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Turkey hasn’t always been the Christmas dinner mainstay it is today. For centuries festivities were not complete without a goose crowning the table. The turkey gained favour with modern farmers because it is cheap and easy to mass-produce. But as consumers become more aware of where their food comes from, the goose - and the home-grown values it represents - is making a comeback.

The 350,000 geese reared for human consumption in the UK this year are almost exclusively free-range and produced on a small scale. In fact, it is impossible to farm geese on a large scale because they cannot adapt to the intensive practices of modern farming.

Goose farmer Claire Symington, who rears the birds with her husband Robert at Seldom Seen Farm in Leicestershire, believes their popularity springs from clear origins: “Goose has become popular with people who wish they could buy fully traceable, free-range birds all year round and Christmas is the one time you can push the boat out and treat your family,” she says.

Typical of most goose farmers, Claire and Robert keep production “farm gate”. Breaking the usual farm-to-slaughterhouse-to-supermarket meat production chain they do everything themselves and birds only leave the farm to wing their way to a customer’s oven.

Day-old goslings are bought in May and June and brooded under heat for six weeks. After which they are allowed to roam the grassy paddocks and fields of the farm freely, only being brought indoors at night as a protection from predators. Geese take around six months to mature and are a seasonal delicacy. The earliest birds are slaughtered in late September taking care to cause as little stress as possible. They are then dry-plucked which guarantees a golden, crispy skin when the bird is cooked.

“We always say if you like roast duck you are going to love goose,” says Claire. For the uninitiated, goose is bigger than all other poultry apart from turkey but size is where the similarity ends. Flesh is dark and succulent and although it is often considered a fatty bird if well cooked the fat content is lower than beef or lamb. Moreover most of the fat it contains is mono-unsaturated - the kind found in olive oil which is believed to help lower cholesterol. It also contains essential fatty acids such as omega-3s.

Most of the fat melts away during cooking and it is considered a delicacy in it’s own right. “Keep the goose fat as a badge of honour. All good cooks know that the best roast potatoes in the world are made from goose fat,” says Claire. Roasting the goose on a rack in a shallow oven tray is the best way to catch the rendered fat which will keep well in the fridge or freezer.

The best goose will always come direct from the producer or from an accredited butcher. Birds available to buy in supermarkets are likely to have been reared abroad and imported frozen. Jeremy Blackburn, the executive officer of the British Poultry Council says: “It is possible to buy goose in a supermarket – but it is going to be very different to what you get from the farm gate. It is our understanding knowing the market as we do that at least in some supermarkets it wouldn’t live up to our regulations.”

Small-scale free-range production keeps goose in the luxury price bracket. But the lean flesh and crispy, salty skin is rich enough to make smaller portions satisfying offering a different type of culinary experience. And of course, as Claire Symington says: “It is an icon of Christmas.”

Tips for buying a goose

Buy your bird from a reputable free-range producer. The British Goose Producers Association has listings at www.goose.cc. The Guild of Q Butchers is dedicated to buying only high quality British meat and poultry from small-scale producers. Their website www.guildofqbutchers.com has nationwide listings.

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