Roast Goose (Gänsebraten)

Preparation

1. Leave the prunes and dried fruit to steep in the Calvados and apple juice for 1 to 2 hours. Drain off whatever has not been absorbed and set aside. Prepare the apples and pears.
2. Season the goose inside and out with salt, pepper and marjoram or mugwort and prick the skin several times. Mix the fresh and steeped fruit with the giblets, stuff the goose and sew it shut with kitchen string; tie the legs and wings against the body.
3. Place the goose breast side down on the rack on the lowest shelf of the cold oven, with a deep roasting tin underneath. Set the oven to 160 °C (conventional, top and bottom heat).
4. After 45 minutes, pour the fat from the tin into a container and add a cup of hot water to the tin. Repeat after about every hour, three times in all. Keep the pan juices from each round separate and chill them if possible.
5. After 3 hours, turn the goose onto its back and roast for another 1.5 hours, checking sooner if the goose is smaller. Shortly before the end, brush the skin with ice-cold water if you like, which makes it crisper. If the goose is not browned all over after just under 5 hours, turn the oven briefly up to 250 °C and brown it with the door slightly ajar.
6. Take the containers of pan juices out of the cold, lift off the solidified fat and pour the clear juice into a pan. Drain the contents of the goose in a sieve without pressing the fruit, and add the liquid to the pan juices.
7. Keep the goose warm for a moment, bring the pan juices to the boil and thicken lightly with cornflour or beurre manié if you like; the sauce should not become thick. Carve the goose and serve with the sauce and the stuffing.

Drink with it

• Red wine · excellent match

  Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) from Baden or the Pfalz, 16 °C

  Lively acidity and fine tannins cut the goose fat, and the cherry fruit suits the prune and baked apple.

  Which wine pairs with food? A simple approach to choosing ↗

• White wine · excellent match

  Riesling Spätlese, dry or off-dry

  The high acidity clears the fat from the palate, and ripe apple and stone-fruit notes pick up the apple, pear and Calvados stuffing.

• Dark beer · excellent match

  Dark bock or Munich Dunkel

  Roasted malt mirrors the brown skin, the malt sweetness takes up the dried fruit and the carbonation cuts the fat.

  Which beer goes with food? More than just pils with barbecue ↗

• Fruit brandy · excellent match

  Calvados, neat, at room temperature, after the meal or as a trou normand between two courses

  The Calvados from the stuffing returns in the glass, with apple and pear echoing the baked apple; the spirit clears the goose fat from the palate, just as Normandy does with the trou normand.

  What is Calvados? Apple brandy with origin ↗