Christmas is coming and the geese are getting fat Please put a penny in the old man's hat If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do If you haven't got a ha'penny, well God bless you.
This old street rhyme is typical, perhaps, of the British housewife's attitude to spending on indulgences. Frugal living and self denial are the order of the day, left over from the war, perhaps, and spending that extra penny is often beyond the limit, according to Mrs Claire Symington of Seldom Seen Farm, Billesdon. Our continental cousins, she says, are often able to stretch their purses when it comes to the chance to indulge; to embark on a small banquet whatever the reason (and who needs a reason?). We, the British do make one exception, though, and that is at Christmas.
"No Christmas is complete without a traditional roast goose. It offers a marvellous change from the usual turkey and it is the only seasonal bird available today." Claire's literature begins. Unlike chickens and turkeys, geese only lay eggs once a year in the February - June period and it is at this time of year that Claire travels over to Norfolk to buy her day-old hatchlings; such small, fuzzy, yellow and light as a feather creatures. They are brought back to Billesdon and are nursed for the first few weeks with many night time visits to the pens until they are of a size to be let out during the day and penned at night. They are a special strain of goose, a cross between an Embden and a Laggarth to produce a bird designed for the table.
Claire's interest began 7 years ago when her husband, Robert, bought two as a birthday present plus 30 others to rear and sell. All the birds in her first season sold, so in the following year she bought 100 and the next year 200 and now she buys 800.
As many country folk will tell you the real traditional festive season began at Michaelmas (September 29) when a farmer would give a goose to his landlord as soon as the harvest had been collected in, in the hope that the following year's rent would not be increased. Goose fairs were held in many localities. (Nottingham has this year celebrated its 700th Goose Fair but this is now just a candy floss and dodgems funfair.) Furthermore country people believed that eating a goose on Michaelmas Day ensured good fortune for the coming year.
In October's edition of Country Living we are told that no part of a goose went to waste. The wings were used to sweep the hearth whilst some of the feathers were adapted into quill pens, pastry brushes and fishing flies. The very softest feathers were stuffed into eiderdowns, mattresses and pillows. Furthermore after cooking, the goose fat used to be employed in bringing a sheen to the blackened kitchen range or as a hand cream or for covering sore nipples of nursing mothers or restoring cracked leather! As a winter warmer children's chests were smeared with goose fat in late autumn, and wrapped in bandages until the spring. I bet the smell was fowl when the bandages were removed!
Claire's geese are grazed entirely on grass throughout the summer and are only fed on home grown corn when the autumn sets in. When bought they are presented oven-ready with weights ranging from 9lbs to 14lbs and costing £2.50 per pound. Full cooking and carving instructions plus recipes and accompaniment ideas are provided should these be required.
For those of you who wish to 'go the whole hog' so to speak you could try Claire's three bird roast which she has been doing for a number of years now. This is a goose stuffed with a chicken which in turn is stuffed with a pheasant, the whole thing is layered uniquely with spiced pork and oranges. All the birds are fully boned so that carving is simple and this makes a wonderful party dish to feed about 15 people. This product is not cheap costing £4.75 per pound but as a nation we only seem to indulge once a year.
PS If you need an excuse to try out one of Claire's birds before Christmas you can always celebrate American Thanksgiving Day as a trial run ...
Claire can be contacted on (0116) 259 6742
© Stephen Poyzer 1994
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© Kibworth & District Chronicle 1998