Goose Bath

We spent another day using the whizbang chicken plucker, this time to help a friend process 15 chickens and 3 geese.  At the end of the day I was rewarded with 2 of the geese for my efforts.  YAY!  I've never cooked...or even eaten a goose before.  I have been tossing around a few ideas and decided to do something a bit different with the goose.  I'm brining them for a few days, after which we will smoke one and roast the other.  To make the brine, I mix a cup of kosher salt with a cup and a half of brown sugar.  Place it in a large pan and add a handful of peppercorns, a few sprigs of sage, a few bay leaves and 2 gallons of water....and stir it all until the salt and sugar has dissolved.

In the meantime, I sanitized a couple of food safe 5 gallon buckets, and chopped a couple of oranges, lemons, garlic and onions. 

Rough cut is fine, you are just adding layers of flavor.  Once all the chopping is done, I fill the body cavity with a few chunks of the fruit mixture...and pour the brine mixture over the birds.

I had to go back and make a second batch of brine since 2 gallons wasn't near enough.  Once they are well covered, add about 4# of ice to help them chill quickly.

Then I add a heavy plate to tuck them all the way down into the brine.....and put them in the fridge.  They will spend at least 24 hours in their bath before we proceed.