Goose Pastrami
Corey Mulhair at SPLIT REED
Original Publishing Date: March 2018
A goose hunt usually begins with mental replays and visualizations of previous successes. Hopes for recreating memories and making new ones, bigger and better than the last. One-hundred or so dark geese heading at you on a diagonal line, cutting sideways and lining up with the big gap in the decoys, all the while dropping eighty feet in elevation with wings cupped and boots out- fifteen yards from the toes in your boots, in the middle of the kill hole.
After an afternoon of scouting, which entails hours of driving by previous feeds, checking roost waters or following airborne birds on their way to the evening feed, you spend the waning hours of last light watching the birds approach the field you want to hunt. Watching their patterns of entry and egress from the 160 acres of yellow stubble. Sitting on an approach you check the wind and weather forecast for the following day. Watching as the birds graze the corn left behind by the combine mixed in with the topsoil, you pinpoint the part of the field they want to be in. You’ve got the hunt planned so you visit the farmer to get permission. He’s a friend by the time you leave and in the morning it’s on.
The next day you’re sticking a few hundred Divebombs in the ground and brushing up the layouts with a few good buddies. With the wind at the back of your neck you see the first string of geese a half mile out and holler for everyone to hunker down. The birds are following the same line into the field that the birds were using the previous afternoon. They’re reading the script. Thirty seconds later the “take ‘em!” call is made- four shotguns raise up and let loose their war cries. The rainout seems to almost be in slow-motion as double digits of geese hit the corn stubble littered dirt of the center pivot irrigated field. It’s all going as plan, the hard work is paying off. Another goose hunt off to a great start.
Canada Goose populations across North America are speculated to be higher today than at any other time in history. With annual harvest estimates from recent years averaging around 2.5 million taken by hunters across the US alone, most waterfowlers have ample opportunity to add a few honkers to the freezer. Once the freezers are stocked up, we’ve then got a few things to do with our quarry- one of my favorite things to do is make Goose Pastrami. Historically, goose meat has been a preferred base for pastrami, along the spice route in Eastern Europe especially. Pastrami. It’s as straightforward as salt curing the meat for some time, then seasoning before smoking or finishing with low heat.
“Once you’ve tried your hand at this Canada Goose Pastrami, you’ll be telling everyone in the blinds with you to “shoot ‘em in the head” and “don’t blow the breasts up!””
It’s reliable, delicious, and relatively simple, so you really ‘ought to give it a try. After all, when you get into a great day of honker hunting you usually end up wondering out loud “what are we going to do with all of these?”. Canada Goose Pastrami is a great answer to that.
Step ONE. Pile up some geese.
Step TWO. Clean the geese. For geese, I recommend removing breasts, tenders, legs/thighs, heart, liver, gizzard and fat (for rendering). For pastrami all we need are the breasts. If this is being done sometime after the hunt just pull them out of the freezer. Try and use breasts not shot up or center-punched.
Step THREE. Trim breasts of fat and outer connective tissues/silver skin and fascia. Remove any pellet holes or bloodshot streaks. One batch should use around 5 or 6 breasts (3 geese). A boning or filet knife works well.
Step FOUR. Mix brine solution. For 6 breasts I use 1TBS Curing Salt #1 (Sodium Nitrate 6.25%) and 2TBS Sea (or Kosher) salt, combined with 48-64 ounces of water in a mixing bowl large enough to hold the brining solution and the meat while keeping the meat submerged below the surface of the brine. Adding some peppercorns never hurts either.
Step FIVE. Place breasts into brine.
Step SIX. Place container with brining solution and goose breasts into fridge for 4 to 5 days.
Step SEVEN. After those 4 or 5 days, remove from brining solution and pat dry.
Step EIGHT. Blend seasoning mixture. I like a combination of ½ cup ground black pepper, 1/8 cup garlic powder, 1/8 cup chipotle powder (or paprika) and 1TBS white pepper.
Step NINE. Cover breasts in entirety with seasoning.
Step TEN. Place in pre-heated oven on aluminum foil at 200 degrees for 1 hour.
Step ELEVEN. Turn breasts over and continue at 200 degrees for another hour.
Step TWELVE. (Optional) When you turn the breasts over, there will be moisture on the bottom side of the breast, if you want to apply a little more seasoning mixture, do so.
Step THIRTEEN. Increase oven temp to 250 degrees for thirty minutes.
Step FOURTEEN. After the 2.5 hours in the oven, remove and enjoy. Slice long ways to cut across the grain or short ways to cut with the grain.
Goose pastrami makes for an amazing sandwich, but don’t forget to make sure to check for shot pellets while and after slicing.
A hunt doesn’t have to end once the shells and decoys are put away. Making the most of wild game meats gives us the opportunity to extend the memory of a hunt every time we open the freezer and share with friends and family.
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