I came to London armed. Armed with Nigella recipes of things to cook with ingredients that I couldn’t get in Australia. I had recipes such a perfect roasted potatoes made with Goose fat and Roasted Goose. What I didn’t count on was Goose being out of season until December. So distressed at having a dinner party the next night I flung myself on Waitrose’s meat counter (not literally) and picked up two Free range Guinea Fowls, raised for Waitrose in France’s Loire Valley.
Looking at them, they looked like a chicken, with black legs. I used one of Waitrose’s recipes based on the fact that it was simple and it required not too many ingredients. Lower in fat than chicken, they’re tender with slightly drier meat with a gamey taste.
I am always very apprehensive trying to cook new types of food. Especially for dinner parties for people that I haven’t cooked for before. There was a time when we were preparing this when I asked my husband to quarter the Guinea Fowls and when he asked “How?” to which I frantically replied “I don’t know! Just quarter them!”. He did a pretty good job in the end and the recipe is quite ideal for a dinner party as most of the work is in the browning of the pieces and the peeling, coring and slicing the apples. The rest is a cinch and I suggest that you make more of the sauce than specified. It’s downright delicious with any sort of meat. And please know that I’m not suggesting that you try and track down a Free range Guinea Fowl, a good chicken will do.
As for the perfect roast potatoes, I’ve tried these using a butter and oil mix which works but but now that I’ve tried using Goose fat I have to confess that yes indeed, using Goose Fat does produce superior results. And interestingly, I have read that Goose Fat is, despite what one would assume, the most balanced of all animal fats because it has far less saturated fats than butter and lard and has far more ‘heart healthy’ monounsaturated (55g compared to 19.8g in butter) and polyunsaturated fats (10.8g compared to 2.6g in butter), which are essential for good health. In comparison to other animal fats, it is possibly one of the reasons that cardio-vascular disease is not as prevalent in the goose rearing and consuming regions of the South West of France as in some other regions of Europe. So Goose Fat it up!
I didn’t use anything close to the amount of goose fat that Nigella used though, in fact I used less than a can and even then I thought it was too much. I don’t know how I’d go about finding Goose Fat in Australia. It’s readily available here, and in fact, apparently around Christmas, it’s impossible to get a tin due to Nigella and Delia’s raves. Is it crazy to pack tins of it in my luggage?
Normandy Guinea Fowl with potatoes
This lovely, old-fashioned dish isn’t as calorie-rich as it tastes. Serve with boiled potatoes, which can be mashed into the delicious, appley gravy, and a green vegetable.
6 Cox, Braeburn or other crisp, juicy eating apples
50g butter
150ml cider
1 guinea fowl or four skinned chicken thighs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp calvados, brandy or whisky
100ml double cream or full fat crème fraîche (I only used 2 tablespoons of this)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4.
- Peel, quarter, core and thickly slice the apples. Melt half the butter in a heavy casserole over a medium heat. Add the apples and cider, cover, and cook briskly for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and boil for 5 minutes to concentrate the juices. The apples should be tender and juicy but not overly wet.
- If you’re using guinea fowl, skin it and joint into four pieces, trimming away any fat. Melt the remaining butter in a frying pan, season the guinea fowl or chicken and brown briefly. Bury the meat in the apples. Tuck a piece of greaseproof paper over the pan contents to exclude air, and add the lid. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the meat from the dish and keep warm. Put the casserole, with the apples, over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Add the alcohol and, a couple of minutes later, the cream. Boil, stirring, to blend and reduce the sauce. Adjust the seasoning. Spoon most of the sauced apples onto a platter and top with the meat. Add the last of the apples, and serve.
http://www.waitrose.com/recipe/Normandy_Guinea_Fowl.aspx
Nigella’s perfect roast potatoes
Preparation time less than 30 mins
Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour
Ingredients
- 2½kg/5½lb potatoes
- 2 tbsp semolina
- 2 x 320g/11oz jars goose fat (I only used 3/4 of a 340g can and found that plenty)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to the hottest possible temperature.
2. Peel the potatoes, and cut each one into three by cutting off each end at a slant so that you are left with a wedge or triangle in the middle.
3. Place the potatoes into salted cold water in a saucepan, and bring them to a boil. Boil the potatoes for four minutes (I cooked them for 10 minutes). Drain the excess water from the potatoes using a colander and then tip the potatoes back into the empty saucepan.
4. Sprinkle the semolina over the top of the potatoes. Hold a lid firmly on top of the pan and shake the potatoes around to coat them well and so that their edges disintegrate or fuzz and blur a little: this facilitates the crunch effect later.
5. Place the goose fat into a large roasting tin and heat in the oven until very hot (I didn’t do this as oil splatter at that temperature was too risky. I simply rolled the hot potatoes in the room temp goose fat and then popped it in the oven). Then carefully place the semolina-coated potatoes into the hot fat and roast the potatoes in the oven for 45 mins to an hour or until they are darkly golden and crisp, turning them over halfway through cooking. If the oven is hot enough they probably will not need more than about 25 minutes a side; and it’s better to let them sit in the oven (you can always pour off most of the fat and leave them in the tin) until the very last minute.
