New Years Day Goose

A little excitement, a little curiosity, and a little greed is what led me to having this ten pound goose in my refrigerator.  Once that goose caught my eye in the store, there was no turning away.  I've only cooked goose one other time, about 15 years ago, and I remember it not being the most tender of outcomes.  So, a lot of contemplating went into how to attack this beautiful bird.  Here was the plan.
Debone
Render Fat in case I decide to do roasted potatoes in goose fat
Roast bones and make a stock
Quick brine goose in sea salt, brown sugar and bay leaf brine
Sear goose and finish by roasting in the oven
Make sauce with shallots, port, blood oranges, and stock
Serve with sauce, a mixture of sliced pear, apple and asian pear, possible chutney, potatoes, button mushrooms, and some kind of green vegetable

Debone

Render Fat.  Remove excess fat and place in a pan in a 250 oven until all fat is rendered.  Liquid gold.  Refrigerate or freeze for another use.

 Make a stock.  Salt and pepper bones, roast.  Chop carrots, celery and onion.  Roast.  Combine, add water along with several sprigs of thyme, parsley, a sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf.  Simmer for 2 hours.  Strain, return to pan, bring to a rapid boil and reduce to 2 cups.  Chill overnight, remove fat.

Brine goose for 3.5 hours in a mixture of brown sugar, kosher salt, bay leaf and water.

Decide to cut goose into manageable pieces to sear and roast.  Remove any remaining excess fat.  Sear on all sides until browned.

Place in 400f oven until cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Make a sauce.  Saute minced shallots.  Add port and madeira (about 2/3 cup total), ran out of port, so using madeira too.  Bring to a simmer and reduce to 1/3 cup, add in juice of 1 blood orange.  Simmer and reduce to 1/2 cup.  Add in stock and bring back to simmer.  With a bit of the fat from searing the goose, make a roux to thicken sauce.  

Let goose rest before slicing.  Serve with Asian pear, sauteed button mushrooms and mashed potatoes.  The goose had great flavor, tasty and firm, but was not particularly tender.  Once again sauce was king.  Would I pine to do goose again?  Maybe not, but certainly worth the experience.