Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

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Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

Sept 29, 2006

September 29^th., is MICHAELMAS

Michaelmas, sometimes known as St. Michael and all Angels.

Regarded as the greatest host of angels, St. Michael is honoured in the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican and Orthodox churches.

In England it was once the custom to eat roast goose on Michaelmas.  When tenants paid their rent on this day they often included “one goose fit for the Lord’s dinner.”  It is still the custom to enjoy a goose dinner in Ireland.  Throughout the Celtic lands, Michaelmas - September 29, marked the end of the harvest. This was the time that farm folk calculated how many animals they could afford to feed over the winter and how many would have to be sold or slaughtered and salted down in order to preserve the meat.

Michaelmas also marked the end of the fishing season, the beginning of the hunting season, the traditional time to pick apples and the time to make cider.

There is an old saying that if you eat goose on Michaelmas you won’t have to worry about money for a year.  I remember my mother telling me this and I recall our family eating goose on this day.  We must have been the exception to this rule (or perhaps it didn’t apply to our family)! 

Spring-hatched geese are ready for market beginning on Michaelmas and this goose harvest is known as Fomhar na ngean. The goose was supposed to be eaten up the by September 30th and the breastbone was used to foretell the weather for the coming winter by holding it up to the light. A translucent breastbone meant that the coming winter would be mild, while a thick breastbone meant it would be a hard winter. A mottled breastbone meant the coming winter would be variable. The front part of the breastbone applied to the early winter while the back half told of the weather for the period after Christmas.

Traditionally, celebration of this holiday was symbolized with "glofe, gees, and gyngeuer." The glove represented the open-handedness and generosity of the lord of the village, eating goose gave good luck in the coming year, and ginger was believed to provide protection against infection.  

Michaelmas Goose with Potato & Apple Stuffing

Ingredients:

1 goose weighing about 10 lbs with giblets, neck, heart and gizzard.

Note that while a goose looks quite big, it has a large cavity, so allow 1lb of uncooked weight per person.
1 small onion
1 carrot
Bouquet garni consisting of 1 sprig of thyme, 3 or 4 parsley stalks, a small piece of celery
6 or 7 peppercorns
Roux, if desired, for thickening

Stuffing
2 lbs potatoes
1/2 stick butter
1 lb onions
1 lb Granny Smith cooking apples, peeled and chopped
1 tbs chopped parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon balm
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:
Stuffing
Scrub potatoes and boil in salt water until cooked. Drain water and mash potatoes, including skins. Melt butter and simmer onions in covered saucepan over gentle heat for 5 minutes. Add apples and cook until they break down into a fluff then stir in the mashed potatoes and herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Allow to get quite cold before stuffing goose.

GOOSE

 Remove giblets, neck, heart and gizzard from goose cavity. Put goose into large saucepan with giblets, onion, carrot, bouquet garni and peppercorns. Cover with cold water, bring to a boil and simmer for about 2 hours. Remove bird from stock, pat dry and place in roasting pan Strain stock and store in refrigerator until it's time to make the gravy Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season goose cavity with salt and pepper and fill with cold stuffing. Sprinkle sea-salt over breast and rub into skin. Roast for 2 to 21/2 hours. During roasting, pour off excess fat three or four times. (Store fat in refrigerator it keeps for months and is wonderful for roasting or saut?ing potatoes). To test whether goose is cooked, prick the thigh at thickest part. If the juices that run out are clear, it's ready. If they're pink, it needs a little longer. When bird is cooked, remove to a large oven-proof platter and place in oven on low heat to keep warm while you make the gravy.

Gravy
Pour or spoon off remaining fat in pan. Add about 2 cups of strained giblet stock to roasting pan. Bring to a boil, and, using a small whisk, scrape the pan well to dissolve any meaty deposits. Taste for seasoning and if desired, thicken with a little roux. If the gravy seems weak, boil for a few minutes to concentrate the flavor. It if seems too strong, add a little more water or stock.   Serves 8 to 10.

Hartson Sager Dowd

hsdowd@telus.net