21 Comments | Add your own
mmmmm.. can’t go wrong with calvados and creme fraiche! I’m pretty sure you can get goose fat here, either from Simon J or Essential.
Canned goose fat! Completely foreign to me and sends alarm bells of heart problems packaged in a can for convenience. How do they get all that fat into that can? But the english love these things. And they eat fried bread! I loved London but some of their foods are just so bad for u! But I do wish to try it one day with those potatos… I have seen Nigella make these on her show and they seem drool-worthy. And yes, run downt to Tescos and buy some cans to stash away in your luggage!
You should stock up on the goose fat! Thats the whole point of holidays for me. Buying all the food you can’t get back in Sydney. Lets just hope customs lets it through.
Goose Fat from The Essential Ingredient is available in Sydney at DJ’s Food Hall (and presumably at The Essential Ingredient!). I too have felt inspired to make Nigella’s roast potatoes but dread the fat content!
Yep, goose fat is easy to come by here in Sydney (Essential, DJ’s and Simon J all stock it). Of course, expect to pay $30-40 for a large tin. Sometimes, it’s just worth it though.
I vaguely remember my boyfriend telling me that he saw some goose fat at the butcher at Neutral Bay… I think thats where it was!
i can see the scene at the airport now–you’re taken into a well-lit, white room and grilled about the unusual amount of goose fat hidden in your suitcase…
Gosh, I hope you will not end up on TV, NQN in Border Security!
Oh, I used to spend my days preparing guinea fowl at a restaurant I worked in. We stuffed it with thyme mushrooms and brandy, then covered the breasts with sliced speck (or similar smoky fatty pork), then covered that with blanched spinach, wrapped it all up in baking paper then clay (!) and baked. They were delicious - but terribly easy to dry out.
Duck fat is also excellent for that perfect crispy potato.
yum!
(and you’re very brave, tackling the unknown for a dinner party, I did that recently with disastrous results).
Hi Y-I could’ve made myself a rather cool dessert with them as well if I had thought of it at the time
Ahh cool, good to know!
Hi Maria-I know, in fact I was going to use all 100ml of double cream but after tasting it, it only needed 60ml. Also with the goose fat, I used much less. I don’t know how they manage to eat all of that fat!
Hi SoRMuiJAi-Customs always ruins all of the fun!
Hi PJ-I suspected if anywhere it’d be at those stores but in London it’s at the local supermarket! I only wish
Hi Amanda-Interesting about the price. Do you know if it is imported goose fat ? It was less than £3 for a 340g tin at Tesco.
Hi Bec-I think I know the butcher that he means, the one opposite the carpark at the big original Woolworths?
Hi grace-LOL yes and then when I explain how it does in fact produce the best roast potatoes, customs officers confiscate it and make some at home
Hi Lilia-I wouldn’t care really, all they’d find is baking ingredients and salt!
Hi lili-That sounds lovely! You’re making me hungry now
I wonder what the difference between goose and duck fat is for potatoes? I’d love to try both and see! Haha I was at desperation point at that stage but I did consider having a tried and true backup recipe just in case
mmm goose fat. The one time I roasted a duck, I was instructed by my mother to save as much of the fat that I could and use it for roast potatoes, I have to agree they were the best roast potatoes I have ever had.
Hi Helen-Oh yes I know what you mean, I cooked a duck and so much fat came out of it! I wish I had saved it but this was years ago and I didn’t know you could do so much with it. The healthy side of me said to chuck it!
Good to know that duck fat will produce similarly good potatoes 
I live in the USA and always fill a case of english goodies to bring home. BTW my niece lives in Sydney and has a similar name for her blog.
Hi, I’m sure I saw a can of goose fat at the Harris Farm Markets in Broadway just the other day!
Hi Cheryl-Bag filling with various foods is a definite must do
Only our customs dept makes it less fun than yours.
Hi syn-Oh excellent! No carting back tins of the stuff then
The thing I miss most about food at home (uk ) is the freshness, here in the USA ( adopted home ) it is all so processed, I really miss cream bread and cheese, and markets. So yes to coin your phrase bag filling is a must
Hi Cheryl-What a pity, it would be very frustrating!
Although a good excuse to go back home for a visit!
I love the idea of free range guinea fowl from France!
I have bought goose fat (from France) at David Jones’ food hall. It came in a jar. I only used half the jar because I felt so guilty about so much animal fat in a meal. I didn’t know it was much better than lard.
This meal looks so tasty!
Hi Maria-Oh cool, what did you use it to make? hehe I know, imagine it’s one of the healthier animals fats! I was sure that it wasn’t too. Thankyou!
Hey Lorraine, I bought the goose fat purely to use for roast potatoes!
Hi Maria-Ahh great! The most perfect use for them really
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