Dry Rub Goose Kabobs

Recipe and photos by Eileen Clarke

This is one of my husband, John’s, favorite goose dishes. The rub helps tenderize as well as flavor the meat, and 48 hours of sitting is a good treatment for less-than-tender mature birds. The Dijon/honey/ balsamic vinegar mix sauce spooned on during cooking adds even more flavor.

 

Ingredients

Serves 4

 

The Dry Rub Ingredients

Do this step 24-48 hours ahead

1 Canada goose breast 1 to 1/2 pounds)

4 teaspoons mustard powder

4 teaspoons Spanish paprika

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

 

Preparation

Slice the goose breast into 1 to 1½ inch chunks. Mix the dry rub together and rub it all over the meat.  Place the chunks in a re-sealable plastic bag and place in the refrigerator 24-48 hours.   When it’s done marinating, don’t rinse off the rub.

  

The Rest of the Ingredients

½ yellow onion, cut in half

8 mini sweet bell peppers, cut in half

2 tablespoons Dijon style mustard

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

 

 

Cooking

1. Preheat your grill to medium-hot, 350 to 400°F. When the cooking surface is hot, give it a good scraping with your grill brush, then wipe it with oil. (Tongs and a folded up square of paper towel dipped in 2 tablespoons of oil will do the job safely.)
2. While the grill heats up, cut the onion into chunks and the peppers in half. Arrange the meat, peppers and onion alternately on the skewers. Stir the Dijon mustard, honey and balsamic vinegar together in a small glass jar to get rid of the big lumps, then set aside.
3. Place the kabobs on the oiled grill, cover, and cook about 7 to 10 minutes total, turning once. (Cooking time depends on how big—or small–those chunks are and how efficient your grill. They’re done when the thermometer registers 165-170°F, so keep the meat thermometer handy.)
4. When you turn the kabobs the first time, spoon some of the honey/mustard sauce onto the cooked side, then when you take the kabobs off the grill, spoon it on the second side. (If you touched the raw meat with the first baste, use a clean spoon for the second. You don’t double dip with raw meat!)
5. Serve hot with pasta salad or cole slaw.

Tip from the kitchen: * When cooking pale-meated birds, whether domestic or wild, the juices run pale when the bird is cooked enough. (Before that, they run red.)  But waterfowl juices always run red, so if you’re testing your bird’s doneness by poking it with a knife and waiting for the juices to run pale, you’ll overcook them.  Use a meat thermometer instead, and only cook to 170F

 

 

 

 

 

Arrange on the kabobs by size: larger pieces skewered together on their kabobs, smaller on others, and the little odd pieces, folded or paired up tightly, as if one piece. When your grill is ready, you put the kabobs with the biggest pieces on first, followed a minute or two later by the smaller chunk kabobs.  It’s logical, just takes a bit of strategy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more of Eileen Clarke’s recipes, check out Tenderize the Wild: Marinades, brines and rubs for wild game, and the rest of her cookbooks at www.riflesandrecipes.com  or give her a call at 406-521-0273.