This Little Piggy Went to Market

What's that in the case?

Suckling Pig Galantine with White Aspic

come 'n get it $28/lb

Complimentary Wine Tasting in the Enoteca: Tuesday, 5-7pm

The Goose is hosting a complimentary tasting of two Spanish wines with paired charcuterie in the Enoteca on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 5-7pm. Stop by to tip a glass with the rep from Castell del Remei. She'll be pouring free tastes of their Gotim Gru--a punchy red blend--and Blanc Plannel, a strikingly aromatic mix of Macabeo and Sauv Blanc. Chris is pairing some sweet meat treats to sample with each bottle. Cheers!

Found and Lonely

Stop by the Goose or contact us if you know where this little guy lives.

Help the Quigleys

Stephen Quigley--Chris' & Mollie's brother-in-law--suffered a career-ending injury to his spine at the 2010 North American Gaelic Athletic Association championships. To help offset the family's medical expenses, you can donate online.

He and his wife Cassie--Mollie's sister--and their two sons, Seamus, 5, and Teague, 3, recently moved to South Carolina, and Steve was looking forward to joining the local hurling club and continuing with his hurly production company. Steve helped create the Indy Hurling League and played on team Goose the Market.

It was an awkward collision in the quarterfinals that resulted in Steve’s injury. Since the accident, Steve has been admitted to three hospitals, resulting in dozens of MRIs, CTs, X-rays, consultations, and nursing assistance. He fractured his C6 vertebrae and severed one of the two vertebral arteries which are part of the four arteries supplying blood to the brain. He is fortunate not to have suffered paralysis, but the injury is significant enough that any future contact to the area could severely further the injury, even after his recovery.

Steve has seen multiple neurologists and neurosurgeons; and spent a full week at Northwestern University where they administered heparin and warfarin, blood thinners, in order to help lessen the clot formed in the artery and allow blood flow to the brain. At a minimum, for the next 6 months Steve will be in a neck-brace and visiting physicians to monitor the flow of blood to the brain while continuing to take doses of warfarin. There is also a future possibility of surgery, which although is not necessary at this time, would result in many more tests and a two week hospital stay where he'll be under stroke watch.

Although the Quigleys have insurance, they will undoubtedly incur lofty medical expenses. To help offset these costs, you can donate online or write a check (payable to “Indianapolis Hurling Club” with "Quigley Benefit" on the subject line; and mail to Indianapolis Hurling Club c/o Brian Church - Memo "Quigley Benefit" ; 14834 Jonathan Drive Westfield, IN 46074). If you are unable to donate at this time, please keep Steven and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Get your Gooseberry Cod from the Goose

The delicately flavored Gooseberry Cod was almost lost to the world 20 years ago. These Atlantic cod took their common name from the Newfoundland cove where they had lived even before a permanent cod fishing community developed on the cove's shores in 1864.

As the cod grew, so did the fishing business, but the bottom line out lapped nature destructively. International factory trawling and a no-limit mentality brought the cove to a nearly fishless and dangerously deadly state in the early 1990s.

Today only local fisherman who held a license prior to the collapse of the cove are allowed to catch the cod that are returning to Gooseberry Cove. This small cooperative of fishermen take from the water only a few fish and only those that exceed age and weight limits. Their trap catch fishing method has the most minimal effect on the Cove's overall environment and avoids "bycatch" so wildlife that shouldn't be taken from the water isn't. They fish seasonally, use wind power, and convert the cod liver oil into biofuel.

As the Cove heals, the local community has found ways to work with tradition and restore with their resources, not exploit them. The Gooseberry Cod's story is just another example of why we should eat it to save it.

The Gooseberry Cod is coming to the Goose this Friday! It's a large flake fish with a mild and flavorful fillet that lends to grilling, baking, and broiling. Call or email soon so we know to save you some.

Bonarda Bonus: free wine tasting in the Goose's Enoteca

Meet our local rep for Durigutti wines from Mendoza, Argentina who will be pouring their 2008 Bonarda this Thursday, Sept. 16, 5-7pm.

Despite its recent founding in only 2002, Durigutti was honored by Wine Spectator in its article 10 Wineries on the High Road to Quality. The two Durigutti brothers made wine for other labels before Pablo convinced Hector and the rest of the family that they should put their own name on the bottles. Today, the acclaim their wine has received in their native Argentina is beginning to spread in the States.

Come to the Goose's Enoteca Thursday evening for a free pour of this lush, pleasantly spiced, and enticingly aromatic 100% bonarda. It's the go to glass for the latest selections on our Charcuterie Board and won't last long between bites of our Pork Cheek Rillette.

The best cheese in America: check out what the Goose got

Last week, a farmstead cheese from southern Wisconsin won the top prize--best of over 1,400 cheeses--at the American Cheese Society annual competition. And look what just arrived at the Goose: the best cheese in America!

The biggest blue ribbon went to Uplands Cheese Company for their Extra Aged Pleasant Ridge Reserve, a 15 month old cheese made from the raw milk of grass fed cows that graze right next to the creamery.

To take the top prize, this cheese started with grass. Last Spring, the cows grazed atop Pleasant Ridge, where lots of rain helps promote several different types of grasses, wildflowers, herbs, and pod plants. Two families tended the cows up on that ridge. Mike and Carol Gingrich and Dan and Jeanne Patenaude farmed separately but as neighbors until 1994 when their business and farming collaboration began. Decades ago, Dan and Jeanne were ahead of the curb in keeping their herd on pasture and a grass fed diet. (Jeanne's brother researched and wrote the book that helped restart the grass fed tradition in the States.)

So from grass to cow to milk to...Andy. From the creamery right on the farm, Andy Hatch turns out a vat of cheese each day when the grass is prime and the cows are warm. After earning his Dairy Science degree in Wisconsin, Andy worked with cheesemakers in Europe for two years. He came back to Wisconsin and took over cheesemaking at Uplands in 2008. (He makes great cheese and doesn't break the lens, either. Andy happens to be on the cover of the 2011 Wisconsin cheesemakers pin up calendar.)

The extra age that Andy put on Uplands regular Pleasant Ridge Reserve may have been the winch the pulled this cheese high above the competition. In the ripening rooms, less than 1,000 wheels of the cheese spent 15 months under careful attention. On the outside, Andy was washing the wheels with a brine solution while on the inside the natural microflora were working their magic. The result is an intensely complex flavor that's sharp, floral, rich, and--we'd agree--the best cheese in America.

Come by the Goose soon for a slice from the wheel that won: Uplands Extra Aged Pleasant Ridge Reserve.