Geese in Jane Austen

As the title says, I am currently reading 'Emma' and I was struck by the references to geese in this and other novels.

In 'Emma,' Mrs Martin of Abbey Mill Farm gives a present of a goose to Mrs Goddard, who, as we are told, dressed it on a Sunday and invited the other teachers to sup with her. I presume that she gave it over to her cook to be plucked and prepared.

Emma gives Robert Martin a goose as part of her apology for the way she treated him over Harriet Smith.

In 'Mansfield Park,' Mr and Miss Crawford are driven out of the house as a result of the ill temper of Dr Grant over his disappointment over a 'green goose ' (A 'green goose?!)

As far as I remember, I have never eaten goose and I wonder if anyone here has ever eaten it. Is it just one of those foods that have gone out of favour in modern times? Which other foods have gone out of fashion?

We used to eat goose (instead of Turkey) for Christmas lunch sometimes when I was growing up we occasionally had Duck or Pheasant but never Turkey. I have been a vegetarian now for nearly 40 years so am struggling to remember the taste but I do remember it was flavoursome and we all enjoyed it. Our local butcher supplied these

I think, as this thread progresses, you will find that lots of people eat goose at Christmas.
My sister in law, farming family, usually had it and at various times throughout the year.
My daughter cooked goose one Christmas. We're not keen on it. It's fatty and there's not much flesh on the bird.
It certainly has not gone out of fashion I would say.

I have never eaten geese. The other thing they used to eat is swan ( Tudor times ) but I think they are protected now. I have eaten crocodile , it wasn’t too bad, a bit like chicken. I have also eaten kangaroo but didn’t like it one little bit! Jane Austen must have been wealthy I think having time to write novels and living in a place where geese were on the menu ( even though it was just her characters)

We have had goose at Christmas.

Growing up, it was always farmyard ducks or geese,

Never turkey.

From the responses, I am learning that people do eat goose on special occasions. Other foods that have gone out of fashion are frumerty ( not sure of the spelling) and gruel, which has been replaced by a thicker preparation of porridge.

The other thing they used to eat is swan

Isn't it true that the only person allowed to eat swan is the current monarch? Although I can't remember any mention of the late queen ever having eaten it.

Jane Austen was far from wealthy, though the impression given in biographies of her that after her father had died she and her mother and sister were poor relations who lived on the charity of the rest of the family always seems a bit overblown to me. they seem to have had a very comfortable middle class existence. very much as the people she wrote about in her novels.

This ‘existence’ was rural and rural life included the raising of poultry for food. Goose would not be an uncommon food for comfortable middle class people.

I’m always amazed that Mrs Goddard managed to get enough off the goose to share with others. I’ve cooked goose a couple of times and, while it tastes fine, I think it is a very expensive way to get huge quantities of fat and not a lot of meat! But the fat was very useful to 18th/19thC households. They didn’t have access to all the petroleum based oils that we have. Goosefat was not only used for cooking and preservation, it was a lubricant and was held to have some health preserving properties.

P.S I’ve read that swan is dry and fishy tasting. The Royals are welcome to it😆

would a green goose be a goose that had had gone off?

We had it once at Christmas. It's a bit like duck but more gamey tasting from what I remember. Everyone was ill with stomach thing (not goose related) and we've not really revisited having it again. We had it from waitrose.

A green goose is a spring one - young, "green" geese are more delicate and tender. They would have fed on fresh spring grass and greens, rather than being fattened up on grain or harvest leftovers later in the year. I think Christmas Geese were "Stubble Geese".

I don't remember Mansfield Park at all but they were considered a seasonal luxury.

I thought goose was standard Christmas fayre for the comfortably off. Turkey was an American tradition long before it was adopted here.

I have eaten goose, it was greasy, prefer turkey.
I don’t think turkeys had become fashionable here in the time Austen was writing.
A goose, being large had a lot of meat on it compared to a duck.

When I worked in the City, head office management Christmas lunch was always roast goose - a pleasant change from turkey.

My father loved goose so we did have it occasionally for celebration meals.
He would cook it very slowly and collect the fat for cooking - roasting potatoes for example but he also loved it on toast instead of butter.
We were a small family and a goose was just about big enough especially with all the trimmings alongside it.
It came via the butcher but from our local farm. The same way we bought chicken. I remember them wandering about the farm. They are REALLY loud!

I would think you can't mass produce geese. They are (nearly) monogamous, need to eat grass, need to wander, are territorial and aggressive. I think you have to be careful plucking geese too. The skin is different to chickens. Maybe that can't be easily automated?

I have a friend who keeps lots of different birds. He was really worried about the geese when bird flu was about as they were distressed with confinement. He spent a huge amount of time and money building an enormous roof over a piece of land near the shed so they had more room.
He says they lay very few eggs by the way.

Just read this:

"Until the 1950s, if a British family wanted a roast bird for Christmas, a goose was often the most practical option. Turkeys were around, but they were still considered an elite luxury for the wealthy. Geese were a staple of smallholders and traditional farms because they could survive happily by grazing on standard British grass."

Presumably the mass breeding of heavier turkeys made them significantly cheaper in the end.

‘There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn’t believe there ever was such a goose cooked. It’s tenderness and flavour, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration’

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

We did have goose, one Christmas , long ago. Very fatty if I remember… not pleasant.

I did goose once for Christmas but - and I had.been warned - it wasn't a success, but I can't remember why. I think it was rather dry.

We used to be given a goose for Christmas by a local farmer. It was always delicious but needed draining during roasting as so much fattier than turkey.
We used to roast a turkey crown as well as we always had a houseful over Christmas and New Year so needed leftovers.
You don’t get leftovers with a goose! 😋

JamesandJon33

We did have goose, one Christmas , long ago. Very fatty if I remember… not pleasant.

You need to pierce the skin well before cooking, add no fat at all and keep draining the fat off as it cooks.

Goose is very tasty.

my late MIL swore by ‘goose grease’ for various ailments.

Apart from cooking roast potatoes in it, she rubbed it on the children’s chests if they had a cough or cold.

Rather messy and smelly I imagine.

🤨

We were poor when I grew up, and our Christmas dinner was a chicken. We never ate it at any other time of year.
Our neighbours were richer than we were, although they were far from wealthy. They had turkey at Christmas and I remember being envious and asking what it tasted like. They said it tasted richer than chicken, but that really didn't mean anything to me.

NotSpaghetti thanks for explaining re green goose

we have lots of geese at work. Some of them are invasive species (Egyptian, Canadian) I suppose even if not available in the butcher you could acquire one

fancyflowers

We were poor when I grew up, and our Christmas dinner was a chicken. We never ate it at any other time of year.
Our neighbours were richer than we were, although they were far from wealthy. They had turkey at Christmas and I remember being envious and asking what it tasted like. They said it tasted richer than chicken, but that really didn't mean anything to me.

we always had chicken too or a capon
other sunday dinners were generally turkey roll...

When I was young we always had a chicken at Christmas, which was an expensive luxury. I never tasted turkey until late 1960s and have never eaten goose and wouldn’t want to.
Now chicken is the cheapest meat. My cat won’t eat it because he’s holding out for beef, which is very very expensive. Waitrose has a sign by the beef saying CCTV in operation and shop lifting is theft. They probably have geese to order at Christmas.