Old Timber Outdoors
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Canada goose breast fillets

Hot-Smoked Canada Goose Breast with Horseradish Cream

Goose breast fillets brined overnight, smoked low until just fully cooked, then sliced thin with a sharp horseradish cream.

Serves
6
Hands-on
30 min
Total
11 hr 15 min
Skill
Some experience

Cooks on: Smoker · Dinner, Lunch, Snack

Ingredients

  • 2 lbCanada goose breast fillets, 2 to 3 whole breast fillets, trimmed
  • 3 tbspBrown sugar, for the brine
  • 3 clovesGarlic, smashed
  • 1 tspBlack pepper, coarsely cracked
  • 2 tbspHorseradish, prepared
  • ½Lemon, juiced
  • 4 cups cold water and 40 g kosher salt (about ¼ cup Diamond Crystal or 2 tbsp Morton), for the brine
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 2 cups hardwood chips or chunks, such as apple or hickory

You'll need

  • Smoker
  • Instant-read thermometer

Helpful: grill.

Contains

Dairy.

Method

  1. Stir the salt and brown sugar into the cold water until dissolved. Add the garlic and bay leaves, submerge the goose breasts, cover, and refrigerate 8 to 12 hours; use the short end for thin fillets.
  2. Lift the goose out of the brine and discard the brine. Rinse the breasts and pat them very dry. Set them on a rack over a plate and refrigerate, uncovered, about 1 hour so the surface turns tacky and takes the smoke evenly.
  3. Heat the smoker to 225 to 250°F and add the hardwood chips or chunks, following your smoker's directions. On a grill, set up a two-zone fire and smoke the breasts on the cool side. Wait for thin, clear blue smoke before the meat goes on.
  4. Rub the breasts with the oil and press the cracked pepper onto all sides. Lay them in the smoker with the thick ends toward the heat. Smoke until an instant-read thermometer reads 165°F in the thickest part, usually 1 to 1¾ hours. Start checking at 45 minutes and take each fillet off as soon as it gets there; fillets vary a lot in thickness, and minutes are only a guide.
  5. While the goose smokes, stir the sour cream, horseradish and lemon juice together with a pinch of salt and refrigerate.
  6. Rest the goose 10 minutes, then slice it as thin as you can across the grain, on an angle. Serve warm with the horseradish cream, or chill the whole breasts first, which lets you slice them paper-thin for crackers or sandwiches.

When it's done: 165°F

The federal chart lists poultry at 165°F, and Kansas State University Extension says to fully cook game birds to at least 165°F. Check the thickest part with an instant-read thermometer.

If it goes wrong

Too salty
Keep the brine to 12 hours or less, 8 for thin fillets, and rinse the breasts well before smoking.
Dry or tough
The breasts went well past 165°F. Check early, pull each fillet as it arrives, rest it, and slice very thin across the grain. Thick slices of lean goose eat tough even when cooked right.
Smoke taste only on the surface or blotchy color
The breasts went in wet. Give them the hour uncovered in the refrigerator so the surface dries.
Smoker temperature swinging
Adjust the vents a little at a time and keep the lid closed; every peek adds time.
Bitter, sooty flavor
Let the fire burn clean, with thin blue smoke rather than thick white smoke.

Leftovers. Brine in the refrigerator, never at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and eat them within 3 to 4 days, cold or reheated to 165°F.