Gans

Braised sour-sweet with vinegar, so it cuts and sweetens in one forkful.

Malic acid is the standing tax on goose fat. Baked whole, not sauced.

Camphor holds up in a cavity for three hours. Parsley would not.

Dried plum sugar concentrates enough to be heard over all that fat.

Roast them in the drippings. Starch is the only honest way to eat this much fat.

Starchy and sweet, so it takes the fat without becoming greasy.

The fattiest bird on the table needs the sharpest thing in the larder.

Heavy bird fat wants a sweet herb rather than a resinous one. Central Europe knew.

Tannin plus perfume. It does apple sauce work but leaves a longer finish.

Acid with a stone-fruit almond edge, which the gamey meat picks up.

A very fatty bird needs an acid that will not surrender halfway. This is that acid.

Nordic acid for northern fat. Sharper than lemon and it survives the bird.

Tannin in the brine. It firms the skin and pre-loads the bitterness.

Mole logic applied to a Christmas bird: bitter roast against rendered fat.