Combine mashed potatoes with all remaining ingredients. Singe and remove all pinfeathers from an 8- to 9-pound goose. Rub the cavity and skin with a cut lemon and salt. Stuff and truss the goose.
Place on a rack in a roasting pan (breast side up), toss a cut clove of garlic and a stalk of celery with leaves into the pan, and roast in a preheated 350° oven for 18 to 20 minutes per pound. Prick the skin, around the wings and legs, with a fork to release fat. Baste occasionally with pan drippings.
When goose is tender and the skin brown and crisp, place on a heated platter and garnish with watercress. Serve with applesauce.
Although Catharine Beecher suggested this potato stuffing for roast goose in her Domestic Receipt-Book, it is also appropriate to use an oyster or chestnut stuffing, or wild rice.
Beecher was the sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the 19th century abolitionist and author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and of clergymen Henry Ward Beecher.
Potato Stuffing
- 2 cups hot mashed potatoes
- 11/2 cups bread crumbs
- 1 medium onion, chopped fine
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 11/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sage
- 1/2 cup chopped celery leaves
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley