The legs can be cooked hours before you’re planning to eat – or even a day or so earlier-then reheated and crisped up nearer the time.

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/ gas mark 3. Remove the legs from the goose by pulling them away from the bone and cutting them in half at the joint, then cut the wings off.

Remove any fat and skin from the back, underneath the goose, and on the backbone and put them into a tight-fitting oven tray with the goose legs, garlic, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaf and cinnamon.

Season the legs and cook them for about 2½ hours, basting every so often and until the meat is just coming away from the bone. Drain off the fat and use it for roasting your potatoes.

Put the legs aside, ready to heat up 25-30 minutes or so before you serve the goose. If you’re cooking them a day or so before, just store the legs in the fat in the fridge.

Your goose may well have the neck still attached-if so, cut it off as close as you can to the main body. With a heavy chopping knife, remove the backbone from the goose where you’ve cut the fat away, so you’re left with just the breasts on the bone. Separate the two breasts by carefully cutting down the centre breastbone. Chop the backbone and neck into small pieces for the gravy.

To make the stuffing, gently cook the onions and sage in the butter for 2-3 minutes without colouring, then remove from the heat and stir the breadcrumbs in. Meanwhile, season and fry the goose livers in a hot frying pan for a couple of minutes on each side, then remove from the heat and leave to cool a little.

Chop the livers into rough, smallish pieces and mix into the breadcrumbs with the parsley and season to taste.

Transfer the stuffing to an ovenproof dish with a tight-fitting lid, or cover with foil.

Meanwhile (or even the day before), put the apples into a pan with the sugar and butter, cover with a lid and cook gently, stirring every so often for 15-20 minutes until the apples start to disintegrate. You can keep the sauce chunky and natural, or blend it smoother in a food processor. Check the sweetness, and add more sugar if necessary, although it shouldn’t be too sweet to accompany goose.

Turn the oven up to 200˚C/ gas mark 6.

Heat a roasting tray on the stove top, season the goose breasts and place them in the tray, skin side down. Cook them on the skin on a medium heat for 5-6 minutes so they start to release some of the fat.

Drain any fat off and reserve it, then cook the breasts in the oven for 25-30 minutes, keeping them nice and pink, then remove them and leave to rest.

Put the legs and stuffing in a roasting tray in the oven while the breasts are cooking. Then, remove the breasts from the bone with a sharp knife and slice thinly across them with the skin down on the board. The leg meat can just be carved off the bone, or cut into chunks.