Goose sausage advice?

[don taylor]

I'm having all of my ducks ground into sausage this year and since duck is out, I'm turning back into a goose hunter. My friend that took my geese moved and isn't local, now I'm stuck with what I can't give to the other hunters with me.

I don't like goose, my family doesn't like goose. I have 5 kids under 6 and if I give it to them, I get the stink eye. I've cooked it a zillion different ways and I can't have it any way that doesn't completely hide Its flavor. It's not worth throwing it away when I scrape their plates. I'd rather not hunt them, honestly.

So, I'm thinking about giving sausage a try. The butcher says he can hide the flavor with hot italian spices and pork or beef.

Do any of you make sausage out of goose? Do you use pork, beef or straight goose meat? Does it still have that overwhelming taste?

[Jon McGrath]

I make about 18 pounds of sausage every year out of scraps (ducks) and my snows that I shoot.

10 pounds of ground goose/duck
5 pounds of pork back fat
2.5 tbsp minced garlic
10 tsp kosher salt
7.5 tbsp fennel seeds
2.5 tsp cayenne pepper
5 tbsp red pepper flake
5 tbsp ground black pepper

Grind up the pork and then grind it again with the ground up goose/duck. Then mix the pork, geese and the spices all together with a hand mixer. Once that is done run all mixture through the grinder 2 more times. Then once this is all done you can stuff it into casings or make individual patties then freeze. I use a cookie cutter to make the even patties, works pretty slick.

If this is too spicy you can tone down the hot spices, I like mine a tad on the spicy side though. I also have a pretty good recipe for goose meat loaf and brats as well.

[Geese Gone Wild]

I don't know about goose sausage but I do know about DUCK sausage, all you have to do is.........










Duck down and get you some

[Sask hunter]

Get some goose smokies made they are delicious!

[goosechaser125]

Don, let me give you one more way to cook a goose, it is the only way my kids will eat it, and they say they actually LIKE IT.......

Use a young bird's breast
Put into small glass casarole dish
Pour bottle of KRAFT zesty Italian dressing over breasts
fill to just about top of breasts (let soak over night)
Turn oven to 350
Put in dish for about 40 minutes (this is the tricky part because everyones oven is differnt, the key is DO NOT OVER COOK)
Remove from dish (keep dressing)
Cut into bite size pieces
use hot dressing as dip(dip each piece prior to eating them)

[huntin again]

Don, take a road trip up to Zelienople, Herb Brittners Smoke House. www.herbbrittners.biz Been taking breasts there the past couple years, after season ends. Have the whole breast smoked......you'll think you're eating meat that came from the deli counter. Very tasty. They will also make snack sticks in various heat ranges.

I do trail bologna also, but I also have my own grinder and press. The kits I buy from LEM do a great flavor and I like to add some jalopeno and high temp cheese also. Smoke those myself with the gas smoker. www.lemproducts.com Even my wife and grandkids eat that.

Pm me if you need any other info.

[Big AL]

We grind it up every late Winter...
You need a 2-1 ratio of waterfowl meat to ground pork butt. So you'll need to weigh up your waterfowl/ frozen.
Trim it up. Get rid of feathers/blood shot/ BB's
Mix by hand in mixing bowls.
Season to taste. Have a small frying pan/ portable stove handy. Test as you go...fry up small patties. If you are not stuffing into casings/ you can just make patties and refreeze in vacuum sealed freezer bags!
You can make: hot Hungarian (garlic, paprika, black-red perpper) Italian (garlic, salt, black pepper, crushed fennel, dash of red wine) or Country style ( garlic, salt, sage, black pepper).
You can make burgers spagetti sauce/ meat loafs/ appetizers (goose balls)...but I like them pan fried/burger on a fresh bun with cheese/ sliced onion/bell peppers/ bbq sauce...and cold beer! Enjoy.

[Big AL]

Oops..forgot to mention...all the recipes need SALT! Just be careful...too much salt can kill your batch of seasoned meat! That's why we try it as we go. Weighing up everything including the ingredients is the way to go. We do this in the garage on a couple portable tables begining at about 8 AM on a Sat. or Sunday. Snow or shine...alot of fun with your pals. Can't say we did not open a beer until noon either!? Having the portable grill handy, and a loaf of fresh bread really makes the trial stuff go easy too!
Lot's of good food fun. There will be more goose hunters now!!!

[don taylor]

Thanks for the advice, especially the idea for Brittners. I've had their jerky, it's pretty darn good. I didn't know they smoked meats like that.

I'm heading out Saturday, I'm sure a limit is in the cards, i'll give a few of the ideas a whirl.

[BenelliSBE2]

Another idea if you dont do the sausage would be goose jerky. Can be made at home if you have a dehydrator or can even cook it in the oven. I've been using the cabelas brand jerky mixed and have had great results. I've yet to have a person try it and not like it, from 8 year old kids to my 80 year old grandma they all like it.

Its like crack in a bag, once you start eating it you wont stop till your teeth hurt. Well atleast in my case.
Its making my mouth water just thinking about it.

[sgs1790]

Another idea if you dont do the sausage would be goose jerky. Can be made at home if you have a dehydrator or can even cook it in the oven. I've been using the cabelas brand jerky mixed and have had great results. I've yet to have a person try it and not like it, from 8 year old kids to my 80 year old grandma they all like it.

Its like crack in a bag, once you start eating it you wont stop till your teeth hurt. Well atleast in my case.
Its making my mouth water just thinking about it.

