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1
Combine water or master stock, dark soy, light soy, rock sugar, star anise, cinnamon, galangal, lemongrass, coriander seed, cloves, bay leaves, and dried mandarin peel in a vessel large enough to submerge the goose. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring until the rock sugar is fully dissolved. The stock must be seasoned more assertively than a soup stock — it is a cooking medium, not a broth. Taste: it should read distinctly salty and aromatic.
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2
Lower the cleaned goose into the stock, breast-side down. Regulate the heat until the stock holds at 85 °C — a surface that trembles and produces the occasional lazy bubble, never a rolling boil. This is where the dish lives or dies: boiling produces tough, dry, stringy flesh; a sustained 85 °C produces flesh that is silky and yielding. Use a thermometer and adjust the burner as needed throughout cooking.
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3
Maintain 85 °C for 1.5 hours per 2 kg of goose weight, turning the bird once at the halfway point so the stock penetrates evenly. At the end of the cooking time, pierce the thickest part of the thigh: the juices must run clear with no trace of pink.
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4
Remove the pot from the heat. Leave the goose submerged in the cooling liquid for 30–45 minutes. During this rest the skin deepens to a mahogany lacquer and carry-over cooking completes the flesh. Lift the bird: the skin should be deeply coloured, taut, and glossed with reduced stock.
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5
Remove the goose from the stock and allow it to cool to room temperature before carving. Reserve the stock; strained and stored, it constitutes the master stock and deepens in complexity with each subsequent use. Combine the dipping sauce ingredients — garlic, chilli, and rice vinegar — in a small bowl; the sharp, pungent smell should be immediate and clean.
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6
Carve and serve at room temperature with the dipping sauce alongside. If goose offal was cooked in the same lu shui, present it separately as a cold plate. The flesh should yield at the touch of a chopstick without resistance or stringiness.