How to make Goose breast roll-ups

Wild goose is difficult for me to cook. The breast meat always turns out rubbery and tough. Still, I haven’t given up, figuring there must be some recipe to satisfy my taste.

The answer, one answer at least, appeared at a group potluck. When a group of friends gathers for a joint meal, Brenda Wilson usually brings asparagus roll-ups. This is the old version with cream cheese spread on a thin slice of ham, a pickled asparagus spear is placed on top of the cream cheese and the ham is rolled around the asparagus and cream cheese.

Brenda has a special ceramic dish, which is long and narrow, with asparagus figures decorating the edges. This is piled high with the roll-ups when it is placed on the table. I can’t resist these finger-food appetizers. No one has said anything, but at least half of the pile end up in my fingers.

The acquisition of a new kitchen tool made me think of Brenda’s roll-ups and the difficult-to-cook goose breasts. A Chef’s Choice Meat Slicer is now in my kitchen. If a goose breast could be sliced paper thin, it could replace the ham in a roll-up.

One goose breast was placed in a pot of chicken broth and simmered until the center register 170 degrees. It was allowed to cool and placed in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, the breast was placed on the slicer and it was adjusted to cut a thin slice.

At first the slices were small as the breast was not flat, but had a bit of an angle or slope. The pieces became larger, as more of the breast came in contact with the blade.

Many large and small pieces of breast were in front of me when finished. The smaller ones were not large enough to become a roll-up, but they presented another opportunity.

As long as appetizers were the goal, why not make some different types? This was a chance to be creative. Both round and square crackers were used to make three different types of goose-breast hors d’oeuvre, besides the roll-ups.

All are simple and easy to assemble. One includes a spread of mustard. Any type of mustard will do, but horseradish mustard was used in my kitchen. The next has a spread of mayonnaise. Any type of mayonnaise will do, but the flavored types have appealed to me lately. The flavor today was garlic. The third appetizer had a layer of mustard and mayonnaise.

All three types had a thin slice of sharp cheddar cheese, sliced from a larger brick by the meat slicer. Just to be different, on one I added a thin slice of dill pickle on top of the cheese and then a layer of goose breast. The other two had just goose breast added.

Of course, many different types of spreads and other items could be added to these three types of appetizers, such as hot sauce, raw onions, smoked fish, caramelized onions, basil leaf, cucumber slice, etc.

The roll-ups were assembled by spreading the cream cheese on the slices of goose breast. My cream cheese was cold and care was taken to not break the slices of meat. It would have been better to warm it before spreading.

A pickled asparagus spear was placed near the edge of the slice and the slice, spear and cheese rolled into a tight bundle.

All of these appetizers were delicious, but each can be improved. Instead of just cream cheese in the roll-ups, the addition of one or more of the additional items listed above would be interesting.

The number of paper-thin slices after using the Chef’s Choice slicer was amazing. There were over 6 ounces of thinly sliced breast left over after making these appetizers. They were frozen for future use.

The goose-breast experiment continues. Would like to slice the whole goose breast in half lengthwise. This should make it about an inch thick. Next run the two pieces through Excalibur Meat Tenderizer.

Instead of having a chicken fried steak, made from a tenderized beef steak, a goose fried steak could be cooked from a tenderized goose-breast steak.