P
L E N T Y
Meet Your Maker
Taste of Game
Annette Cole wants to convert you to eating wild meat twice a
week. Who’s game for pheasant tikka masala?
S
Special effects
You need to cook
venison steaks
quickly. They need
to be pink or they’ll
be dry.
Visit the website
tasteofgame.org.uk
for more cooking
tips, recipes, events
and online shop.
ustainable, extremely low in fat and
delicious, we should all be eating
more game. In fact, we already are.
Sales of game have been rising at a rate of
around 9% for the past three years, and
thanks to Taste of Game’s Annette Cole,
some people have sampled meats they’ve
never tasted before. For not only does the
campaigner promote the health benefits
of wild meat, she also produces recipes for
butchers and farm shops, and introduces
people to the joys of eating venison,
pheasant and partridge at food festivals. She
tells us where we should buy our game from,
how to cook with it and why you should
tuck into a three bird roast this Christmas.
Why should we eat more game?
It’s a natural meat. When the birds are
released [from their woodland enclosures]
after about two months, they’re completely
wild. They can eat whatever they like and
that really does improve the quality of the
meat. Venison is wild all the time, unless it
is farmed. It’s extremely healthy and low in
fat and cholesterol, and it has a range of
nutrients that are linked with reducing
dementia, and it’s also very high in iron.
Game is bred for sport. What would
you say to a meat eater who doesn’t
like the idea of shooting?
We think it’s nicer that a bird is shot in
the air than put in container in a trailer
and taken to a slaughter house. The stress
isn’t there. If birds weren’t reared for sport,
you just wouldn’t have the populations we
need to sustain them. A lot of them would
become extinct, because of the way they’re
managed and the way they’re looked after.
For venison in particular, it is very much
about controlling wild populations. Also,
shooting brings £2 billion into the rural
economy each year, and there’s the pest
control to consider - the control of the
rabbits, deer and pigeons which damage
the farmers’ crops.
Can’t game be a bit, well, gamey, if
hung for too long?
The old days, where game was hung for
weeks, doesn’t happen any more. It’s
processed quite quickly - two to three days
at most so you don’t get those really strong
game meat flavours coming through these
days. A pheasant and a partridge is like a
really good chicken. I think our chickens
have got very bland and I think game meat
gives you that taste.
Game meat is very low in fat, so how
do you cook with it to prevent it from
drying out?
Either cook it very quickly or add
something to it, so if you’re going to cook
a game bird, we recommend you put some
bacon around it or some butter on it.
Marinades and rubs are very good because
they seal the meat, and we always say you
should brown your meat because that seals
it and keeps the moisture in.
Most game meats should be served pink.
Venison is a good example of that - it makes
an excellent carpaccio or a tartare. You can
eat it raw, it’s delicious like that, but if it’s
cooked all the way through, it will go very
dry and tough. Like any meat, you should
leave it to rest.
You can cook venison slowly in a stew,
too. A lot of cuts, such as the shoulder
meats, are good to use in stews and
casseroles. They can be cooked for around
two and a half hours until they’re very
tender, and because you’re cooking them
in juices, that makes it very succulent.
What flavours go well with game?
At this time of year, root vegetables go
really well with any kind of game. Celeriac
with venison is really nice. Juniper or
blackberries go very well with birds, too
– that’s what they’re eating themselves. If
you’re thinking about spices with pheasants
and partridge, you should consider coriander
and cumin. Pigeon makes a very good curry
www.menu-dorset.co.uk
Game on!
Annette
offering samples
to the public at
the Brig hton Foo