if you keep your goose legs and don't just breast them out, have you ever wondered what to do with that super lean tough bit of meat? like it's enough that you feel bad wasting it, but once it is cooked it doesn't always feel worth the chewing effort...
Last summer I was back east and made a point to eat at the restaurant Antler. For those not familiar, it is run by Micheal Hunter, and he is the guy that butchered a venison hind quarter in front of all the vegan protestors. His restaurant serves exclusively "wild" game. Farm raised in Canada of course, but you won't find any chicken on the menu. It was a delight.
The best dish (well it was a tie for me with the elk tar tare), was the sweet n' spicy duck wings. Luckily the server spilled the beans and let us know what the process was - 24hour sous-vide, then roasted, then deep fried, then sauced up. fancy. So this is my rendition of Antler's sweet n' spicy duck wings, but with goose legs. They turned out to be so amazing and delicious I was accused of not shooting enough geese by my wife.
For prep - i just split the drumstick off the thigh of two skinned out goose legs. Thinking chicken wing sort of sized. On one i did the remove the tendons trick with the foot, but turned out to be unnecessary, so you can skip that step.
Steps:
1. in a vacuum bag put in the goose legs, a knob of butter, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, pepper, and some maple syrup. seal and put in your sous-vide. or in my case, poor man's sous-vide, my slow cooker on "keep warm" filled with water. it hovered around 170-180 degrees F the whole time. perfect.
2. let the goose legs cook for a while. I left mine in for 5-6 hours, but you could leave them a bit longer if needed. this is probably about the sweet spot.
3. take out the goose and prep a batter. i did mine tempura style, just wanting it to be a thin crispy coating. 50/50 flour and corn starch, with water until its thinner than a crepe batter.
4. coat and deep fry the legs until the batter is golden brown. remember, the legs are cooked, this is just for the crispy factor.
5. meanwhile, in another pan prep your sweet 'n spicy sauce: I used buck wheat honey, butter, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, and a water/corn starch mix to sauce it all up.
6. after your legs come out of the oil (1-2 min), let them drain. then coat in the sauce.
7. serve with garnish, and wait for complaints of not making enough.
I will be saving all my goose legs in the future for this to do a bigger batch. this will work well with grouse legs too, and of course duck wings.
You could substitute this Asian style recipe for your favourite chicken marinade (sous-vide step) and chicken wing sauce as well.
3. take out the goose and prep a batter. i did mine tempura style, just wanting it to be a thin crispy coating. 50/50 flour and corn starch, with water until its thinner than a crepe batter.
I was discussing your recipe with another foodie last night.
He suggested that if you were to sub out Soda Water instead of regular water in this step, the crust would turn out even more crispy.
Wonder if you have ever tried that, or your thoughts in this regard??
I was discussing your recipe with another foodie last night.
He suggested that if you were to sub out Soda Water instead of regular water in this step, the crust would turn out even more crispy.
Wonder if you have ever tried that, or your thoughts in this regard??
Cheers,
Nog
yeah that’s a neat idea! I haven’t looked into the food science stuff a ton but I reckon any tricks like that will add more depth and finesse to this are good. I wonder if a bit of baking soda is equivalent to the club soda? Soda water is slightly acidic though (carbonic acid). I’d have to look into it, but ya anything to up the crispy factor!!
this dish is nice it hits all the points - saucy, crispy, spicy, tender, umami, sweet.
I also realized that I mis-remembered a step from the restaurant version. After the sous-vide they smoked the wings for a little bit. Then fried. So if you have a bunch of time give them 1-2 hours of smoke will really increase the depth of this recipe. Just a light touch though as to not dry them out
if anyone makes this or a version of it, post up your results!