Why We Should All Eat Goose (No Joke)
A flock of geese flying along the IJsselmeer looks very picturesque, as does a group of geese landing in some kind of no-man’s-land along the highway, but it turns out that the Netherlands has a huge goose surplus. The geese strip everything bare, their droppings cause damage to fields and meadows, and they get in the way of planes at Schiphol. The solution is culinary, experts say. Eat those geese!
There are approximately two million geese in the Netherlands in winter, of which at least 60,000 remain in summer. Every year, farmers receive €2.5 million in compensation for the damage caused mainly by wild greylag geese grazing and defecating on grassland and fields. Solutions to keep the number of geese within bounds have been sought for years, but so far with little success.
Collecting eggs
One method is to catch and gas the geese, but there is little public support for that. Nests are also disturbed and eggs collected and punctured, but that does not have enough of an effect. A third option: hunt and eat the animals. Unfortunately, few consumers are keen on a bite of goose, so demand for goose meat is still far too low. Poultry specialist Ruig, which stocks goose, finds that strange: ‘Goose is honest meat from the wild,’ they say on their website. ‘It fits well with the demand for organic, local and responsible food.’
Schiphol goose croquette
What can you do with such a goose? Meneer Wateetons knows what to do. He gives courses on processing an entire goose, from head to tail, into sausages, pieces for the barbecue, rillettes and tasty pâté, while the famous Oma Bob’s, for example, makes croquettes from Schiphol goose.
Fancy a bite of goose too? Connoisseurs say that goose meat should be heated at a low temperature, otherwise it becomes tough. ‘Geese fly a lot, so their muscles are well developed,’ the poultry specialist explains. ‘That’s why you should marinate the goose fillets before cooking them and slice the meat very thinly. You can confit or stew the legs.’
