded. A grill would give me the right heat but i'm not so sure about bar marks on my goose. Any other suggestions? I'll be doing a duck tomorrow as a dry run and i'll post the results but any feedback before then would be appreciated cheers

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Henry_Walker_234653

Sorry for the text block, can't seem to format it properly

tshewman

One of your biggest challenges will be rendering of the fat when cooking sous vide. There is ALLOT when cooking goose (or duck). I wouldn't go over 65C and would endorse using the oven over sv unless you were willing to break the bird down. Using the oven will allow for the fat to render while you cook it and via sv there is the potential of the skin ending up rubbery. Food for thought.

Henry_Walker_234653

wouldn't the fat start rendering at around 60 though? With a duck breast if you sous vide it long enough you end up taking all the fat out (which kinda sucks) i figured goose would be similar. I'd just need to make sure it cooked long enough.

bkeene12

If you have your heart set on Sous Vide, I would think about breaking the bird down and reconstructing it before service. Like @Todd_Shewman_38102 said, you're going to have to give a lot of consideration to the skin; I guess doing it like Heston Blume did with his Christmas feast might work.

With the right garnishes and a bit of imagination, I think you'd end up with a winner. You might actually make your service somewhat easier as there would be a little less butchering after cooking. I'd certainly do a dry run with the goose before I committed to this one.

tshewman

Some will render below 60, however if you are doing the goose "whole" then to cook the legs you will likely be at 60 or above.

tshewman

I did a spin on what heston did. I used one of the legs (smoked over cherry wood)in the veloute and another smoked over maple chips in the stuffing. I took the skin and rendered some of the fat and put the stuffing on top and baked it. Breast were brined and cooked around mid 50c