Couldnt agree more!!!! Goose jerky is something I have found that everyone likes when they try it. Plus its a great way to use up all that goose meat. I use Hi Mountain seasons. I really like the cracked pepper and Garlic. All I do is marinate it for 24 hours and then throw it in the dehydrator. Depending on the weather and such I usually find 4-5 hours is best. For a little extra taste I put in Liquid Smoke. It is great. Good Luck!

[BenelliSBE2]

Another idea if you dont do the sausage would be goose jerky. Can be made at home if you have a dehydrator or can even cook it in the oven. I've been using the cabelas brand jerky mixed and have had great results. I've yet to have a person try it and not like it, from 8 year old kids to my 80 year old grandma they all like it.

Its like crack in a bag, once you start eating it you wont stop till your teeth hurt. Well atleast in my case.
Its making my mouth water just thinking about it.

Couldnt agree more!!!! Goose jerky is something I have found that everyone likes when they try it. Plus its a great way to use up all that goose meat. I use Hi Mountain seasons. I really like the cracked pepper and Garlic. All I do is marinate it for 24 hours and then throw it in the dehydrator. Depending on the weather and such I usually find 4-5 hours is best. For a little extra taste I put in Liquid Smoke. It is great. Good Luck!

I use to use the hi mountain seasons also, Im constantly trying new seasonings and mixtures pretty much every batch. Since I tried the Cabelas brand jerkey mix I'll probably never buy the mi moutain mix again. Id suggest giving the cabelas seasoning a try, I like it much better.

[DSM16428]

Don, have you tried it "pull-pork style"? My GF and her daughter won't touch waterfowl...of any kind. I did up a 7 bird batch of it and I gotta tell ya, 14 pounds cooked weight of the stuff DISAPPEARED! Between home and work, it took a total of less than 4 hours for it to get eaten. I have the recipe in the recipe forum if you haven't seen it yet. Yeah . it's a little involed, but it is sooooo worth it in the end!

[sgs1790]

Another idea if you dont do the sausage would be goose jerky. Can be made at home if you have a dehydrator or can even cook it in the oven. I've been using the cabelas brand jerky mixed and have had great results. I've yet to have a person try it and not like it, from 8 year old kids to my 80 year old grandma they all like it.

Its like crack in a bag, once you start eating it you wont stop till your teeth hurt. Well atleast in my case.
Its making my mouth water just thinking about it.

Couldnt agree more!!!! Goose jerky is something I have found that everyone likes when they try it. Plus its a great way to use up all that goose meat. I use Hi Mountain seasons. I really like the cracked pepper and Garlic. All I do is marinate it for 24 hours and then throw it in the dehydrator. Depending on the weather and such I usually find 4-5 hours is best. For a little extra taste I put in Liquid Smoke. It is great. Good Luck!

I use to use the hi mountain seasons also, Im constantly trying new seasonings and mixtures pretty much every batch. Since I tried the Cabelas brand jerkey mix I'll probably never buy the mi moutain mix again. Id suggest giving the cabelas seasoning a try, I like it much better.

I will have to try it. As you said I am always up to trying to seasonings. Do you recommend a certain "flavor"?

DSM--I have made the Pulled-goose and it was Excellent. I will have to try your recipe out for sure!

[BenelliSBE2]

I will have to try it. As you said I am always up to trying to seasonings. Do you recommend a certain "flavor"?

I usually use the teryaki season and I add some spices to it to give it a little kick. I would definitly recommend marinading for 24 hours with any of the seasonings, gets rid of the gamey taste.

[kandahar]

My grandad uses to use chinese hoi-sin sauce from the chinese grocery store and mix in some honey onions and garlic to the breast with the skin on and roast them in the oven and every once in a while take a ladle and pour the hot oil on the skin. I suppose you could make jerky the same way

[DBarLeather]

LEM carries a product called TREHALOSE. It is supposed to take the wild taste out of the game. I haven't tried it yet, but if your trying to go with the "wildless" taste, it might be worth a try.

http://www.lemproducts.com

[tornadochaser]

Best way to get the wild taste out of fowl is to draw out as much of the blood as you can. either by soaking the meat in salt water, or hanging/dry aging.

For jerky, once you start getting the hang of it, its much cheaper to buy large containers of all of your favorite ingredients. I can go to sams club and buy enough cure salt, garlic, crushed pepper, liquid smoke, paprika, onion powder, etc. to make 200 lbs of jerky for the same price as about 20 lbs worth of kits from hi-mountain or cabelas.

[don taylor]

I just got the sausage back from my butcher, he did an excellent job. I'll be trying some goose next.

I've done the 'pulled pork' goose in the crock pot. It was okay. I've tried it cooked that way with bbq sauce, same with tomato sauce. It wasn't a big hit. I've tried corned goose, that didn't go over badly, but made more than we would eat.

I'm the dad who makes his children eat and try everything, but the battles get long with some game.

My old buddy I mentioned, who moved, made jerky. He gave me a gallon ziplock full. After a few (4-5) months, it was only 1/2 gone. My other friends loved it, my family wouldn't eat it.

I'm still going to give them away, but if I have to take them home, you've given me some motivation to try goose again.

[001o9u]

I make goose peperoni. I get the spices from "the great Sausage Maker" out of Buffalo NY and follow their instruction. I add 2lbs of smoked bacon to 10lbs of goose/duck. I stopped using my smoker and do it right in the oven....easier to do....the only problem is one batch has a short life span around my group. I'll make a double batch and freeze half for later.