Game On.....

Game in season

Not so long ago Irish people included a lot of game in their diet, it connected the city folk with the farming community in many ways. However during the last thirty years this has changed with intensive farming and cheep food. People started to eat a lot of bland chicken, beef, farmed fish and lamb. We almost turned our nose up at wild organic meat that did not come under the control of the multi nationals.
In the last few years this has changed and a lot of people are going back to the old ways of cooking and looking for the tastes of our fore fathers. Books have been written on how to cook Game and Chef’s are including more of it on their menus.
So this is an exciting time of year for a Chef, menu’s change to reflect the season, and we see the likes of Venison, Mallard, Pigeon, Grouse, Pheasant and Partridge all come to the fore. Thanks to good cooks and game dealers this fantastic natural food is becoming more popular.
The most important thing to remember while cooking game is not to overcook it; this dries it out and leaves it tasteless. Another good tip is not to overhang game birds, a day or two for a pheasant is plenty.
In my opinion the less you do to game the better it is, cook it simply with some seasonal vegetables and a little sauce and you have food fit for a King.