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Step 1: To remove the first of the breast fillets, run the knife edge downwards alongside the bird’s keel bone.

STEVE BAIN is still working his way through the carcase of wild or store-bought birds.

For this month’s recipe we dice goose breast into small pieces.

The following photo sequence initially shows the same store-bought ‘bird’ from last month.

At the end of the production process in this article, wild-procured breasts are shown. I think the difference in meat colour is quite interesting.

When processing meats from poultry, my preference is to use the breast meat for recipes that have moisture added.

Breast meat is a little bit drier than thigh meat, for example.

For other recipes, the legs and thighs have more ‘juices’ and are less-likely to be ‘dry’.

To complete the story, the remaining bits and pieces often find themselves being used in soups, pies and a myriad of Asian recipes.

Step 2: Continue to deepen this cut, cutting under the breast meat between flesh and rib bones.
Step 3: To remove the second breast fillet, this time run the knife down alongside the other side of the bird's keel bone.
Step 4: Then run the knife alongside and over the rib bones until the breast fillet is removed (filleted) from the bird’s frame. You now have two breasts from the bird.
Step 5: These are real wild procured magpie goose breasts. Each bird gives two breasts. We typically slice each of these in halves lengthwise to give four ‘human-hand-sized’ steaks per bird.
Step 6: These are two of the halved-breasts from one goose breast. Incidentally the dark holes are where the steel shot (pellet) has passed through the hunted bird. The magnet in the photo is a double-check option; simply pass a magnet over the meat and it may alert you to any steel that is still present.
Step 7: To downsize the breast meat, cut it into strips and then cut across the strips. The size of the ‘chunks’ is of your choosing. These bite-sized cubes in the photo are the largest that I'd go for in ‘pastry’ — the one’s in Lynn’s recipe are smaller still. To make the cubes smaller, start by trimming very skinny strips and then cross-cut them into very small pieces.