How to Kill and prepare a goose?

[josa]

I've  been keeping chickens for eggs for awhile now, but not for meat, although I have had to dispatch a few due to age/illness etc so I am quite OK with that, and I am also happy handling the butchery side of things, having worked with butchers a few years ago, but the actual technique and steps in the process I need some guidance on.

I  have been given 2 geese and I intend to fatten them up for Christmas - I know it's a long time away but "be prepared"! Just to make sure I don't get it wrong or forget something can anyone give me a brief idiots bullet point guide to what I should know and do to kill and prepare the goose for the Christmas oven - not the cooking side - my wife is an excellent chef on that front - I just have to get the bird to her!

Also, how long before Christmas should this be done ideally?

 

 

[Patf]

You might get a reply on here, but if not, try this forum:

http://www.practicalpoultry.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

We had 2 geese once, which we killed and ate. Not much different from chickens really, but bigger obviously.

How long to hang - this is debatable. Hanging is supposed to tenderise the meat, and isn't so risky healthwise in winter.

Pat.

[chrisb]

Probably it's largely a matter of taste - I think a bit of gameyness (?) is great but others like their meat absolutely fresh.

It'll also vary according to the weather and where you have to hang it (I'm assuming that none of us has a proper game larder).

Best guess - assuming weather cold and dry - would be 3 to 4 days with the giblets still in. It'll then be fine refrigerated for a few more days.

[Pierre ZFP]

I don't think I can help with how to dispatch the goose (Large cleaver or neighbour with shotgun comes to mind) but when you pluck it, can I have the large feathers off the left wing please?

Honestly, I'm not kidding and I'll be happy to pay a consideration for your time, effort and (one assumes it wouldn't be too heavy [:D] )

Why do I want them? Well, I'm a keen archer and mostly I do target with an Olympic recurve bow but just for extra fun I sometimes go on field shoots (still targets, not real animals) with my longbow.  The rules state that everything must be made of traditional materials, so this means the arrows must be wooden (metal points are allowed) and the fletchings must be natural (plastic 'feathers' not allowed).  I have been using turkey feathers which are OK but useless when wet. Goose are the ones to have but hard to find.  Why the left-wing? Well I'm right-handed and and left wing feathers make the arrow spin clockwise (viewed from the rear) which is what I need.  Clever innit?

[josa]

Thanks for your replies - and well I must say you learn something new every day!! - Left wing feathers for right handed archers!!

[nomoss]

http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4359e/y4359e0f.htm

The last time we bought one live, the farmer opposite us killed it in one of his funnels, and plucked it on his machine.

This was a very primitive and dangerous looking effort, with parallel stainless steel rollers turning at speed, which looked as if it could just as easily remove fingers or chunks of flesh from one's arm. But it did the job, leaving only the pin feathers to be removed by hand.