Smoked wild Canada goose breasts

[JimT]

Well, I'm smoking a bunch of stuff this weekend and on the Bradley forum once again while waiting for the magic to happen. I made the mistake of checking my profile and realize I've only got four posts in ten years.  :-[  So in the spirit of paying it forward, here's another recipe that works like magic.

Get some Canada gooses. Hunting season helps with this.  ;)  Remove all the silver skin and fascia from the breasts for the best results.

Make the rub. This never comes out exactly the same, but this is the general idea:

Coriander 2parts
Cumin 2parts
Black pepper 1part
Bay leaf 1 or 2
Sweet paprika 2parts
Hot paprika 1part
Mild Cayenne to taste
Chili peppers to taste

Put it all in a coffee grinder and grind away until it's a fine powder.

Salt the breasts liberally with some Kosher salt and let sit 15-30 minutes.  Then apply the rub and let them sit another hour or so.

Before putting into the smoker at 200 deg F, mist the breasts with some olive oil from one of those refillable sprayers you get at the grocery store.

Cooking times estimated: a small breast from a small Canada will probably be done in about 2.5 hours. You're aiming for rare to medium rare--DO NOT OVERCOOK. REPEAT: DO NOT OVERCOOK.   ;D  You're looking for an internal temp of 135-145 deg F max. I pull them out when they hit 142-ish. Use a good temperature probe.

A medium breast will take 3-ish hours, and a breast from Moby Goose will take 3.5-ish hours. Do not overcook.

Briquette choice? usually some kind of fruitwood is good, either cherry or apple. I mix in a couple of hickory as well.

Sorry no pictures on this one, but the goose I did up yesterday turned out AWESOME. Slice it up into thin slices, makes a great appetizer (or meal in itself) with cheese, crackers, and a good quality horseradish sauce.

[TedEbear]

Cooking times estimated: a small breast from a small Canada will probably be done in about 2.5 hours. You're aiming for rare to medium rare--DO NOT OVERCOOK. REPEAT: DO NOT OVERCOOK.   ;D  You're looking for an internal temp of 135-145 deg F max. I pull them out when they hit 142-ish. Use a good temperature probe.

It all sounds good.  I remember that the recommended safe IT cooking temp for a turkey is 165.  I was wondering if it would be different for a goose.  According to the USDA, it is the same 165 degrees for a goose.

Duck and Goose from Farm to Table Safe Cooking

[JimT]

Cooking times estimated: a small breast from a small Canada will probably be done in about 2.5 hours. You're aiming for rare to medium rare--DO NOT OVERCOOK. REPEAT: DO NOT OVERCOOK.   ;D  You're looking for an internal temp of 135-145 deg F max. I pull them out when they hit 142-ish. Use a good temperature probe.

It all sounds good.  I remember that the recommended safe IT cooking temp for a turkey is 165.  I was wondering if it would be different for a goose.  According to the USDA, it is the same 165 degrees for a goose.

Duck and Goose from Farm to Table Safe Cooking

not sure I'd cook to that temp on a wild goose, maybe those figures work for domestic/farm geese. The breast needs to be rare, although legs need to go longer and 165 deg for legs might be good.

Here's what Hank Shaw says, he's probably the top cook out there in terms of game cooking--"The first thing you need to know is the sweet spot of cooking a goose breast is somewhere around 135 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit internal temperature. . . . It's pink, yes -- medium-rare to medium. The sweet spot for the legs is somewhere around 175 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, give or take, they're pretty forgiving. That's a huge spread in temperature. You can't really pull it off if you are stuck on a whole Norman Rockwell 'I've got to carve the goose at the table' image." 
At http://www.splendidtable.org/story/cook-your-goose-slowly-at-a-low-heat-to-let-the-fat-render-out

[Old Dog]

  Fantastic link JimT. I was a little curious about the lower i.t. but the story sold me on the concept. We,ve gots lots of geese up here. I  am going to recommend this to my friends.