This luxurious Alsatian-style goose is stuffed with ground veal and pork, and foie gras. It is the perfect main course to serve for dinner on Christmas Eve. And in true Alsatian style, is served on a bed of cabbage.

Ingredients

For the cabbage:

1 large head red cabbage
1 cup red wine
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons rendered goose or duck fat
1 medium onion, sliced
2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon red gooseberry jam or red currant jelly

For the goose: 

1 pound ready-to-use chestnuts
½ pound sliced white bread
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large shallot, chopped
½ pound each pork shoulder and veal shoulder
2 teaspoons ruby port
1 teaspoon Cognac
2 teaspoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
½ teaspoon quarter epices, or 1/8 teaspoon each ground cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper
1 goose, 8 to 10 pounds, 2 wing joints, giblets, neck, and excess fat and skin removed, skin pricked
1 Grade A foie gras, about 1 pound, cleaned
1 each onion and carrot, coarsely chopped
1 cup Alsace Riesling wine
½ cup cold water

Preparation

1. For the cabbage: Remove and discard any damaged cabbage leaves. Core and quarter cabbage, then cut into ¼-inch shreds. Combine wine, vinegar, and bay leaf in a bowl.
2. Heat goose fat in a large, deep casserole over medium-high heat. Stir in onion and sauté until lightly browned, 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cabbage, apples, and wine-vinegar mixture, and season with salt and pepper. Cover, and cook slowly for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Just before serving, stir in jam or jelly.
3. For the goose: Soak bread in milk. Heat the 1 teaspoon butter in a small skillet over medium heat, add shallots, cover, and sweat until tender, 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Squeeze milk from bread. Combine bread, pork, and veal in a food processor, and pulse until chopped medium fine. Do not over process. Scrape mixture into a bowl, and add shallots, chestnuts, port, Cognac, parsley, quatre epices, and salt and pepper, and mix just to blend.
5. Season inside of goose cavity with salt and pepper. Gently pack stuffing into goose, placing foie gras in the center of the stuffing. Truss goose with butcher’s twine, season outside with salt and pepper, and place on a rack in a roasting pan large enough to hold it comfortably. Melt the remaining 2 teaspoons of butter, and brush over goose.
6. Turn goose on its side and roast for 1 hour. Turn bird to other side and roast another hour. While goose is roasting, prepare Braised Red Cabbage.
7. After goose has roasted 2 hours, scatter onion and carrot in roasting pan, and turn bird on its back, breast up. Roast for 30 minutes longer, basting with pan juices two or three times. Goose should be golden brown, and juices should run pale pink when bird is deeply pricked in the breast. Remove goose from pan to a warm platter, tent with foil, and keep warm. Discard all fat from roasting pan and set pan on top of stove. Pour in wine and over medium-high heat, deglaze pan, stirring up all browned cooking bits. Reduce liquid to a glaze, then stir in the cold water and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain sauce and keep warm.
8. Present whole roasted goose on the red cabbage. Slice at the table, and serve with stuffing and sauce.