What size roasting tin do I need for a 4 kilo goose?

NaughtiusMaximus

Not sure if this is the best board to post this on but as MSE doesn't have one devoted to cooking and the MS arms is no more, it's probably as good as any other.

I've ordered a goose for christmas day and it just occurred to me I'm not sure if I have a big enough roasting tin, does anyone have any idea what size I need for a 4 kilo bird? 

yksi

A typical chicken in the supermarket is about 2-3 kilos, so a 4 kilo goose shouldn't be much bigger - this might help you to visualise things.

redfox

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maman

That's roughly the size (maybe a bit smaller) than the medium sized turkey we usually have. My roasting tin is about 36 cm long and not quite so wide. I cook potatoes separately so it only has to fit the meat.

I don't have a large oven so it just about fills an oven shelf for me.  If you don't have a suitable one and don't  want to buy one, you could always buy one of those foil trays and sit it on a baking tray. Saves washing up too. 😉

Apintplease

Pop into Lidl, their frozen goose is 4kilo, it will give you a good idea. Although its the same weight as a small turkey - its long

Its also oven size you need to worry about, I have an extra wide oven and the goose fits nicely, shelf very low

You won't be able to cook anything else in the oven at the same time, no room plus you have to keep getting it out to drain the fat - and believe me, you get litres of fat from a goose, your oven is going to be filthy 

For this reason I cook mine on Christmas Eve . Goose is very moist so can be carved and reheated very well. Gives me time to give the oven a clean so Im not smoking the house out Christmas Day when Im doing the roasties in the beautiful goose fat Ive saved - I also pop a jar around to all the neighbours

Wraithlady

As Apintplease says, you will get a lot of fat from the goose - when I cooked one, I got about 4 pints of fat (It freezes well, btw) - you will need a rack so the bird isn't sitting in fat

greyteam1959

Agree regarding the pints / litres of fat.
Keep a close eye on it !!

NaughtiusMaximus

Thanks for the response, I know about the volume of fat, had taken that into account. I'm wary of disposable trays for something this size/weight as I think it'd be awkward, bordering on impossible, getting it in and out of the oven without the foil tray bending and risking spilling fat.

I like the Lidl idea, I'll pop in there to look at the sizes of frozen geese.

Apintplease

NaughtiusMaximus said:

Thanks for the response, I know about the volume of fat, had taken that into account. I'm wary of disposable trays for something this size/weight as I think it'd be awkward, bordering on impossible, getting it in and out of the oven without the foil tray bending and risking spilling fat.

I like the Lidl idea, I'll pop in there to look at the sizes of frozen geese.

I cook mine in the grill pan.

Its the biggest pan for the oven and of course the grill bars become the trivet for the goose.  However it is shallow so I use the extra thick turkey foil to line the pan - and come up the sides some to help contain the fat but basically its in and out like a yo yo draining the fat every 30 mins or so.

Inside the goose there will be thick layers of fat, I trim as much off as I can and render that down separately - far too good to waste

PipneyJane

Speaking from experience, geese are l-o-n-g.  You should be able to fit a 4kg goose in a standard roasting tin, but you will probably need to position diagonally.  That's what I do.  I'm expecting a 7kg goose this year from the butcher.  (It's on order.)

However, you really need two roasting tins, in order to easily cope with the fat that will come off the bird.  You will get nearly 1kg of fat off it.  It's great for roasties, excellent for frying onions, etc, at the start of cooking a dish, and  would cost you upwards of £5 to buy in a small jar in the supermarket.  Here's what I do:

Roast for the first hour in one roasting tin, transfer to a second and put back in the oven for half an hour.  Meanwhile, drain the fat from the first pan into a deep, heatproof bowl.  After half an hour, transfer the bird back to the first roasting tin and drain the second one.  Repeat swapping between the two pans until you're ready to put the roasties in beside the goose.  Once you've removed the goose and roasties from the pan, add the last of the fat to the bowl.    When the bowl of fat is cool, put it in the fridge to set. 

On Boxing Day, tip the contents into a deep saucepan and melt carefully. You don't want it boiling, just melted.  This is so that all the fat separates from the jellied goose stock.  Meanwhile, wash and dry your bowl, warming it up.  Pour the fat back into the bowl, cool and let it set again in the fridge.  Once set, carefully scrape/lift the hardened fat off the stock and place in another heatproof bowl. Meanwhile, put the jellied stock into a freezer container.  You can freeze it and use it for Goose Risotto later, or any recipe that needs chicken stock.

Now, you need to "wash" your fat, in order to remove any remaining impurities (crispy bits of potato, etc).  Here is a link to the instructions I wrote on a separate thread, but I'll repeat them here.  Put the rendered fat into a deep, heatproof bowl and pour over a kettleful of boiling water.  The fat should melt and all the remaining impurities sink to the bottom.  When cold, refrigerate until hard, then carefuly lift the fat "lid" off the bowl, place into a saucepan and melt again, for the last time.  Once melted, decant into storage containers - I recycle the tubs that fresh soup comes in - and, when cold, refrigerate one container (to use now) and freeze the others, to use later. 

You may end up with a small amount of water at the bottom of the container.  That's OK.  When you get down to it, tip out the water.  I usually re-melt any remaining fat, at that point, wash and dry my container, and then pour the melted fat back in.

HTH

- Pip

ETA:  When ordering a goose, I've been known to give my butcher instructions:  "It can't be longer than xxx inches".  

maman

maman said:

That's roughly the size (maybe a bit smaller) than the medium sized turkey we usually have. My roasting tin is about 36 cm long and not quite so wide. I cook potatoes separately so it only has to fit the meat.

I don't have a large oven so it just about fills an oven shelf for me.  If you don't have a suitable one and don't  want to buy one, you could always buy one of those foil trays and sit it on a baking tray. Saves washing up too. 😉

You're right, it would buckle under the weight of a goose. I've used them for large parties (not this year☹) and they're fine on a tray.