It has long been traditional to eat Goose at Michaelmas. This is for several reasons. The first is quite clearly that late September is the first point of the year when the geese are big enough to eat, they are also still young and not too fatty, which arguably makes them rather nicer than they are at Christmas. The second is that Michaelmas was one of the four ‘quarter days’. That is, it was a day when servants were hired and debts were paid. These quarter days (the others being Lady Day, Christmas and Midsummer) also fall on or around the two equinoxes and the two solstices – this year’s Autumn equinox having been on the 22nd September – so it is clear that feasting has long been traditional at these times of year. Often the quarter day debts, rents, and pay packets, were paid in kind rather than in cash, and a common form of currency was the goose, which contributed to the tradition of eating a Michaelmas Goose. It is said that eating goose at Michaelmas ensures a prosperous year financially. We can only hope.
My first goose memory:
I remember having goose for my uncle’s birthday, which falls on the 30th December. It was decided one year (probably by my Granny) that we would have goose, I must have been about three at the time. The best thing about this for me was going to collect it from my Great Aunty Mary who has a small-holding in Lingfield. As a child it was always a source of great excitement to visit Aunty Mary. This was for several reasons... the food (usually her own excellent North Ronaldsay lamb), the chickens – which usually resulted eggs to take home, and the tractor, which was inedible but majestic... even though it was invariably in the garage. Collecting the goose was a wonderful moment, and I have a very clear memory of it. It was also the moment when I really started to connect food on the plate with food in the farm. I got some of the feathers from the goose to take home and I remember seeing Uncle David bring the goose out. There were still some feathers on it and it's long neck too. I knew exactly where that goose had come from and I knew it was a goose. I’d possibly even met it. In these days of supermarkets and homogenized... everything, this must be increasingly rare for children. Such a pity.
On with the meat of the thing:
I served Michaelmas Goose with Forcemeat Stuffing, Sage and Onion Stuffing, Chipolatas and Bacon, Roast Potatoes, Baked Apples, Red Cabbage, Seasonal Green Vegetables a la Francaise, Bread Sauce, Apple Sauce, and Gravy.
The first step is to order your goose. I ordered mine from Goodmans Geese, because I saw them on the Two Fat Ladies many years ago (and more recently on DVD, given that I have the box set and that it’s usually on in the background). Goodmans also do a Michaelmas delivery service, and I got a large goose (12 and a half lbs) for £70 delivered, which I thought was actually pretty good. I had wanted to support my local butcher but they could only get me a frozen goose – a pain to thaw, but they freeze very well – for over £100! Here is how the goose looked when she (I don’t know her gender, but she seemed female) arrived:

Get the bird oven ready the night before. This involves stuffing her and putting her into her tin. The stuffings are as follows, the quantities are somewhat approximate as I tend to do it by feel. But you can find stuffing recipes all over the internet:
Forcemeat:
An onion – finely chopped
8oz good sausage meat (mine came from the nice chaps at The Ginger Pig)
Sage and Parsley, quite a lot of the latter
A handful of breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper
The liver of the goose chopped finely
Mix it all up and pop it in the bird. Neck end.
Sage and Onion:
Another onion – finely chopped
A good quantity of chopped sage
Salt and pepper
A good bowlful of bread crumbs
An egg to bind
A couple of knobs of butter – melted
Mix it all up, it should cohere together well but not be too wet. Pop it in the bird – other end.
Some people don’t like to stuff both ends, but if you’ve got the oven hot enough and the whole thing is at room temperature before you begin then it will certainly cook. With this in mind, when the bird is stuffed leave out of the fridge for 12 hours or so before cooking. Often a good place to leave it is in the oven – provided that the oven is stone cold.
Before putting the goose on to cook prick the skin all over, and particularly under the wings. This is so that the fat drains out of it, and there is a lot of fat. Roast on a rack, so that it’s not sitting in its fat.
A goose of 12lbs will take three hours at about 200C. Every 20 – 30 mins pour the fat off into a basin, and baste the goose with boiling water. You can use the fat for the roast potatoes and you can freeze it to use at other times too.

When the cooking time is up and the juices are running clear take the goose out and leave covered with foil to rest for about half an hour.

I must admit that I’d never cooked a goose before, but the combined knowledge of duck cooking and turkey cooking seemed to work to my advantage and it was very nice... and the leaflet from Goodmans was very helpful too. Of course, what I should have done is call Aunty Mary, and ask for her advice.
