Game Recipes

The Hill Billy

Well it's that time of the year when The Hillsfolk start bringing in game (mainly pheasant & pigeon at the mo).

My good neighbour Paddy dropped me off a strapping pair of cock pheasant on Sunday & if any of ye had any tried & trusted recipes I'd love to hear of them. If you've any fave recipes for any type of game post them here.




Oh, tips on plucking birds would be much appreciated & I tend to make a b0ll0x of it.

BuffyBot

http://forum.rivercottage.net/viewtopic.php?t=836&highlight=phesant might be useful

bonkey

Here's my better half's traditional Swiss recipe for pfeffer. The recipe is listed for venison, but you can use hare, boar, bison, wapiti, horse or even just plain ol' beef for it to be honest. Oh - and you want stewing cuts. So don't go buying canons of venison or racks of boar to do this way - go for something like shoulder.

And yes - you marinade for a week. Its not a typo in the recipe. Nor is the quantity of wine used

bonkey

Here's one I ad-hoc'ed at the weekend:

Rub cuts of venison entrecote with salt & pepper. If you have any "game spices", you can use that here, but IMO, I think it only changes the flavour - it doesn't add anything.

Wrap each piece with streaky bacon and sear off in the pan. Allow to cool. Wrap in (puff) pastry, brush with egg yolk or milk, then bung in the oven for 20-25 mins at 180 degrees.

bonkey

I also have a recipe knocking about for spiced meat. Its originally for beef, but it works the absolute bomb with boar or venison. I've posted it before but what with search not working, I can dig it up from home if ppl want.

bonkey

On the pheasant front....I'd proably go for a calvados-based recipe every time. A quick goole will turn up any number of alternatives on this theme.

The Hill Billy

In the end I jointed the birds, browned in seasoned flour, added to sweated leeks, onions, carrots, celery.
Added bouquet garni, pepper & salt.
300ml of organic cider (the name escapes me but it will be also getting a Drink of the Week nomintion), 300ml chicken stock.
Simmered for 1 hour, added 100ml cream & served with steamed spuds.

Yum.

tSubh Dearg

Okay I am going to divulge the family recipe for game, which has been handed down through generations of forest living folk.

I'm afraid it's a bit ad hoc but I'm sure you'll all get the idea.

Game the Schaffalitzky way

Take a big pot that can be used in the oven as well as on the hob. Brown pieces of streaky rasher (preferably from a block of bacon rather than sliced) or proscuittio (sp?) in the pot with a little oil to stop it sticking. Remove from pot when brown.

Then brown the game of your choice in the same pot. We'd usually leave the birds whole rather than jointing them.

When the meat is browned add the bacon back in and also add about a litre of milk (full fat is the best, in fact in it's original form the recipe used cream but this is the healthy(ier) heart version) Cover the pot and put in a medium oven for at least and hour depending on the size of the piece of meat. (eg a small pheasant will usually be fine after an hour, a pair will need longer, venison a bit longer again) Check every 30 mins and move around a bit.

When the meat is done remove it from the pot.

Now comes the best bit, the sauce.

In the pot you'll have what looks like curdled milk. Whisk this up with some flour, water and game stock if you have it (if not a beef stock cube will do), until it thickens into a beautiful sauce. We also add a bit of cream at this point and a tiny drop of browning. You also need to add a large dollop of redcurrent jelly to the sauce. The sauce should look a deep brown colour and taste fantastic, a sort of sweet meaty creamy flavour.

Serve game with boiled or mashed potatoes, green beans and redcurrent jelly on the side.

EDIT: As a little side note, if you have a very gamey piece of venison if you soak it overnight in buttermilk it makes it taste less "rotten".

plantjim

Go To Backwoods Bound.com Loads Of Normal Type Game Recipes Available

The Hill Billy

The cider in the pheasant recipe above is Weston's Organic Cider.

For some reason I can't edit the original post