Sneaky Pie's Cookbook For Mystery Lovers

Cat/Dog/Human

CHRISTMAS GOOSE

Serves 6

1 (8-pound) freshly dressed goose, washed, patted dry, extra fat, neck, gizzard removed (Cut off long neck skin.)

Salt and pepper

Potato and Bread Stuffing (recipe follows) or use a packaged mix

4 cups water

2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water

Preheat the oven to 350°G F.

Sprinkle the salt and pepper inside the cavity of the goose. Fill the cavity with the prepared stuffing. Secure the stuffed cavity with skewers.

Place the bird, breast side down, on a wire rack in a roasting pan. Add 2 cups water to the pan and cover with heavy-duty foil.

Roast for 4 hours.

During the last 20 minutes of baking time, increase the temperature to 450°G F.; remove the foil and turn breast side up to brown.

Remove the goose from the roasting pan and place on a serving platter while making the gravy. Make the gravy by removing the fat from the roasting pan. Place the roasting pan over the burners on top of the stove and add 2 cups water to the brownings. Thicken with the cornstarch dissolved in water. Stir over low heat until all the brownings have dissolved and the mixture has thickened.

POTATO AND BREAD STUFFING

Makes 6 cups of stuffing

½ cup water

½ cup chooped celery with leaves

¼ cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground flack pepper

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Pinch of saffron

2 cups mashed potatoes

3 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups frsh bread cubes

In a 1-quart saucepan, bring the water to a boil; add the celery, onion, salt, pepper, parsley, and saffron. Boil approximately 7 minutes, until the celery is clear.

In a large bowl, lightly mix the celery mixture with the potatoes, beaten eggs, and bread cubes until well combined.

At this point, the mixture is ready to be stuffed into the cavity of the bird. If used as a side dish, bake in a buttered dish in a preheated oven at 350°G F. for 30 minutes.

THIS RECIPE HAS been in the Buckingham family (Mother’s maternal family) since their beginnings in America, 1620. Written first in the family Bible, it was updated when non-wood-burning stoves became popular. As the first Buckingham (Thomas) fled England, we figure it’s an old English recipe. The English consider goose a great delicacy.

You’ve got to love a people who, at the end of the fourteenth century, made Dick Whittington the Lord High Mayor of London because he had a smart cat.

Because it’s special and takes time, we only cook a goose for Christmas, which brings up another Buckingham peculiarity. They always have at least one tabby cat. They believe that a tabby cat helped the Blessed Virgin Mother at Christmas. When baby Jesus couldn’t get to sleep the tabby hopped in the manger and purred the baby to sleep while helping keep him warm. The cat’s reward was to have an M marked on her forehead, Mary’s cat. To this day some tabby cats have the M. They are descendants of Mary’s cat. I have the M on my forehead.