Having drawn and singed the goose, wipe out the inside with a
cloth, and sprinkle in some pepper and salt. Make a stuffing of
four good sized onions minced fine, and half their quantity of
green sage leaves minced also, a large tea-cupful of grated bread-crumbs,
a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and the beaten
yolks of two eggs, with a little pepper and salt. Mix the whole
together, and incorporate them well. Put the stuffing into the
goose, and press it in hard; but do not entirely fill up the
cavity, as the mixture will swell in cooking. Tie the goose
securely round with a greased or wetted string; and paper the
breast to prevent it from scorching. Fasten the goose on the spit
at both ends. The fire must be brisk and well kept up. It will
require from two hours to two and a half to roast. Baste it at
first with a little salt and water, and then with its own gravy.
Take off the paper when the goose is about half done, and dredge
it with a little flour towards the last. Having parboiled the
liver and heart, chop them and put them into the gravy, which must
be skimmed well and thickened with a little browned flour.
Send apple-sauce to table with the goose; also mashed potatoes.
A goose may be stuffed entirely with potatoes, boiled and mashed
with milk, butter, pepper and salt.
You may make a gravy of the giblets, that is the neck, pinions,
liver, heart and gizzard, stewed in a little water, thickened with
butter rolled in flour, and seasoned with pepper and salt. Add a
glass of red wine. Before you send it to table, take out all but
the liver and heart; mince them and leave them in the gravy. This
gravy is by many preferred to that which comes from the goose in
roasting. It is well to have both.
If a goose is old it is useless to cook it, as when hard and tough
it cannot be eaten.