Welcome to my wild meat & game recipes page. Wild meat & meat in general can often cause some controversy depending on your preferred lifestyle & personal disposition, so for those that aren't into eating meat this page probably isn't for you. If however, like me, you do like to indulge every now & then or even seasonally so then I hope you will find some ideas & inspiration from this page. It will come as no surprise to many of you that we have extremely flawed farming systems in the UK & globally, whether that be plant or animal based. Personally, I'm very discerning about what types of food I choose to consume & from who I purchase or source from - though I generally forage or grow most of my own when it comes to vegetables and fruits. I mostly purchase my commercial meats (lamb/pork/chicken) from Gazegill Organic Farm in Lancashire and even then I don't purchase/consume much. I choose Gazegill because their animal welfare, husbandry & wifery is excellent. I much prefer to consume seasonal, wild, organic meats particularly venison, hare & wood pigeon. I do eat pheasant and that in itself used to cause me some indifference; I don't like the mass intensive industry of pheasant rearing, feeding and shooting. However, that industry isn't going to cease but I can choose to obtain my pheasants from small scale ethical game dealers (and I do and I visit their premises to purchase). I'd rather the meat was put to good use as opposed to buried in mass graves and left to rot down. Anyway, I'm not here to justify myself nor my reasons for choosing to eat meat. Life feeds off life and anyone that eats is taking the life of something else whether that be vegetable, animal or mineral, it's all about perception.
Potted Pheasant: https://edible-leeds.blogspot.com/2017/12/recipe-potted-pheasant.html
Pheasant & Wild Garlic Dolmades: https://edible-leeds.blogspot.com/2017/03/pheasant-and-wild-garlic-dolmades.html
Slow Braised Ox Cheek & Blewit Stew w/ Yorkshire Puddings
A hearty, warming and nourishing stew for those darker, colder days (not a wild meat but it sits better on this page). I've made this dish twice in the past month & specific ingredient quantities were very different on each occasion given the differering number of folks I was cooking for. I rarely weigh out my ingredients for dishes such as this, preferring to go with my instincts. Therefore, I haven't assigned any specific quantities. The initials 'FC' mean finely chopped not football club :)
Stew:
Ox Cheek
Onion - FC
Celery - FC
Carrot - FC
Garlic Cloves - FC
Field or Wood Blewits - Sliced
Dried Ceps
Winter Chanterelles
Bottle Red Wine (I used a home-made Elderberry/Runner Bean on the second occasion & a shop bought one first time)
Water
Calvados or other brandy
Butter
Fresh Thyme
Bay Leaves
Star Anise
Ground Cloves
Mixed Peppercorns
Plain Flour/Cep Powder/Peppery Bolete Powder for coating meat
Pepper & Salt
Yorkshire Puddings:
225g Plain Flour
350 - 375ml Full Fat Milk
4 Large Free Range/Organic Eggs
Sieve the flour into a glass bowl, whisk the eggs and milk in a separate bowl/jug and then pour onto the flour. Gently mix with a spoon and then leave at room temperature for 3-4 hours.
Main Prepping & Cooking Guidelines:
Cube the Ox Cheek, mix a quantity of plain flour and the mushroom powders together and coat the meat with it, put to one side. Place onion, carrot, celery in a casserole dish with a small amount of sunflower oil and fry very gently for approx 10mins (place lid on pan to retain moisture & flavour). Add blewits, butter and fry gently 5/6 minutes. Add garlic cook 2-3 mins. Once vegetables/fungi are cooked remove from pan as it's time to fry and brown the meat. Add meat directly to dry pan & fry on all sides until golden brown, without adding oil. Once meat is browned remove from the pan and put with the vegetables/fungi. Increase the heat of the now empty pan and add the brandy & a glass of the wine, this will 'de-glaze' the pan, after a couple of minutes add the meat/veg/fungi, dried ceps, herbs, spices (but not the salt add this salt at the end to season), remainder of the red wine and a glass or two of water. Put the lid on the casserole dish, bring gently to the boil and then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Let simmer for 20 minutes and then put casserole dish into a pre-heated oven at 150 Degrees C for 3 - 3.5 hours. Remove from the oven and up the heat to 220 Degrees C.
It's time to cook the Yorkshires!
Pour the mixture into a sieve which should be placed above another bowl/jug and let drip through, any clumps left over can then be pushed through the sieve. Put a drizzle of sunflower oil into each indentation of a yorkshire pudding tray (see image)) and put the tray into the now very hot oven for approx 10 minutes. Remove and pour the yorkshire pudding mixture into tray bits - the mixture should fizz on contact with the hot oil. Put back into oven and cook for approx 15-16 minutes.
To Serve: Put Yorkshire/s onto a warmed plate, spoon in some of the stew, garnish with a little fresh chopped thyme & fresh ground black pepper. Serve with other types of veg if that's what you fancy :)
Creamy, Pheasant, Wild Fungi & Herb Risotto
I was lucky to find a hen pheasant that had been hit by a car on Sunday evening. Seeing the opportunity of a fine meal I promptly stopped the car picked up the pheasant and that was that.
Summer fungi are also coming into season and it so happens that I spent Sunday afternoon checking some of my favourite sites, I was not disappointed. So, what better way to celebrate than a mouthwatering medley of these very fine wild ingredients.
