While a productive waterfowl hunt is nothing to complain about, large quantities of lean protein can be difficult to prepare. Fortunately, pulled goose is a simple solution that you can leverage to create a variety of tender and flavourful recipes—simply freeze meal-sized portions of the shredded meat for future creativity (that’s often quick!) in the kitchen! Slow cookers or pressure cookers are great vessels for preparing large quantities of goose breasts as pulled meat. Don’t even worry about seasoning the meat, as the end recipes that use pulled goose allow for herbs and spices to be added.

Ingredients:

• Goose breasts
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

Enchiladas:

• 2 cups (packed) pulled goose (4 snow goose, specks, or lessers breasts)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can corn kernels, drained (12 to 15oz / 400g)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 8 large flour tortillas
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp garlic powder

Enchilada Sauce:

• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 ½ tbsp chili powder (hot or mild)
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 ½ tbsp vinegar
• ½ tsp onion powder
• To taste freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Shredded Goose

1. Place boneless goose breasts into a pressure cooker and cover with water or broth. Add salt and pepper and cook on high heat.
2. Once the liquid comes to a rolling boil, set to low heat and simmer. The long, slow simmer will make the goose meat tender, moist, and without gristle residue. Snow geese take about 4 hours to tenderize, but larger birds could take 6 to 8 hours.
3. Once the breasts are fork-tender, remove from liquid and let stand for 10 minutes. Shred the meat by hand or using two forks.

Enchiladas

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F/180°C.
2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add pulled goose and cook for 2 minutes, or until bottom is browned. Avoiding stirring the meat to achieve a crispy edge. The rest of the goose will stay moist.
3. Place the browned meat into a large mixing bowl. Add the black beans, corn, ½ cup enchilada sauce, ½ cup cheese, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder. Blend well.
4. Spread ½ cup of enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish.
5. Fill each flour tortilla with ½ cup of filling. Spread evenly across the center, tightly roll up and place in the baking dish. Fill the pan with eight tightly placed enchiladas.
6. Pour the remaining 2 cups of enchilada sauce evenly over the rolled tortillas and bake for 10 minutes.
7. Evenly distribute the remaining 1 ½ cups of cheese over the enchiladas and bake for an additional 15 minutes. The sauce should be bubbling around the edges and the cheese golden brown. If not, place under the broiler for 2 minutes to finish. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Enchilada Sauce

1. Mix the flour, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. In a small pot, bring the oil to medium heat. Oil should sizzle when a sprinkle of flour is added. Add the spice mixture to the pot. Continuously whisk for about 1 minute, or until the spices are aromatic and deeper in colour. Be careful not to burn the spices. Continuously whisk in the tomato paste and slowly pour in the broth to avoid lumps.
3. On medium to high heat, simmer the mixture for about 5-7 minutes, or until sauce thickens.
4. Remove from the heat, whisk in the vinegar and add black pepper to taste.