GAMERECIPES

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Putting a wildtwist on knownand loved recipes

Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Place the meat into themarinade, making sure it’s fully coated. Leave in the fridgeovernight to marinate.

When the meat is ready to cook, you can prepare it in two differentways. Either cook it on the stove; put everything into a pan, bring to theboil and simmer on a low heat until the meat is so. It can take a longwhile for the meat to be tender (approximately 2 hours). Or, put themarinade and meat into a vacuum-pack bag and cook in a water bath at74°C overnight or until tender.

Once the meat is cooked, drain off any remaining liquid and, while stillhot, pull the meat into thin strips. Discard any bones but keep the leovermarinade – you will need it later.

Now, onto the sauce. Take the marinade, bring it to the boil and reduceby half, until it’s nice and sticky. It should be thick enough not to drip offthe pancakes but still coat the meat nicely.

Cut the cucumber and spring onions into thin strips and place in twoseparate bowls. Warm the pancakes by steaming or in a microwave – itshould only take seconds.Place the pulled meat into the reduced marinade and mix gently so thatthe meat is neatly coated. e marinade can be quite strong, so make sureto pour enough of it to suit your taste. Place meat into a serving bowl.

You can either serve all the ingredients separately to let everyone enjoymaking their own pancakes (as pictured), or you can make up thepancakes beforehand by placing a little of the meat onto the pancake andtopping it with the sliced cucumber and spring onions. You can also servethe pancakes with a splash of the Hoisin sauce.

Now all that’s le is to enjoy!

Ingredients

1kg venison shoulder orneck – it depends on thetype of venison24 Chinese pancakes 1 large cucumber1 bunch of spring onionsSalt and pepper to season

Marinade6tbsp Mirin wine (Japanesesweet rice wine)600mls soy sauce2 red chillies ½tbsp chopped, freshcoriander400mls honey ½tbsp Chinese five-spiceseasoning300mls chicken stock

Makes 8 portions

Prep timeDepends on your choppingabilities! Needs 24 hours tomarinate.

Chinese pancakes with aromatic pulled venison

Cooking time:Up to 2 ½ hours

This is a great recipe for thewhole family to prepare.Peel and slice red onions

thinly and fry off in a bit of oil.Once so and just beginning toturn gold, add the balsamic glazeand sugar. Cook for a further 8to 10 minutes, stirring regularly– because of the sugar, theonions burn easily! Remove fromheat and allow to cool.

Now, onto the peppers. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Rub alittle bit of oil over the peppersand place in a hot oven to roast.Make sure to watch them andonce skin has coloured andblisters appear, quickly take themout and wrap in cling film forabout 10 minutes. Now, unwrapand de-seed the peppers and cutinto pieces the thickness of afinger.

Roll out the pastry to athickness of about 8mm and cut

out a disc roughly 33cm across.Fold the remaining pastry in halfand half again, then roll it outagain. Cut out a disc, identical tothe previous one. Brush over theoutside edges with the beatenegg, and fold the edges over tocreate a crimp all the wayaround. Take a fork and prick thediscs all over the base andcarefully score the inner edge ofthe crimp with a knife. is willstop bubbles forming within thepastry and the crust breaking.Now, let the pastry rest for about20 minutes, then cut into thinslices. Make sure to pre-heat theoven at 180°C while you moveon to the duck.

Take the duck breasts, scorethe skin gently, taking care not tocut the meat. Season on bothsides with salt and pepper, andplace skin side down into a coldpan. Make sure to regularly

remove excess fat from the pan.Once the skin begins to turngolden and crisps up, turn it overto seal the meat quickly for about4 minutes. Remove the breastsfrom the pan, cover with tin foiland allow to rest in a warmplace.

Let’s go back to the pastry.Brush the crimped edge withbeaten egg and place in a hotoven (180°C) for 8 minutes.Remove for a moment to patdown the centre of the discwhich will puff up a bit. Placeback in oven for a further 5minutes, and then spread the redonions evenly over both discs.

Spread the duck slices over thered onion, then add each of thecheeses on top. Put back in theoven until pastry is cooked andthe cheese is melted. Garnishwith basil leaves, sprinkle witholive oil and voila!

Ingredients

4 duck breasts750g puff pastry (ready-made)2 red onions50mls balsamic glaze(available in mostsupermarkets)2tsp sugar150g Mozzarella150g Gorgonzola25g Parmesan2 red peppersBasil to dress1 whole beaten eggOilSalt and pepper to season

Makes approx 6portions

Prep timeGive yourself a bit morethan an hour to get all theingredients ready.

Mallard andthree cheeses puff

pastry tart

Cooking time:over 1 hour

Hopefully, removing the legs from the pheasants won’t be too big achallenge! You will also need to separate the drumsticks fromthighs. It’s best to only use the thighs as pheasant drumsticks are

stringy and tough (you can pop them into the freezer and make a deliciousstew another time).

Now the tricky bit. You need to carefully remove the breasts from thecarcasses and cut them in half. You should now have 4 breast pieces fromeach pheasant.

