Are you still wavering in your opinion as to whether your choice shall
fall on turkey, ducks or goose for the Christmas dinner? Let it be
goose then, for if properly cooked and served they go far toward
clinching the success of the feast. But "properly cooked and served,"
there's the rub. And isn't it enough to amaze a contemplative person
to note how wide apart are the conditions which different housekeepers
define by that phrase? Nevertheless I am going to tell you how it
seems to me a goose should be prepared to answer the description. If
the bird is of medium size then you will want to boil and mash eight
or ten large potatoes; to them add half a dozen small onions which
have been peeled and chopped as finely as possible; then season with
white pepper and salt to taste. Add at least half a pint of cream or
rich milk, about three ounces of melted butter, and three eggs beaten
to a froth. Whip the potato till it is light and smooth and fill the
inside of the goose with it. When it is sent to the table have it
garnished with very small onions which have been boiled till tender
without losing their shape, and then fried a light brown in butter.
Nothing can be better for a sauce than the giblets boiled till tender,
then chopped finely and returned to the water in which they were
boiled, with a little Madeira, and a gill of button mushrooms cut in
halves; thicken with a tablespoonful of browned flour braided with an
equal quantity of butter.