It depends on what you want to do with said goose. The one tip I can definitively give is to prick the skin multiple times before you roast it so that the fat has an outlet (those things have a TON of fat that needs to come out). Otherwise, fairly simple procedure -- just have to decide on a recipe. There's an old German trick of taking the goose out of oven towards the last 15 minutes and spritzing it with either beer or a salt water mix -- then popping it back in. Produces a super crispy skin...

...have you tried foodblogsearch.com ? I just searched for 'roast goose' and quite a few recipes came up; I've wanted to roast a goose for Christmas for years, but the specimens in the freezer cases in the little towns we've lived in always look SO pathetic...maybe we can afford to buy a lovely goose online or from a local farm this year?

I was given an old goose.

And you sound so enthusiastic about it!

I have heard you can use the fat for anything you'd normally fry or roast in oil: root veggies, potato pancakes, etc.

Since your bird is older, I wonder if looking at sites that feature recipes for wild game would be helpful? Game tends to be tougher, so you'd think people who hunt or cook it would have experience dealing with a more experienced bird.

LOL, Akay....

Old as in freezer burned and nasty or old is in tough old codger? If the first, throw it in a crock pot and be done with it. It is worth eating you will eat it and if it isn't you have spent a lot of time.

For the later, I'd braise rather than roast for sure. Do something simple and just save the fat after the fact. Joint it, add some aromatics, choose a booze (cider, white or red wine), and cook it in a slow oven.

When French Women Cook by Madeleine Kamman (great book, btw) has an entire chapter devoted almost entirely to the cuisine of the goose, including rendering goose fat, goose confit, goose liver pate, roasting goose, etc. I highly recommend it, for an entertaining read if nothing else.

It is old school French cooking, so I can't promise everything will be easily adaptable to today's kitchen, but it should be a great place to start, if nothing else.

Here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/When-French-Women-Cook-Gastronomic/dp/158008365X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331142270&sr=8-1

Well, I've never eaten or cooked "old goose" -- not sure anyone else here would have unless they had farmers in their family -- but goose is usually pretty moist because of all the fat. The Madeline Kamman book is wonderful; another suggestion would be my favourite recipe for goose by Delia Smith:

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/french/roast-stuffed-goose-with-prunes-in-armagnac.html

I've made this goose recipe many times, and it is amazing.

Goose is delicious. Last month I made a cassoulet as a birthday present with goose confit instead of the more popular duck. (I'm not suggesting you do this, it was not difficult but it felt like a lot of work.) Just take care to render as much fat as possible out of the goose - it's astounding the amount of fat these guy retain - I've had goose that is greasy because that step was not taken. I wish I had better advice for you because I'm curious about other preparations now. I can't help with whole goose because I pieced mine out, but best of luck. Hope he's tasty.

I made Alton Brown's roasted goose recipe for Christmas a few years ago and it was delicious.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/the-best-of/roasted-christmas-goose-recipe/index.html

This Christmas my father and I did traditional roast goose with stuffing, goose liver pate, and rosemary popovers- it was DELICIOUS! We followed the recipes from Saveur, here's a link to the online article and recipes: http://www.saveur.com/article/Techniques/Christmas-Goose/1