Old Timber Outdoors
More goose recipes

Canada goose breast fillets

Canada Goose Breast Pot Pie with Drop Biscuits

Cubed goose breast simmered tender in a thyme gravy with mushrooms, potatoes and vegetables, then baked under a lid of buttery drop biscuits.

Serves
6
Hands-on
55 min
Total
3 hr 5 min
Skill
Some experience

Cooks on: Stovetop + oven · Dinner

Ingredients

  • 1½ lbCanada goose breast fillets, trimmed and cut into ¾-inch cubes
  • 2⅓ cupsFlour, divided: ⅓ cup for the filling, 2 cups for the biscuits
  • 9 tbspButter, divided: 3 tbsp for the filling, 6 tbsp cold and cubed for the biscuits
  • 1½ cupsMilk, divided: ½ cup for the filling, 1 cup cold for the biscuits
  • 8 ozCremini or button mushrooms, store-bought, sliced
  • 1Onions, diced
  • 2Carrots, diced
  • ¾ lbYukon Gold potatoes, cut into ½-inch dice
  • 2 clovesGarlic, minced
  • 2 tspSalt, divided
  • ½ tspBlack pepper, ground
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 2 celery ribs, diced
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1 tbsp baking powder

You'll need

  • Stovetop
  • Oven
  • Dutch oven

Helpful: instant-read thermometer.

Contains

Gluten, Dairy.

Method

  1. Pat the goose cubes dry and season with 1 tsp of the salt and the pepper. Heat the oil in the Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it shimmers and brown the goose in two batches without crowding, about 4 minutes per batch, until well browned on a few sides. Set it aside.
  2. Lower the heat to medium and melt 3 tbsp of the butter. Cook the onion and mushrooms, scraping up the browned bits, until the mushrooms are browned and their liquid is gone, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic for 1 minute.
  3. Sprinkle in ⅓ cup of the flour and stir 1 to 2 minutes, until it smells toasty. Whisk in the stock a little at a time so it stays smooth, then add the thyme and return the goose with its juices.
  4. Bring to a gentle simmer (a few lazy bubbles, never a boil, which tightens the meat), cover, and cook until the goose is tender when pierced with a fork, 1 to 1½ hours. Stir now and then so the gravy does not catch on the bottom.
  5. Add the potatoes, carrot and celery. Simmer, covered, until the potatoes are just tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in ½ cup of the milk and the peas; the filling should be thick enough to coat a spoon. Keep it hot over low heat. Heat the oven to 425°F.
  6. For the biscuits, mix the remaining 2 cups flour with the baking powder and ½ tsp of the salt. Rub in the 6 tbsp cold butter with your fingers until the largest pieces are pea-size. Stir in the 1 cup cold milk just until a sticky dough forms.
  7. Taste the filling and add the last ½ tsp salt if it needs it. Drop the dough in 8 mounds over the hot filling, leaving small gaps for steam.
  8. Bake uncovered until the biscuits are deep golden, a toothpick in the center of one comes out clean, and the filling bubbles at the edges, 20 to 25 minutes. Rest 10 minutes before serving.

When it's done: fork-tender

Game bird legs, thighs and other hard-working pieces are done when the meat slides off the bone or pulls apart with a fork. They pass the federal 165°F for poultry long before they turn tender, so keep cooking until they do; if the meat is still tight, it needs more time, not more heat.

If it goes wrong

Goose still chewy
It needed more time in the gravy, at a gentler simmer. Simmer it covered another 15 to 30 minutes before the vegetables go in; more time, not more heat.
Biscuits doughy underneath
The filling was not hot when they went on, or the mounds were too big. Keep the filling steaming and make 8 small mounds.
Filling too thick before baking
Loosen it with a splash of stock, since it thickens more in the oven. Too thin: simmer it uncovered a few minutes before the biscuits go on.
Bottom scorching during the simmer
Lower the heat and stir from the bottom every 10 minutes.

Leftovers. Refrigerate within 2 hours. Reheat leftovers, covered, until the filling reads 165°F; the biscuits will soften.