Game on

1. Ahead of the game​

At first light on Tuesday 12 August, team members from ETM Group headed out to the North Yorkshire moors with Ben Weatherall of Yorkshire Game to bag the season’s first braces. They then raced down to the Jugged Hare in the City of London to bring customers game dishes that don’t often appear so soon on the capital’s menus.

William Chase’s sloe and mulberry gin was served at a drinks reception before the chefs cooked up a game dinner, including hare prepared in its own blood, with matching wines by 7pm. Guests were able to follow their dinner’s progress throughout the day on Twitter @TheJuggedHare #greatgrouserace.
Tickets for the five-course dinner cost £85 and 50 customers attended, while the pub attracted 178 new Twitter followers.

2. Competitive element​

Charlie Dingley, head chef at the Inn at West End in Surrey, was among four finalists in this year’s CLA (Country Land and Business Association) Game Fair’s national game competition. Run in association with The Field​, it features “unrecognised chefs who enjoy cooking with game and embrace the British countryside”. In front of a live audience, runner-up Dingley cooked roebuck loin stuffed with kidneys, redcurrants & medlar jelly, crispy potatoes, spinach and a Port & chocolate reduction.

The resulting publicity is boosting footfall and interest in the pub’s game menu, which includes fallow deer – especially from those shooting at nearby world-famous Bisley. “It’s well worth entering competitions,” says Dingley. “It’s an excellent way to meet other chefs, raise your profile and attract free advertising.”

3. Game haven​

“Desperate locals call in to our pub’s adjoining butchery for game and other locally sourced meat at all hours,” says Scott Chapman, landlord of the Queen’s Head, in Hawkedon, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. “Venison, muntjac, pheasant, partridge, pigeon breasts, rabbit and hare are usually available or can be ordered.” Game evenings are hosted, often in conjunction with the British Association for Shooting and Conservation’s Taste Of Game events, plus a summer quiz and barbecue.

At the end of the shooting season this award-winning freehold runs a Game Week menu, including boar and guinea fowl. Scott sees “a good synthesis between pub customers visiting the shop and vice versa, with some dishes, such as pies, selling well as takeaway items to be cooked off at home.”

4. Baked in a pie​

Game can make a useful contribution to pub classics such as pies and burgers as well as fine-dining menus. North Yorkshire-born celebrity chef James Martin develops pies for Mitchells & Butler’s Vintage Inns country pub-restaurants, which feature a Wednesday Pie Day, when customers select one of six pies and choose favourite accompaniments. One of the ‘vintage pies’ is Martin’s slow-cooked game and blackberry, braised in a rich red wine gravy with thyme and sloe gin, topped with mature Cheddar, crème fraîche and chive scone lid (£13.45).

And at Gastropub Chef of the Year Josh Eggleton’s award-winning freehold the Pony & Trap in Chew Magna, Somerset, the P&T beef & venison burger comes with a sesame bun, burger mayonnaise, mustard, onion salad & chips (£11.50).

5. Raise your game​

Rustic hampers attract shooting parties to community-focused freehold the Red Cow in Chrishall, Essex, where participants are catered for throughout the day of the shoot with English breakfasts (£10), snacks (£3), and an informal ‘dig-in’ dinner including a pint (£16.50) or formal meal (£18.50 for two courses; £21.50 for three, with a glass of wine). Red Cow-branded hampers (£12) can be pre-booked and dropped off the next day, when the party have scoffed the contents, including game or pork pie; Scotch eggs; sausage rolls; Cheddar, Stilton and biscuits; pickled onions, sun-dried tomatoes and English mustard.

Champagne with sloe gin (dubbed ‘sloegasm’) can be taken away in multiples of six. “Catering for parties of eight to 24 also extends trade, as partners often come along afterwards,” says owner Toby Didier’serre.

6.  Open-air oven​

Geoff Holland has just renewed his 20-year Admiral Taverns lease at the Holly Bush Inn, in Salt, near Stafford and is still finding ways to innovate, including cooking game and a wide range of other British foods in his family-run pub’s wood-burning garden oven. “Baking haunch of venison in it is a joy,” says Holland. “We’ve had the oven for 10 years and venison is one of our customers’ favourites. We save money and staff time, as the oven is cheap to run and easy to supervise.

With 2,000 covers a week, that’s a big advantage. There’s very little waste – and stuffing the haunch, for example with forcemeat, helps bring our GP to around 66%. The size varies a great deal, but a large one feeds up to 16 diners.”

7. Gamekeeper’s menu​

Stosie Madi, co-owner of Lancashire’s Parkers Arms in Newton-in-Bowland, north-west regional winner of the Best Food Pub Award in this year’s Great British Pub Awards, is well-known for her set three-course gamekeeper’s menu, offered from the Glorious Twelfth into October. Named as the Craft Guild of Chefs’ Pub Restaurant Chef 2013, Madi offers starters such as potted spiced trout or robust venison broth.

Each bird for the whole roast Abbeystead grouse platter is sourced from the nearby Duchy of Lancaster, and accompanied by the bird’s heart and liver on a skewer, pickled local foraged blackberries and a bramble jus. “Wines are key,” says Madi. “Cabernet Sauvignon combines well with blackberries in our gravy.” Prices depend on the amount shooters expect – last year’s dinner cost £30.

Get to grips with glorious grouse​

To celebrate the Glorious Twelfth, Taste of Game, which promotes the delights of eating game, is publishing Glorious Grouse​, a short guide to where to buy this ‘king of game birds’, including online outlets, and featuring game recipes. “London restaurants traditionally compete to be first to serve grouse each season, but grouse is easy to buy – online, for example – and to cook at home,” says Taste of Game development manager Annette Cole.

“Seasonal, low-fat, natural, wild game is a treat, with grouse often considered the tastiest of all game birds. Few dishes beat traditional roast grouse served with bread sauce, game chips, watercress and redcurrant jelly – a real taste of late British summer and early autumn.”

For details visit: http://tasteofgame.org.uk/glorious-grouse/​
 

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