What EXACTLY is the 'dressed weight' of a goose???

[Nicos]

We've just 'done ' our 5 geese and I've been reading mixed reports of the definition of a 'dressed weight' bird.
If the head and feet are missing and all the insides are removed- is this the dressed weight?
OR- do you include the neck/liver ( gizzards/heart) in with the weight?

I'm REALLY confused at the moment!

[RichmondHens]

I've always understood dressed weight to mean the body in its finished state ready for going in the oven, minus giblets which will be put into a separate pot for stock. We chuck the heads, but give the feet to a friend who cooks them for her dogs who love them.

So did the geese come up as a good weight? Did you have much trouble getting the down off (supposed to be a bit tricky), and did you wet or dry pluck? Handy to know for when we do ours next year!

[Donny]

8 to 10 Lb dressed is a normal weight so I believe. giblets dont usually count.

[Nicos]

Thanks for that RH- it's what I originally thought!

Toulouse Geese one male 4 female all 32 weeks
Lower weights than I expected to be honest
male was 3.5kg the gals were 2.8kg;3.5kg;3.5kg;3.7kg

This year we decided to dry pluck which took a bit longer but we now have loads of wonderful down, and also small feathers.
On average it took 2 hrs to pluck each one!

We both think it was quicker to wet pluck but the feathers weren't as good afterwards. Also our hands were flipping frozen off during wet plucking...We'll stick to dry plucking geese in future ( ans stick with wet plucking for chooks)

When you say minus giblet weight- are you including those in the dressed weight?? ( sorry-bit tired )

Hadn't thought about the feet for dogs- I'll go and retrieve them from the bin- I bet our neighbour would be thrilled!

[Donny]

Dressed weight is without head, feet , neck, feathers or guts.

[Glutton4...]

No idea - but I'll have a plate full when it's ready!

[binley100]

save me some ........never tasted goose

[chris]

Don't the bones in the feet cause issues for the dogs? I thought they shouldn't eat chicken bones?

Goose is lovely, Binley.. After having it for the first time last year, for Xmas I'm a total convert.

[SarrissUK]

Chicken bones are fine as long as they're not cooked. No idea about goose bones. I used to feed by rottweiler and German Shepard doggies raw chicken wings - cheap treat and they loved it. Did them the world of good. Sorry to say they're both gone now My new doggy, a terrier, frown upon raw meat lol

[Nicos]

Just been to our local Lidl Supermarket butcher and asked him what their 'rates' are....
14E per kilo with the head and feet and edible offal included in the weight!

"How many would a 4kg goose feed?"...12-13 peeps!!! ( an American site suggested 1kg per person without legs /head etc included!!!!) * faints


What sort of difference is THAT????

[binley100]

1kg = 2.2 lbs which would be enough meat for us(4) for two meals easily. and that's why a lot of Americans are supersize.........

[chris]

Glad you said that binbags

I find with goose mind, the cavity is larger (as you probably know nicos) so the meat looks more than it actually is.

[binley100]

I wasn't including bones in that btw........and yes I've probably now offended someone some where

[Scarlet]

Remember that a goose also has a lot of fat which will melt during cooking so you may well find you will need more per person than you think

[Nicos]

Actually- strangely enough our geese have very little fat

....pinching a centimeter of the breast fat is almost impossible...and there's certainly no fat else-where...I'm just wondering if my geese were underfed????