A supper club to celebrate the feast of St Michael, the day on which Elizabeth 1st was so delighted to receive notification, while dining on Goose, of the final destruction of the Spanish Armada that she reportedly decreed all English folk should henceforward commemorate the happy day by eating a Roast Goose!.
This story may well be apocryphal but the tradition of eating a “green” goose on Michaelmas goes back, perhaps a thousand years – that, at least, is the supposed age of the Nottingham Goose Fair, held in the week of Michaelmas since the time of the Vikings and named for the thousands of Geese that were walked to Nottingham from the rich grasslands of the Fens. The other name for Michaelmas Geese – “green” Geese referring not to the colour of the animals but to their diet – these birds were tender and tasty from the grass and greenery they, like ours, had fed on all summer but had not yet put on their distinctive layer of fat from eating stored grains in the run up to Christmas.
The full menu for the evening is here:
Goose Liver Crostini
Stuffed Goose Neck with Pickled Quetsche Plum
Roast Goose, Sage and Lemon Stuffing, Spiced Quince Sauce
Tarte Tatin
