Goose Fat is increasingly easy to find in stores and supermarkets, thanks mainly to its well deserved reputation as the ideal fat for making delicious roast potatoes. It has even been dubbed the essential ingredient for a roast Christmas dinner. But traditionally its uses were not simply confined to the kitchen.
How to Roast Potatoes with Goose Fat
- Parboil peeled potatoes, cut into pieces if large, for 5-10 minutes.
- While the potatoes are cooking, heat sufficient goose fat in a high sided roasting tray to yield around 1/8th inch (around 4mm) of fat in the bottom of the tray when liquefied. Oven temperature: Hot, Gas Mark 7, 425°F, 220°C
- Drain the potatoes, and add to the fat, sprinkle with salt to taste. Unrefined sea salt such as Sel de Guerande gives the best flavor.
- Stir and shake the pan to distribute the fat and salt evenly over the potatoes.
- Return to the oven and cook for 1 ½ hours. The oven temperature may be lowered a little after the initial cooking period if required for other dishes.
Oven Chips with Goose Fat
Quicker to cook than roast potatoes, but no less delicious. Follow the instructions above for roast potatoes, par boiling potato wedges for only three minutes before roasting in the oven for half an hour only.
Roasting Poultry with Goose Fat
Baste a bird with goose fat before roasting by smearing on a layer with kitchen paper. Sprinkle with salt to give a crisp skin.
Goose Grease Poultices, Hand Creams and other Curiosities
While goose fat is being rediscovered as a wonder roasting ingredient, less well known is the wide range of uses made of goose fat, also known as goose grease in this context, by our ancestors:
- To relieve a chesty cold, goose grease was rubbed into the chest before applying a hot poultice. A hot poultice was a cloth soaked in hot water or a herbal preparation, which was wrung out and applied to the skin.
- Goose grease was used to soften and relieve dry or chapped skin.
- Leather was protected and softened by applying goose grease.
- Animals were protected and treated with goose grease: a sheepdog might have his ears and feet rubbed in goose grease to protect against snow; beaks ,hooves and trotters were also protected by this versatile ingredient.
If you are interested in natural remedies for colds but are not tempted to smear goose grease on your chest , you may prefer to use these traditional herbal cold remedies.
Try these other ideas on how to enjoy gourmet cooking for less. Enjoy your delicious roast dinners made with goose fat!
