We wanted to try something "English" for our first Christmas dinner in England, goose! I hadn't cooked or eaten goose before. We picked up a goose breast. It looked like a giant duck breast, so we thought that we could cook it just like
duck breast. Our butcher said we were on the right track. I tried to reach between 135 F and 145 F that an online recipe said to be the sweet spot for goose breast. First, I pan-fried the skin side until it became golden crispy. Then, flipped it and put it in the oven. After about 5 minutes, the internal temperature was still around 110. I put the breast in the oven again, and cooked another 8 mins. I checked the temperature. Oh-oh, I cooked too much! The middle of the breast was still slightly pink while the rest was more than medium. FDA would definitely approve the doneness, but perhaps J would't. Sorry!
Meanwhile, I made Brussels sprout salad by adapting a recipe by Cook's Illustrated. It had shredded Brussel sprouts, baby arugula, lemon-pickled shallots, whole-grain mustards, cranberries, hazelnuts, and shredded Manchego cheese, tossed with warm brown butter. The warm salad was really tasty!
We discussed what the sauce for the goose should be. J found that there was a classic English sauce called Cumberland sauce. The sauce seemed sweet and citrusy, being said "excellent with lamb, pork and just about any game" according to an online source. It sounded appropriate. Our homemade Cumberland sauce was made with port, red currant jelly, lemon zest, orange zest, yellow mustard, shallot, beef stock, and a splash of gooseberry vinegar. The sauce was sweet but not too sweet. I liked the combination of the sauce and goose.
Other sides were simple homemade mashed potato and a store-bought pork-sage-onion stuffing that J sneakily placed in our shopping basket. I guess he couldn't complete Christmas without stuffing. Actually the product was good. It was just like a breakfast sausage.
For desserts, we had "Jewelled Fruits Christmas Cake" from Bettys. It was packed with apricots, orange peel, cherries and nuts, which tasted a bit different from their
Toasted Marzipan Christmas Cake. The cake was as lovely as Toasted Marzipan version! The Christmas dinner was splendid even with overcooked goose. Merry Christmas, J!
