Canada Goose Leg Chili
A rich, spicy chili with tender goose meat that’ll warm you up this winter
For starters, Canada goose should always taste delicious, and that includes the legs. Like any set of wild bird thighs and legs, these cuts are riddled with collagen that requires low-and-slow cooking to break down and tenderize over time. But once tender, they are a special treat.
With this chili recipe, you can indeed incorporate a sous-vide cooker, which is a culinary tool that regulates a water bath to a 1/10 of a degree. Meat, when sealed and placed in the water bath, will slowly cook. It’s a great tool for tougher cuts like wild bird wings, thighs, and legs, as it’s very hands-off and will continue doing its job well into the night while you sleep soundly.
While I recommend a sous vide for any serious wild-game cook, it’s not essential here. These goose legs will tenderize in the chili sauce—it’ll just take more time and be a bit more hands-on, as you will need to monitor to make sure the legs remain submerged in the sauce and that the sauce is not drying out.
By searing and simmering these goose legs, we are essentially braising the meat, which is the method of slowly cooking meat in liquids so it will tenderize. In the end, you should achieve that fall-off-the-bone texture to your goose meat.
By using the canned enchilada sauce, we are eliminating the process of rehydrating a medley of chile peppers and pressing them through a conical strainer to produce a paste. But if that is your thing—and if you know how to do it well—I’d say put in the effort, if you got the time, versus the canned sauce.