Time to make the marinade. Mix the buttermilk with all the spices listedin ingredients. en drop the meat into it, making sure it’s nicely covered,and allow to marinate for 24 hours. e longer the meat can marinate, thebetter, so if you can leave it for longer, say 36 hours, you will taste thedifference later!

Aer the awfully long wait, you can finally remove the meat from themarinade. Remove any excess off the meat and put it aside. Add 2 eggs tothe marinade, mix well and season to taste. Prepare a shallow plate withflour.

Now, dip the pheasant pieces in the buttermilk mix then cover on allsides in flour. Dust off any excess and deep-fry in vegetable oil at 180°C forabout 8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oil and place on apaper towel to drain the oil off.

To make the dip, semi-whip the cream until it doubles its thickness. Addthe lemon juice and mix until the cream becomes even thicker. Sprinkle inthe chopped chives, and make sure not to over mix the cream.

Serve the dip with the pheasant pieces. You can add a handful of saladfor freshness.

Ingredients

2 pheasants500ml buttermilk1tsp onion powder1tsp garlic powder1tsp smoked paprika½tsp cumin powder½tsp coriander½tsp oregano2 eggs200g flourSalt and pepper to seasonVegetable oil for frying

For the dip250ml double cream2 lemons2 tsp chopped chives

Makes 6 portions

Prep timeMeat needs to marinate forat least a day. The restshouldn’t take longer than30 minutes (depending onhow good you are withportioning pheasants).

Southern fried pheasant with chive and sour cream dip

Cooking time:Approx 30 minutes

Place the flaky salt, sugar, staranise, lemon and orange zestinto a bowl and rub together.

Carefully rub the salt mix all overthe rabbit legs. Pop them onto a trayand sprinkle any leover mix overthe meat. Leave to cure for 30minutes.

ere are two ways of cookingthe legs, either way, you need toremember to brush off the salt mixbefore. You can cook them in thepan, using enough melted duck fatto cover the rabbit legs. Bring to boiland then turn down to a rollingslow simmer, until duck legs arecooked and falling off the bone(approx 2 hours). Or, you can alsoslow-cook the legs using vacuum-pack bags. Pour 2 large table spoonsof duck fat into each bag, seal andcook in water bath at 74°Covernight or until tender.

Once cooked, drain the meatfrom the fat, strip it off the bonewhile still warm, cover and allow tocool. While waiting for the meat tocool, sweat the onions, garlic andchillies in oil. Add ¾ of thetomatoes and tomato purée andcook for 5 minutes, adding thepassata and chicken stock at the

end. Simmer until the sauce reducesby half and becomes thick, then addthe rest of the tomatoes and cookfor further 10 minutes. Season totaste and remove from heat to cool.At this point a little sugar orbalsamic can be added to taste. Itwill take the acidic edge off thesauce. Mix the rabbit meat withsome of the cold tomato sauce – justenough to coat the meat and add alittle moisture to it.

Now, it’s time for the pastry. Mixflour, baking powder, sugar and saltwith lard well. en, mix 1 egg into93ml of cold chicken stock. Pourinto the flour mix and kneed into aball quickly. Allow to rest for 10minutes before dividing into 50gballs. Roll these out into 8mm thickdiscs. en, using a spoon, place themeat into the centre of each disc.Egg wash the edges, fold over, thenseal the edges by twisting them overor crimping it.

Egg wash the whole empanadasand place on a greased, floured tray.Cook at 180°C for 15-20 minutes,until they turn a golden colour.

Serve with some of the cold sauceto one side and some greens tobrighten up the plate.

Ingredients

8 rabbit legs (4 front 4back legs)50g flaky salt50g sugarZest of 1 lemon Zest of 1 orange1 star anise, powderedDuck fat1 onion, finely chopped2 cloves of garlic, finelychopped1kg chopped, tinned plumtomatoes250g passata200ml chicken stock5 red chillies, de-seed andthickly chopped1 heaped tsp tomatopurée1tsp chopped parsleyOlive oilSalt and pepper to season

Pastry (can use ready-madeshortcrust)375g plain flour½tbsp baking powder½tsp sugarPinch of salt60g lard1 egg93ml chicken stock50ml milk mixed with 1egg for the egg wash

Makes 11 portions

Prep timeGive yourself about anhour to get everythingready. Meat will need tocure for 30 minutes.

Confit rabbit andspicy tomatoempanadas

Cooking time:Up to 2 ½hours

Very finely chop the shallots and garlic. Melt half of butter in a panand add shallots and garlic. Stir occasionally and sweat until soand the shallots turn translucent. en, add the sliced mushrooms

and cook for a further 2 minutes. You can now add the white wine and letthe sauce simmer until reduced by 2/3. Once the sauce thickens, addchicken stock and reduce by half. Add cream and reduce again, until thesauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Now, you can add thefinal ingredients – mustard and tarragon leaves. e sauce needs to cookfor a further 5 minutes and then you need to put it on very low heat, just tokeep it warm.

