Rich and very fatty, with excellent rendered fat for roasting.
Goose sits in the poultry family but behaves quite differently from chicken in
the kitchen. It is unusually fatty, with most of the fat under the skin, which renders out beautifully during roasting.
Goose fat is prized for roasting and is largely monounsaturated, though it remains calorie-dense fat.
Nutritionally it offers complete protein, good B vitamins, and notably more iron than chicken.
Per 100g cooked. Game bird composition varies with species, age and whether the bird was wild or reared.
Based on the nutrients and fibre this food supplies. These are supporting foods, not treatments.
Prick the skin and roast on a rack. Goose renders an enormous
amount of fat — let it drain rather than sit in it.
Keep the fat.
Strained and refrigerated it lasts months and is the best thing for roast potatoes.
Rest it properly. Twenty minutes for a whole bird.
It is
richer than turkey, so portions are smaller than people expect.
Goose is a rich, fatty bird whose fat is largely monounsaturated rather than saturated — a better profile than beef dripping or butter, though still concentrated energy.
The fat is the reason to cook it, and also the reason to serve it occasionally rather than weekly.
High cholesterol: goose is genuinely fatty. Occasional rather
than routine.
Gout or high uric acid: all meat contains purines, and organ
meats most of all. Meat and seafood purines trigger flares far more reliably than plant
purines do.
Kidney disease: protein load often needs limiting. This
needs your doctor's numbers, not a general rule.
Pregnancy: cook all
meat through — no pink — and avoid liver because of its vitamin A content.
This is information, not a prescription. If you are managing a diagnosed condition or taking medication, talk to your doctor before making a large change to your diet.
Nutrition figures on this page come from standard food composition data. These links let you check the numbers and read the underlying research yourself rather than taking our word for it.