Game Glorious Game

Ask for the daily specials if you want to make the most of game season, says Bread Street Kitchen head chef Paul Shearing.

Game is a hallmark of British cuisine and fabulously healthy too, so of course you want to make the most of the season.

The proper wild stuff (because some ‘game’ meats are in fact farmed) is only available at particular times of year. And because it’s wild, the availability is… well, whatever it is. Mother Nature is abundant but sometimes the animals don’t get the memo!

Of course the rarity of an ingredient effects not just the price but whether or not we can guarantee there’ll be enough each day to print it on the menu.

That’s why, when you come into restaurants such as Bread Street Kitchen, the best way to make the most of game season is to ask the team about daily specials.

“You can rely on the opinion of our front of house staff,” says head chef Paul Shearing. “They taste everything and we rely on their feedback.”

Best of British

Paul is especially passionate about game and has a permanent order with all the best suppliers in the UK to take as much as they can supply.

He really does sit down and look at what is in the kitchen each day before deciding what to do with it.

“How we’ll cook pheasant, for example, depends on what veg we also have coming in,” he explains. “At the moment we’re doing two dishes to utilize the whole bird – breasts for a main course and legs and thighs for a salad.”

In recent years it has been difficult to get a consistent quality of grouse. These birds are particularly associated with game season because it begins on ‘The Glorious Twelfth’ of August, the day the grouse shooting season opens each year.

Grouse is an acquired taste and, as Paul says, needs love when cooking. “We roast it then rest it and take it off the bone and encase it in duck fat.” (Incidentally, BSK uses this same method for hare.)

If you’re wary of grouse’s assertive flavour, try partridge instead. According to Paul: “Partridge tastes as I imagine chicken was in your grandparents’ day – when roast chicken was the centre of the week. It has a homegrown, natural taste. The French red and British grey-legged partridges taste very similar but we pay a premium for the British variety.”

Venison – being furred rather than feathered – is another thing entirely; a wonderful lean meat that should appeal to beef lovers.

Better than bolognese?

Venison ragu is one of the most popular dishes at Bread Street Kitchen. “Customers go mad for it,” says Paul. “We make it with Highland venison haunches, our own fresh pasta, and aged parmesan. It’s a simple dish with an unctuous sauce that really clings to the pasta.”

Of course Bread Street Kitchen is not the only Gordon Ramsay Restaurant to showcase game at this time of year. Pétrus is putting its elegant spin on Lake District venison and grouse. Think roast loin of fallow deer with salt-baked beetroot, soubise and juniper jus.

Or why not bring your favourite person to York & Albany to share a trio of Cumbrian venison with cauliflower cheese croquettes, pickled red cabbage, kale and truffle mash?

For home dining, you’re sure to find inspiration in this venison recipe from the Bread Street Kitchen cookbook. Or try Heddon Street Kitchen’s lively pheasant salad strewn with juicy and crunchy pomegranate seeds. No need to go shooting! Both venison and pheasant can be purchased from premium supermarkets as well as good independent butchers and farmers’ market stalls.