Amazing (and Easy!) Goose Stew with Barley and Celery Root

Award-winning food writer, cook, hunter and wild foods expert Hank Shaw recently released his newest cookbook Duck, Duck, Goose: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Waterfowl, Both Farmed and Wild, a comprehensive guide to preparing and cooking wild and domestic duck and geese. Recipes range from basics such as Slow-Roasted Duck Breast and Grilled Duck Breast, to international dishes like Sichuan Fragrant Duck and Mexican Duck with Green Mole. Shaw also features a number of recipes for duck and goose confit and charcuterie such as fresh sausages and dry-cured salami. Below is an excerpt from Shaw's beautiful new cookbook along with his hearty Goose Stew with Barley and Celery Root recipe. If you're cooking a Christmas goose, this will be the perfect soup to make with any leftover meat.

Goose Stew with Barley and Celery Root
Reprinted with permission from Duck, Duck, Goose by Hank Shaw, copyright (c) 2013. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.
Serves 4-6

I originally designed this recipe for wild snow geese, and because many of California’s snow geese spend their summers on Wrangel Island, near Siberia, it seemed fitting to give the stew a Russian feel. But of course the legs of any goose or duck, wild or domesticated, will work here. It’s important to remove the meat from the bones before you serve this stew, otherwise everyone will be picking through their bowls for small, sharp objects. It takes only a few minutes, and your family and friends will thank you for it. This stew keeps well in the fridge for a week, though the grain in it will continue to swell over time, absorbing moisture and making this more like a French potage. It also freezes well.

8 goose legs (2 to 3 pounds)
3 tablespoons duck fat, lard, or unsalted butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large yellow or white onion, sliced
1 pound small mushrooms (such as yellow foot chanterelle or beech), halved or left whole
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
7 cups Basic Duck Stock (recipe below) or beef stock
1 cup pearled barley
1 cup peeled and sliced carrots
1 celery root, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
4 to 6 tablespoons sour cream

Trim the legs of any excess fat. In a Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot with a lid, heat the duck fat over medium-high heat. Add the legs and brown them, salting them as they cook. Take your time to get them well browned. Transfer them to a plate and set aside.

Add the onion and mushrooms to the pot, turn the heat to high, and stir to combine. Sauté for 6 to 8 minutes, until the onion begins to brown. Add the marjoram, return the legs to the pot, and then pour in the stock. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 2 to 3 hours, until the meat is tender. If a lot of fat begins to accumulate on the surface of the stew, skim it off.

When the goose legs are tender, remove them, let them cool a bit, and then pull all of the meat off the bones. Return the meat to the pot. Add the barley, carrots, and celery root, stir well, and cook for about 30 minutes, until the barley and celery root are tender. Season with salt.

Serve garnished with the dill and a sprinkle of black pepper, and top each bowl with a dollop of sour cream at the table.

Basic Duck Stock
Makes about 6 quarts

This is my standard duck or goose stock. It is the stock that I call for in the recipes in this book. In other words, you need to make lots. Every time you get a carcass, save it for stock. If you don’t have a lot of ducks around at one time, save them up for future rounds of stock making. You can chop up the carcasses before freezing, so they take up less space.

Make this stock when you have a day off, as it takes all day. The good news is that you will be rewarded with 4 quarts or more of rich stock that is a perfect base for stews, soups, or wintertime risottos or polenta—or even eaten on its own as a clear soup.

Carcasses of 4 to 6 wild ducks, 2 to 3 wild geese, or 1 to 2 domestic ducks or geese, including wing tips, neck, and innards (not the liver), if possible
Vegetable oil, for coating
Kosher salt
1 pig’s foot or 20 duck or chicken feet (optional)
1 large yellow or white onion, chopped
1 large carrot, sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
½ ounce (about 1 handful) dried mushrooms (any kind)
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon juniper berries (optional)
3 bay leaves
1 large sprig rosemary
Tops from 1 fennel bulb (optional)
Stems from 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
10 fresh sage leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon dried or fresh thyme

Coat the carcasses and various bird bits with oil. Salt them well and put in a large roasting pan. Put in the oven, turn on the oven to 400°F, and roast for about
1 hour, until well browned.

Meanwhile, score the pig’s foot all over, or chop the duck feet with a cleaver or other heavy knife, to break the skin and expose the joints and bones. There is collagen in the feet that will seep into the water and give the finished stock more body.
When the carcasses are ready, remove them from the oven and chop them into large pieces with heavy kitchen shears or a cleaver. This will make it possible to fit them all into your stockpot. Transfer them to a large stockpot and add the feet. Pour in cold water to cover everything by about 1 inch. Turn the heat to medium, bring to a bare simmer, and cook very gently for 2 to 8 hours. Do not let this boil.

Meanwhile, put the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic in the roasting pan and stir to coat with the fat that has rendered from the duck bits. If you are using domestic ducks or fatty wild ones, you may have too much fat: if you have a pool of fat at the bottom of the roasting pan, drain off all but about 3 tablespoons. You can strain the fat and reuse it (it’s great for roasting potatoes). Put the vegetables in the oven and roast for about 45 minutes, until browned.

When the vegetables are browned, pour about 4 cups water into the roasting pan and scrape up any browned bits with a wooden spoon.
When the stock has simmered for at least 2 hours, add the vegetables, the liquid from the roasting pan, and all the remaining ingredients. Stir well and simmer, uncovered, for 1½ to 2 hours longer.

Turn off the heat and strain the stock. Set up a fine-mesh sieve over another large pot (you may need 2 pots if you don’t have a second large pot). Line the sieve with a piece of plain paper towel or cheesecloth and ladle the stock through the sieve. Change the paper towel or rinse the cheesecloth once or twice. This step is vital to making a clear stock. Do not attempt to capture the last dregs of stock at the bottom of the pot, or you will have cloudy stock.

Your stock is now ready. Season to taste with salt, adding a little at a time. Skip the salting if you want to further concentrate flavors by simmering the strained stock for as long as you like. Check every 15 minutes or so to see if the flavor is as you want it.

Transfer the stock to jars, let cool, cover, and refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 9 months. Alternatively, pressure can the stock and store for up to 1 year.