Ingredients for the Known Ground reconstruction
Ingredient amounts shown for 8 servings.
Known Ground reconstruction
- 1young gosling, 8 to 10 pounds
- 1 lbfine pork sausage meat
- 2 tbspunsalted butter
- 2 lbsauerkraut, rinsed and drained
- 3 tbsprendered goose fat
- 8 ozlean bacon, cooked with sauerkraut and cut into rectangles
- 2 tspkosher salt
Known Ground reconstruction — not personally tested
Escoffier's historical formula specifies gosling directly.
The source is gosling rather than hunted goose. A covered roaster approximates poêlé and keeps the sausage stuffing, goose-fat sauerkraut, and bacon garnish intact.
Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Fill the gosling loosely with sausage meat, truss, season, and brown in butter in a covered roaster.
2. Cover and roast until the thickest meat and center of the sausage stuffing reach 165°F (74°C).
3. Braise the sauerkraut in goose fat with the bacon until tender.
4. Rest the gosling, arrange sauerkraut and bacon around it, and serve immediately.
Historical formula
Escoffier stuffs the gosling with good sausage meat, trusses and colors it in butter, then poêlés it. He surrounds it with sauerkraut braised in goose fat and rectangles of lean bacon cooked with the sauerkraut.
Source note
Source-preserving summary from Auguste Escoffier, *A Guide to Modern Cookery* (1907), a public-domain English edition. Source location: No. 1722c, p. 532; 1903 p. 869.
Published after editorial review
Last revised 8/21/2026. Evidence and limitations should be interpreted as described in the article.
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