Charted Waters
Hampton Roads · Waterfowl Guide
Waterfowl GuideA distinct section of Charted Waters, for hunting rather than fishing. Looking for fishing instead? →

Goose Sausage: The Basics

A careful, safety-focused overview of grinding waterfowl into sausage — described here at the level of process and temperature control this guide can respons­ibly cover, not a full recipe with a specific seasoning blend or casing technique, which is genuinely equipment- and technique-dependent enough to be beyond this guide's own scope.

SausageGround / SausageEditorially Adapted — Not Tested
Unverified

Drawn from a named source but not independently confirmed. Double-check before relying on it.

Deliberately scoped to process/food-safety guidance only, not a specific seasoning-blend recipe — grinding/sausage-making technique and casing choice vary enough by equipment and personal preference that a single prescriptive recipe would overstate this project's expertise. The lean-to-fat ratio and cold-processing guidance reflect standard, widely corroborated wild-game processing practice, not one specific source's exact recipe.

USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service — Duck and Goose from Farm to Table · Last checked 2026-08-10

Ingredients

  • Goose meat, trimmed of connective tissue
  • Pork fat or fatty pork trim, for moisture (lean waterfowl meat benefits from added fat when ground)
  • Salt and seasoning of choice
  • Casings, if making links (optional — ground/loose sausage needs none)

Steps

  1. Keep all meat, fat, and grinding equipment cold throughout — chilling the grinder parts in the freezer beforehand and working in small batches keeps the grind clean and reduces bacterial growth risk during processing, which happens at room temperature more readily with ground meat's larger exposed surface area than with a whole cut.
  2. Grind goose meat with pork fat at a roughly 70/30 to 80/20 lean-to-fat ratio, since wild goose is very lean on its own.
  3. Mix in salt and seasoning, keeping the mixture cold throughout.
  4. Stuff into casings if making links, or cook loose as bulk sausage.
  5. Cook fully to 165°F internal temperature before eating, checked with a food thermometer — ground meat has more surface area exposed to potential contamination during grinding than a whole cut, which is exactly why this guide treats the temperature check as non-negotiable here, not optional.
Food safety: Ground/mechanically processed meat requires the same 165°F minimum internal temperature as any other poultry preparation, checked with a food thermometer — never judge doneness by color for ground meat. Keep meat and equipment cold throughout grinding to limit bacterial growth, which spreads more readily through ground meat's larger exposed surface area than through a whole cut.

Suitable species

Canada Goose, Snow Goose

This recipe is editorially adapted from general wild-game cooking technique and has not been physically tested by this project. See USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service — Duck and Goose from Farm to Table for the technique this was corroborated against.