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Swans are kind of assholes in my experience and the "mute swan"(the one most people think of) has become a massive pest among the fisheries/parks/etc crowd.

I'm generally a pretty adventurous cook/eater and did a goose for christmas last year(geese are a hella pest but somehow the dead one I bought was $70 or something) and probably wouldn't do a swan if it's similar. Geese are almost "beefy"

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Are geese adventurous? Where I’m from (north-eastern Bavaria) roasted goose breast with potato dumplings are a a common Sunday dinner meal (duck breast is less common, at least in restaurants, but my grandparents and parents often made it). Pork is obviously the standard thing to roast and consequently more common overall, but I would argue that at least where I’m from this roasted geese breast is a bigger deal than chicken based meals. Especially if it’s a Sunday dinner.

Goose is also popular for Christmas, turkey not really. Actually, goose is probably the thing to make for Christmas where I’m from.

Goose is obviously not chicken or turkey, but I really love it with very fatty gravy, a crispy, salty crust, and quite dry meat. I love fried chicken, too, I think everyone does, plus turkey, but that’s not what I’m looking for when eating roasted goose breast.

Oddly enough, goose isn't particularly common as a food in the U.S., even at Christmas. And this is in spite of the fact that we've had goose drilled into our collective consciousness as a traditional Christmas main course (and they're a very common nuisance animal).

We eat tons of turkey in the U.S., but usually sliced. Most people only roast a whole turkey at Thanksgiving, but it's not uncommon to make it at Christmas. In the U.S., if you're cooking a bird, it's probably a chicken. Duck is more of a restaurant thing, particularly at slightly nicer Chinese restaurants.

This story has got me really thinking. I made a fig pudding (adapted from a 120-year-old British recipe) at Christmas two years ago. It was OK. I think I overdid it with the amaretto. Maybe my next Christmas cooking adventure will be goose.

We do a four-pound roast chicken almost every week—it's a big yummy meal with lots of leftovers to become sandwiches, pasta, casserole, etc, plus making stock for soup or rice later in the week.

Delicious and really economicaly.

I thought this was weird until I went to the grocery store and found out that it was a dollar a pound. Yes please.

WTF...

The only things that are a dollar a pound here are onions and potatoes.

We get a local organic one at the market, so it's more like $3/lb, but yeah.

Good luck with the goose! I've only made it a few times and it's been a few years, but from what I recall...

Goose is very fatty, and goose fat is very flavorful. Find ways to celebrate that, particularly on a cold christmas. Make a gravy, or roast some fruits in it, or potatoes, or... but it's definitely something you should be planning around.

It is not something the average american home cook would attempt, not because it's hard but because they don't tend to be stocked in normal grocery stores, and when they are(around holidays) they're really expensive.

Add to the fact that the pure liquid fattiness of the(even raw) bird in my experience makes it a huge hassle(I was told by my grandmother whose house I cooked it at that her oven smelled strongly of goose/grease until she ran the hardcore clean cycle).

"anecdotally" eating goose is not something that I was exposed to(outside of a "wild game dinner" put on by a hunting club) in my generic(fairly privileged) middle american childhood and I was exposed to a lot of cuisine(adventurous father)

> Add to the fact that the pure liquid fattiness of the(even raw) bird in my experience makes it a huge hassle

Yah. In Grad. school, I once bought a whole duck on a dare. One of those long nights, I decided to stuff it and cook it. The damn tray was swimming in duck oil.

Its allowed to hunt swans in Germany. Several thousand swans are shoot here. And they taste fine.

So I guess the claim that people in US dislike eating swans still comes from their English heritage, where swans had been royal game only.

It really depends on the area and age of the people eating. Growing up (way in the country) many of my older family members relished goose and duck. We kept them in a steady supply, but never really enjoyed the flavors ourselves. Now that I live in the city, many people I meet enjoy duck, but its a very different duck then what I grew up with-the duck as I knew it was wild, and very gamey. The duck most people enjoy are farm raised and more fatty and less gamey.

Yep, goose is quite a dark meat, and is easily overcooked to dryness. But potatoes (or anything) roasted in goose-fat should be the highlight of anyone's christmas dinner!

If swan is anything like goose (which I can only imagine it is), it's probably too fussy for the average home meal anyways. Goose can be delicious, but it's not something you'd cook outside of an occasion like Christmas.

Agreed. Goose is all about the goose fat.

A lot of people don't realize the Mute Swan is an invasive species to North America

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/in...

Larry David has already come to this realization publicly.

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/curb-your-enthusiasm-the-black-...

When I saw your username I figured it had to be a new account registered to post this comment. I was wrong, well done!

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