Roast goose is a famous Cantonese dish from Guangdong Province, belonging to the Guangfu cuisine within the Cantonese culinary tradition. Roast goose originated from roast duck.
The best geese for this dish are the black-feathered variety. The whole goose is prepared by removing the wings, feet, and internal organs. It is then inflated with air, coated with five-spice powder, and its belly is sewn shut. The skin is scalded with boiling water, then cooled in cold water. A sugar solution is applied evenly to the skin, and the goose is air-dried before marinating. Finally, it is hung in a roasting oven or over an open flame and rotated while roasting. Once done, it is chopped into pieces, plated, and ready to serve.
Famous roast goose dishes in the Guangdong region include:
- “Sham Tseng roast goose” from Huangpu District, Guangzhou City
- “Gujing roast goose” from Gujing Town, Xinhui District, Jiangmen City
- “Gongming roast goose” from Guangming District, Shenzhen
- “Lychee wood-roasted goose” from Dalingshan, Dongguan
- “Sandun roast goose” from Zhongshan
- “Yang’e roast goose” from Foshan
Historical Development
Guangdong roast goose originated from roast duck. Records of roast duck can be found in the book “Shi Zhen Lu” (食珍录, “Record of Precious Foods”) from the Southern and Northern Dynasties period in China. During the Northern Song Dynasty, roast duck, also known as zhi ya (炙鸭) or shao ya (烧鸭), was already a famous dish in the restaurants and markets of Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng).
At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, patriots like Wen Tianxiang and Chen Wenlong protected the young emperor and retreated to the Guangdong area to continue resisting the Yuan Dynasty. Chefs from the Southern Song court also came to Guangdong during this time. As a famous dish of the Song Dynasty, roast duck was naturally brought along.
Since Guangdong did not have the prized Yan ducks that were abundant in the Hangzhou area, local chefs substituted them with geese native to Guangdong, improving the recipe to create the distinctive Cantonese-style roast goose.
Roast goose is a traditional famous dish in Cantonese cuisine. It is prepared by roasting a whole goose with its wings and head removed. The finished dish contains marinade in the cavity, resulting in a rich flavor.
The roasted goose is chopped into small pieces, with the skin, meat, and bones still connected but easily separated when eaten. It is characterized by crispy skin, tender meat, fragrant bones, and a rich taste without being greasy. When served with sour plum sauce for dipping, it offers an even more distinctive flavor.
Regional Specialties
“Gujing Roast Goose” from Gujing Town, Xinhui District, Jiangmen City is a famous Cantonese dish with over 700 years of history. It is said to be made using a secret recipe from the Southern Song Dynasty imperial court. After the Yamen Naval Battle, legend has it that a royal chef fled with his daughter to Xiandong Village on the west bank of Yinzhou Lake in Xinhui. They opened a roast goose shop, and with their superior skills in making imperial-style roast goose, their dish quickly became renowned for its appearance, aroma, and taste. This tradition has been passed down through generations. Compared to Guangzhou’s roast goose, Gujing roast goose has a relatively thinner skin, golden-brown in color, crispy with a slight fragrance of lychee wood. Its flavor is characterized by sweetness and a light fragrance, derived from honey and Gujing’s unique marinade.
“Sham Tseng Roast Goose” from Guangzhou derives its name from its origin in “Sham Tseng Village” in Huangpu, and also refers to a special roasting method. This method involves digging a dry well in the ground, placing a jar inside filled with lychee wood charcoal, and hanging the goose on iron rods across the well’s opening. The even heat distribution from the jar ensures that every inch of the goose’s skin becomes crispy, while the lychee wood imparts a unique fragrance.
Lychee Wood-Roasted Goose is a traditional specialty from Dalingshan, Dongguan. This area is known for its lychee production, and the lychee tree branches, which have no other use after being cut, are used as fuel. Lychee wood is solid, dry, and long-burning, containing almost no tree sap. It doesn’t produce the odd smell that pine wood does when burned, instead imparting a subtle lychee fragrance to the food. The older the wood, the more fragrant the roasted goose.
Gongming Roast Goose from Shenzhen became famous domestically and abroad as early as 1939 for its excellent color, aroma, and taste. It is a traditional handmade specialty of Shangcun in the Gongming area of today’s Guangming District.
“Sandun Roast Goose” from Zhongshan uses Ma’gang geese less than two months old. The marinade consists of 22 spices including salt, sugar, star anise, sesame, cardamom, licorice, and fennel. It’s roasted in a wine jar over lychee wood for thirty minutes, resulting in a combination of wine, fruit wood, and spice aromas.
Yang’e Roast Goose is a traditional craft food from Lunjiao, Shunde, Foshan. It was created in the late Ming to early Qing Dynasty and became famous within and outside the province in the 1930s, with a history of over 360 years. It’s said that during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, He Chongguang, a scholar from Yang’e in Shunde, would always bring several roast geese as “travel food” when he went to Beijing for imperial examinations.
Ingredients:
1 young goose, 10g minced ginger, 10g minced garlic, 20g minced scallions, 15g fine salt, 20g white sugar, 30g cooking wine, 10g light soy sauce, 10g sesame paste, 10g chicken bouillon powder, 5g five-spice powder, 2g dried tangerine peel powder, stock, maltose, white vinegar, distilled liquor (as needed), 4 small dishes of plum sauce.
Method:
- Clean the slaughtered goose, remove internal organs through the anal opening, cut off feet and wing tips, and rinse the cavity thoroughly.
- Mix ginger, garlic, scallions, salt, sugar, cooking wine, soy sauce, sesame paste, chicken bouillon, five-spice powder, and tangerine peel powder with some stock to make a marinade. Separately, mix maltose, white vinegar, red Zhejiang vinegar, and distilled liquor in a 1:13:1:1 ratio to make a skin-crisping solution (can be stored for multiple uses).
- Inject the marinade into the goose’s cavity through the anal opening, then sew it closed.
- With the goose’s head up, insert an air pump nozzle into the neck cavity. Hold the neck and nozzle with your left hand, then slowly pump air between the skin and flesh to inflate it.
- Remove the nozzle and grip the neck. Dip the goose in boiling water for about 30 seconds, then rinse with cold water. Brush the skin-crisping solution evenly over the goose, then hang it in a cool, ventilated place to dry.
- Hang the dried goose in a roasting oven and slow-roast over medium heat using fruit wood charcoal. When the meat is cooked through, increase the heat to crisp the skin. Remove, drain the marinade from the cavity, chop the goose into pieces, and pour the marinade over it. Serve with plum sauce for dipping.
Key Points:
- Choose a 90-day-old goose weighing about 3500g, with no bruises or scars.
- Adjust the amount of stock in the marinade based on the cavity size. Generally, fill about 1/3 of the cavity. After injecting, lay the goose flat to allow even marination.
- When inflating, fill to about 80% capacity. Avoid handling the breast area after inflation to prevent dents.
- Apply the skin-crisping solution evenly for consistent coloring.
- Monitor the heat carefully during roasting and rotate the goose several times (or use an automatic rotating oven) for even cooking.
- For a shiny appearance, brush the skin with sesame oil a few times during roasting.
