Chef Klaus
Birnen, Bohnen und Speck
Schleswig-Holstein's sweet-salt bean pot, where small cooking pears go in whole beside Speck, smoked bacon, and the one rule is simple: keep the simmer low so the pears hold.
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Pommersche Gänsekeule
Created by
The northern goose leg for Christmas or Martinmas, started in a cool oven so the fat renders slowly, then finished with apples, dried plums, and a sharp-sweet sauce.
Main Dishes
German
Christmas
Holiday
Special Occasion
30 min
Active Time
2 hr 30 min cook•3 hr total
Yield4 servings
Pommersche Gänsekeule belongs to the cold half of the year, when the goose is on the table for Martinmas and Christmas, and the larder speaks louder than the garden. Pomerania cooks it with apples and dried plums, sweet and sour together, what the north calls söötsuur. In the south they reach more quickly for red cabbage, chestnuts, and dumplings; up here the fruit from storage and the fat from the bird do the work. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders.
The deciding technique is the start. I put the legs skin side up in a cool oven and let the heat climb slowly, because goose skin carries more fat than a chicken ever dreamed of, and hard heat at the start tightens the meat before the fat has somewhere to go. Start cool and the fat renders cleanly into the pan. Then the skin can crisp later, when the meat is already tender. Runter mit der Temperatur first, colour later.
The sauce is not from a jar. Nicht aus dem Glas. Onion, root vegetables, apple, dried plums, a little vinegar, and the browned pan juices give you the sweet-sour line this dish needs. Keep the rendered goose fat; roast potatoes in it tomorrow. Weggeworfen wird nichts. Watch the pan near the end: glossy sauce, tender meat, crisp skin. That's the whole business.
Pomerania, the Baltic region split after 1945 between northeastern Germany and Poland, was long known for geese raised on grain stubble and pasture, and goose remained a feast bird for Martinmas on 11 November and for Christmas. The sweet-sour use of dried fruit, vinegar, and apples fits the north German and Baltic larder, where fruit was dried or stored for winter and used to balance fatty meat. Pomeranian cookbooks from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries often show this taste for Backpflaumen, dried plums, in meat dishes, a regional habit quite different from the Bavarian and Swabian roast table.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
goose legs
Quantity
4
about 350-450g each
fine sea salt
Quantity
2 teaspoons
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1 teaspoon
dried mugwort (Beifuß) or marjoram
Quantity
1 teaspoon
onions
Quantity
2
sliced
carrot
Quantity
1
chopped
celeriac
Quantity
150g
chopped
tart apples, such as Boskoop or Elstar
Quantity
2
cored and cut into wedges
dried plums (Backpflaumen)
Quantity
150g
pitted
dry white wine or dry apple cider
Quantity
250ml
goose stock or good chicken stock
Quantity
300ml
apple cider vinegar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
bay leaf
Quantity
1
juniper berries
Quantity
4
lightly crushed
sugar (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
salt and black pepper
Quantity
to finish
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| goose legsabout 350-450g each | 4 |
| fine sea salt | 2 teaspoons |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1 teaspoon |
| dried mugwort (Beifuß) or marjoram | 1 teaspoon |
| onionssliced | 2 |
| carrotchopped | 1 |
| celeriacchopped | 150g |
| tart apples, such as Boskoop or Elstarcored and cut into wedges | 2 |
| dried plums (Backpflaumen)pitted | 150g |
| dry white wine or dry apple cider | 250ml |
| goose stock or good chicken stock | 300ml |
| apple cider vinegar | 2 tablespoons |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| juniper berrieslightly crushed | 4 |
| sugar (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| salt and black pepper | to finish |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy roasting pan or shallow braiser
- •Heatproof jar for rendered goose fat
- •Fine sieve
- •Small saucepan
Instructions
- 1
Season the legs
Pat the goose legs dry, then rub them all over with the salt, pepper, and mugwort or marjoram. Dry skin browns; wet skin sits there looking sorry. If you have time, leave the legs uncovered in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight, because air dries the skin and salt seasons the meat past the surface.
Prick only the fatty skin with the tip of a skewer, not the meat. The holes give the fat a way out; stab the flesh and you lose juices you meant to eat. - 2
Build the pan
Put the onions, carrot, celeriac, bay, and juniper in a roasting pan just large enough to hold the legs. Set the goose legs on top, skin side up, so the vegetables lift the meat away from the first rush of fat and turn into the base of the sauce instead of scorching.
- 3
Start cool
Slide the pan into a cool oven, set it to 150C, and roast for 1 hour. This is the step that decides the dish. A slow climb renders the goose fat without seizing the meat; hard heat at the start tightens the legs while the fat is still trapped under the skin. Das braucht seine Zeit.
- 4
Add fruit and liquid
After 1 hour, spoon off most of the clear fat into a heatproof jar and keep it. Add the apples, dried plums, wine or cider, stock, and vinegar to the pan, keeping the liquid below the skin so the top can still crisp. The fruit softens into the sauce, the vinegar cuts the fat, and the pan juices do what jarred sauce never will.
- 5
Roast until tender
Roast for another 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes at 160C, basting the meat but not flooding the skin. The legs are ready when a knife slides easily into the thickest part and the joint gives when you move it. If the pan dries before that happens, add a small splash of stock; dry vegetables burn bitter, and bitter does not become sauce.
- 6
Crisp the skin
Lift the temperature to 220C for 10 to 15 minutes, watching closely, until the skin turns deep golden and crisp at the edges. Now the high heat belongs here, at the end, because the fat has already rendered and the meat is tender. Colour first would be vanity. Colour last is cooking.
- 7
Finish the sauce
Move the goose legs to a warm platter and let them rest while you finish the sauce. Strain the pan juices into a saucepan, pressing the vegetables, apple, and a few plums through the sieve for body, then skim off excess fat. Simmer until glossy, taste, and balance with a little salt, vinegar, or the teaspoon of sugar only if the apples were sharp. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss.
- 8
Serve the goose
Spoon the sweet-sour plum and apple sauce around the goose legs, not over the crisp skin, or you soften the one thing you worked for. Serve with Kartoffelklöße, potato dumplings, or boiled potatoes and ruby red cabbage. The saved goose fat goes into tomorrow's potatoes. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
Chef Tips
- •Buy legs that look plump but not wet, with pale firm fat under the skin. Goose is a fat bird by nature; flabby wet skin means poor handling, and it will fight you in the oven.
- •Use tart storage apples such as Boskoop, Elstar, or another firm sour apple. A sweet eating apple collapses into sugar and gives you no edge against the fat.
- •Keep the rendered goose fat in a clean jar in the refrigerator. Roast potatoes in it within a week, or freeze it. That's not leftovers, that's the next meal starting early.
- •If you serve Klöße, potato dumplings, cook them in trembling water, not a boil. A rolling boil knocks dumplings apart, and then you're eating potato clouds with your goose. No one asked for that.
Advance Preparation
- •Season the goose legs up to 24 hours ahead and leave them uncovered in the refrigerator. The skin dries and the salt works inward, which gives better browning and better seasoning.
- •The dried plums can be soaked in the wine or cider for 1 hour before cooking if they are very firm; soft plums can go straight into the pan.
- •The sauce can be strained and chilled a day ahead after roasting. Reheat it gently and crisp the goose skin again in a hot oven before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 425g)
Calories
770 calories
Total Fat
49 g
Saturated Fat
15 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
29 g
Cholesterol
180 mg
Sodium
1450 mg
Total Carbohydrates
35 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
23 g
Protein
48 g
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