Just before you move onto the partridge, bring a pan of salted water tothe boil, add the orzo pasta and cook for 10 minutes or until pasta iscooked to your liking. Drain the pasta in a colander and rinse with coldwater. You can add a little vegetable oil to the pasta to stop it from stickingtogether. Now, onto the partridge…

Season the partridge breasts and melt the remaining butter in a fryingpan with a little vegetable oil. When hot, add seasoned partridge breasts,skin side down. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until skin turns golden brown. enturn over and seal the meat for another 3-4 minutes remove from pan,cover with tin foil and allow to rest in a warm place for further 4 minutes.

While the meat is resting, heat up the sauce to the point where it’s hotbut not boiling and add in the pasta. Mix the pasta with the sauce untilnicely coated and hot.

To serve, spoon the pasta onto a deep plate and serve with partridge ontop. You should allow 2 breasts per portion. You can sprinkle any leovertarragon leaves over for an extra splash of colour!

Ingredients

10 partridge breasts2 shallots1 garlic clove150ml white wine250ml chicken stock2tsp Dijon mustard2tsp tarragon leaves250g orzo pasta50g sliced buttonmushrooms50g butterVegetable oilSalt and pepper to season

Makes 5 portions

Prep timeFew minutes to geteverything chopped.

pan-fried partridge with orzopasta in creamy mushroom sauce

Cooking time:40 minutes to an hour

Cut the ribs into piecesthat suit you and whichfit into your pan.

Depending on the species, ribscan be big or small. If using asmall deer, such as roe ormuntjac, you can keep the rackof ribs whole.

Apart from the chicken stock,put all the ingredients in a bowland mix well to make yourmarinade. en, using a pastrybrush paint the sauce all over theribs. Take a roasting bag largeenough to fit all your ribs in. Ifyou have more ribs that would fitinto one bag, use more. Pour therest of the marinating mix overthe ribs. Tie the opening of thebag with the provided tie andshake gently to coat the ribsevenly. Leave the ribs to

marinate overnight in the fridge.You can also use a bowl insteadof roasting bags and just coverthe top cling film.

On the following day, pre-heatthe oven to 160°C.

Place the ribs in an oven-proofpan, large enough to fit themlying down. Pour the marinadeinto a separate bowl, add chickenstock, mix well and pour over theribs, ensuring they are wellcovered in liquid. Put on thestove and bring to boil. Coverand transfer to the oven, cook for1¾ to 2½ hours at 160°C or untilthe meat is tender.

Once cooked, remove the ribsfrom the sauce and leave them tocool. Put the pan on the stoveand simmer over low heat until itreduces to a thick, coating

consistency. Once ribs havecooled, cut them into one boneportions and coat with the sauce.en, put back in the oven andcook until hot and well glazed.

Serve with a zesty salad, friesor onion rings! Bon appétit!

Ingredients

2 racks of venison ribs 600ml tomato ketchup200ml dark soy sauce250ml honey15g smoked paprika5 cloves of garlic, finelychopped 500ml chicken stock

Makes 5 portions

Prep timeThe meat needs tomarinate for a day, butthe rest shouldn’t takelonger than 20 minutes.

TIP: You can also cook theribs in a water bath bymarinating them in a vacuum-pack bags and cookingovernight at 72°C. All youhave left to do then is removethe ribs from bag, add themarinade to chicken stock in apan, reduce to coatingconsistency and pour over theribs. Pop them into the ovenuntil they’re hot and nicelyglazed. Easy and delicious!

Venison ribs insticky honey and

smoked paprika glaze

Cooking time:Up to 2 ½hours

Taste of Game, Marford Mill, Rossett, WrexhamLL12 0HL Tel: 01244 573 000

Why eat game?It’s wild, it’s natural, it’s healthy – but above

all, it tastes great.

Wild Game species live in a wild

environment, roaming the fields and woods at

will. They are the ultimate in free range foods.

Natural Game species are not

domesticated. They are wild animals that live as

nature intended.

Healthy Venison – a red meat – has less

fat than chicken.

By eating game you are doing your bit forconservation. Game animals only flourish wherethere is suitable habitat. This natural countryside

provides the vital food and shelter for manyother species.

Did you know that woodland managed forpheasants can support ten times as many

butterflies as unmanaged woodland?

Most game comes from local sources. Comparedwith other meat it has a negligible carbon

footprint. You know where it comes from. Youknow it’s good and you know game tastes great.

More delicious recipes available attasteofgame.org.uk

@tasteofgameTaste of Game

tasteofgame.org.uk

Available in boxes of 24 x 40g packets.Buy online now at

tasteofgame.org.uk/crispsor email

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Have you tried our crisps yet?

Please note cooking times may vary.

Jose Souto studied at the WestminsterKingsway College prior to moving to Spainto work. Upon his return to the UK, heworked as the House of Commons chef.Currently, Jose is a senior lecturer of thebutchery department at WestminsterKingsway College and a demonstratorchef for Taste of Game and for the BritishAssociation of Shooting andConservation (BASC). He isone of the leading gamechefs in the UK. Jose is akeen stalker and falconer.

Jose’s book, Venison:The Game Larder isavalable now.

Jose Souto