# Smoked Goose Breast Advice



## foggybarrells (Nov 29, 2019)

Hi All - I have an electric Masterbuilt Smoker and want to smoke some goose breasts I hunted.  My rookie smoking status has allowed a little success with salmon and herring, but this will be my first time with a Goose breast, and while I have searched the web pretty thoroughly, and found some do-able recipes, I am still unclear on times and temps, specifically as they relate the Masterbuilt.  chefs have gone to great lengths describing brines, marinades, prep with pictures, and they receive lots of accolades and replies, but it seems like time and temp are quite flexible.  All i have really have is:

1. pre-heat to 225F-250F (which is high for my unit, but capable)
2. keep it at this temp until internal temp is 150-155F
3. takes 2-4 hours

i am very open to making it an all day thing, and designing some incremental step in time and temp, if that makes a significant difference. 

Thanks for any advice!

Darren


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## oberst (Nov 29, 2019)

Is the skin on the breasts?


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## foggybarrells (Nov 30, 2019)

oh yeah.  not super fatty but enough.  ive got a brine recipe from hank shaw im going to use as a base, but just trying to figure out temps and times.  legs and wings are going to the sous vide


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## oberst (Nov 30, 2019)

After brining mine over night and drying in the oven with the door cracked at 139 degrees for 45 minutes I start smoking at 140 degrees and over the course of 7 hours of continuous hickory smoke I raise the temp to 170. If I plan to serve them without further cooking I’ll run temp probes into several breasts to get the internal temps up to around 145. At some point u just have to cut and check. If I’m planning to cook them after smoking I don’t worry about internal temps too much as I later will put them in the oven at 375 for 20 minutes.   I find that to be a good approach as u get a hot goose breast like it just came out of the smoker. Also, when they do come out of the smoker I trim off the dried crust of the breast that can be too smoky from its exposure in the smoker.  Just eyeball the finished breasts and see what you think is best. You are lucky the skin is on; hot out of the oven that smoky fatty skin really makes the goose outstanding. Serve with a  relish, like cranberry, cherry or peach. Nothing better!


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## oberst (Nov 30, 2019)

Here’s a mallard I just did the same way. I think the key is to determine how much smoke u want. 6.5 hours on a mallard for me.  Then I can cook them on the smoker and eat them at room temp anytime, or like I do more frequent, freeze them and the. Later thaw and finish cooking, which makes it seem like they just came off the smoker!


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## foggybarrells (Nov 30, 2019)

Thank You! 

"...If I’m planning to cook them after smoking I don’t worry about internal temps too much as I later will put them in the oven..."

That's a really good point, because of course I will eat a lot immediately, but its such an involved process, I might do a bunch that will end back in the fridge, and have to be re-heated.


"...over the course of 7 hours of continuous hickory smoke I raise the temp to 170..."

140F to 170F over 7 hours = ~5F/hour, so every hour I will raise the smoker 5F.  Actually, I dont think i have that kind of control, so maybe every 2 hours raise the temp 10F?

Can you think of the biggest rookie mistake? Overcooking? wrong flavored chips? 

Cheers!


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## foggybarrells (Nov 30, 2019)

just saw the mallard pic.  how do the legs turn out? i butcher my birds and cook breasts separate, as I have had no luck cooking whole birds.  we shoot alot of teal, which i can cook whole on the BBQ or in the oven, but big mallards or sprig, the legs are too tough.  Oberst - thank you!


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## oberst (Nov 30, 2019)

I smoke duck legs for 4 hours, then I grill the fat off them for a few minutes and then pressure can them. In the jar I will include wild rice, or cabbage  so I’ll have a full meal when I open and microwave the jar. Here u see them out of the smoker, on the electric Farberware grill where the fat can drip off the legs (save that for frying stuff in!) and what they look like in the jar. 10 pounds of pressure in the canner for 60 minutes.  I pressure can smoked goose legs too.  They turn out spectacular.  Made a gumbo from a mix recently that called for chicken thighs, which I like a lot, but even better I used smoked canned honker legs and thighs, meat stripped off the bone.  Probably the only guy in the country with that ingredient on the shelf!!


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## oberst (Nov 30, 2019)

On the mistakes smoking goose; u don’t want to overlook but that shouldn’t be a problem if the heat stays in the 170-75 range.  I increase the temp over that 7 hours whenever it occurs to me;  if I’m down stairs fletching arrows after a couple hours I’ll run up and add 5 or 10 degrees.    I like hickory for ducks and geese vs maple or something lighter.  That good strong smoky flavor works out well, but it’s nothing more than a preference developed over time. In pix u can see the dark smoky color I shoot for. Here’s a pix before those mallards were smoked for comparison:
Let us know how you did!


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## archeryrob (Dec 2, 2019)

I smoke my ducks After plucking the breasts and splitting the chest from the back and make what I call easy Pastrami with goose breasts. I basically use Bearcarvers dried venison recipe for dry curing and then cover them in onion and garlic powder and then as much table grind black pepper as I can stick to them. Smoke them low and slow and then raise to finish to 145 IT as long as you want.

I have done this with deer and goose and people like the cured goose over the cured deer. The very same people will not eat goose any other way as it is too gamey for them. I have never seen a larger change in wild game meats for the better than curing goose breasts.






Then in the slicer to be used for chipped gravy or finger food.






Mine are smoked in a smokehouse very heavily with cherry!


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