To ruin someone's job or plans

After ten years of secret love affair, he thinks he can dump me and get away with it, but I'm going to cook his goose. I'm going to publish all the love letters he's sent me over the last ten years and ruin his image of being the perfect family man as well as his political career

Dopo dieci anni di amore clandestino pensa di liquidarmi così, con un regalino da niente, ma lo cucino io a dovere: farò avere ai giornali scandalistici tutte le lettere erotico-amorose che mi ha mandato e, assieme alla sua immagine da bravo padre di famiglia, rovinerò la sua carriera politica

David and I worked together on a project, but he submitted it without even mentioning my name. He won't get away with it because I'm going to cook his goose by telling everyone the truth

Davide ed io abbiamo lavorato assieme su un progetto, ma poi lui lo ha presentato senza nemmeno menzionare il mio nome. Comunque non se la caverà perché lo cucinerò a dovere dicendo a tutti come stanno le cose

There are different opinions about the origins of this expression. According to one of them, the inhabitants of a besieged town in the 16th century hung out a goose to show their attackers that they were not starving; the enraged enemies then set fire to the town and thus cooked the goose