Roast Goose with Verjuice

Geese were the great feast bird of northern Europe long before the turkey arrived, and a cook was judged by how evenly the fat rendered and the skin crisped. Verjuice, pressed from unripe grapes or crab apples, was the period's answer to the bird's richness; a sauce built from the pan drippings was as important as the meat.

1. Draw and singe the goose, saving the giblets for the sauce. Rub the cavity with salt and tuck in sage, thyme, and a peeled onion.

2. Truss the bird and set it on a spit before a clear fire, or in a roasting pan in a hot oven, pricking the skin of the breast so the fat can run.

3. Baste often with verjuice and a little of the rendered fat, catching the drippings in a pan beneath. After the first hour, turn the bird so it colors evenly.

4. Roast until the skin is deep gold and the juices at the thigh run clear, roughly two hours for a bird of ten pounds.

5. Pour off most of the fat, add the chopped giblets and a splash of verjuice to the pan, and scrape up the browned bits. Let the goose rest, then carve and serve with the sauce.