Preparation: Cut/slice/dice/chop how you wish to. The following is a guideline and how I prepped mine. Serves 1 hungry forager or two as lighter snack. I haven't stipulated amounts of ingredients, you can decide on those.
Thighs & Goujons of the pheasant
Chanterelle, Hedgehog, Horse Mushroom, Fairy Ring Champignon, Horn of Plenty. You can use any variety of wild fungi or use a shop bought exotic mix - more fungi flavour the better!
Chickweed
Sheeps Sorrel
Garlic
Onion
Celery
Carrot
Leek
Risotto Rice
Stock (I used the pheasant carcass for mine)
Double Cream
Parmesan
Salt/Pepper
Thinly slice & dice the onion, carrot, celery, garlic & just thinly slice the leek. Place the all but the garlic in a saucepan, add a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of salt and saute on a gentle heat until the onion is soft (approx 7-8 mins). Add the garlic & saute for 2 mins more. Add 3/4 of the warm stock, bring to a gentle simmer and leave approx 20-25 mins but make sure to stir every now and then to prevent sticking. While risotto is cooking, clean, chop the fungi, clean chickweed (I use a pair of scissors while out picking this and I only take the top 5cm), clean sheeps sorrel (keep 4-5 leaves for garnishing), put all to one side. Put the pheasant goujons/thighs into the remaining stock & poach gently for 3-4 mins, remove, cool slightly, dice, put to one side. Once rice is al dente add the fungi, double cream, cook 5 mins, add pheasant meat, cook 2 mins more and that should be it. Remove from heat, add chickweed/sorrel/parmesan, stir to mix in & season. Serve in warm bowl/s, garnish with a few sorrel leaves and tuck in.
Homemade Pheasant Stock:
In a saucepan place, pheasant carcass, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, star anise, peppercorns, fresh thyme and 1.5pints water. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer pop a lid on and leave for an hour or two. Strain contents through a sieve into a claen pan and reduce to about 1 pint, the stock should have a deep, rich flavour and not be watery tasting, if it is, reduce it some more.
I first made this dish approximately 4 years ago - my lovely hound Alfie (a Lurcher) caught one while we were out on an autumn forage, no, we weren't actively hunting hares. I had never even seen a hare before let alone cook one. Fortunately, I did have a copy of the 'River Cottage Cookbook' which happened to have a recipe for Jugged Hare. Alf has since had a couple of hares over the years while out walking. I've tweeked the original recipe by adding wild ingredients, these are optional but highly recommended (see recipe below). As mentioned in the book 'this is perhaps the ultimate dish for game-lovers', pretty bang on imho!
A few weeks back I was lucky enough to find a fresh road kill hare, in pristine condition - it joined the rest of the days mouth watering foraged finds. Usually I'd 'hang' the hare a few days prior to prepping/eating. Given my recent schedule, a quick butchery session ensued & hare was put into freezer, to await my return.
Jugged Hare
1 Adult Hare + its blood
1 large firm porcini (optional)
Bottle of ace red wine (home-made elderberry & blackberry ideal!)
100g smoked pancetta
3 shallots, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
30g butter
Flour & mushroom powder to coat the hare (I use a couple of tablespoons of dried ground porcini tubes - optional)
100ml Calvados apple brandy
25g quality dark bitter chocolate, grated
Marinade
3 garlic cloves fine chopped
6 shallots, sliced
4 sprigs spignel (optional)
4 sprigs thyme (wild if poss & double the quantity)
4 sprigs parsley
3 bay leaves
10 peppercorns
Recipe
Joint the hare and place it in a bowl with all the marinade ingredients and the bottle of wine, put in the fridge overnight.
Next day, remove the hare from the marinade & pat dry with kitchen paper, put hare pieces and marinade to one side.
Put the pancetta in a cast iron casserole dish, add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and cook gently for 5 mins, add the other finely sliced shallots & carrot and sweat down for a further 5 mins. While this sweats mix the flour and mushroom powder and dust the pieces of hare with it, put them in a frying pan with a little oil and butter and fry until nicely browned. Place the browned hare pieces in the casserole dish, add the marinade (wine /herbs/vegetables) and a little water to just cover all ingredients, bring gently to the simmer. Once simmering place the casserole dish in a pre-heated oven at 150 degrees and leave for approx 3 hours. The meat should after this time be very tender and fall away from the bones.
The final stage before tucking into this delightful dish is to add the blood (if you so choose to). To do this, remove the pieces of hare (place in a warmed bowl) & strain the liquid through a sieve. Ensure the blood is in a small jug, add a couple of spoons of the cooking liquid to warm it slightly, then add a couple of spoonfuls of the blood to the main liquid on the hob and stir as you do so until all the blood is added. If you do this gradually the liquid shouldn't curdled (don't worry if it does only the appearance and not the taste, will be affected). Add the hare and strained vegetables back into the cooking liquor along with the grated chocolate, stir and then serve. I served the above on crushed buttered new potatoes and have a glass of the same wine with it. Hugh recommends serving with creamy mash which works equally well. Enjoy!
Potted Pheasant: https://edible-leeds.blogspot.com/2017/12/recipe-potted-pheasant.html
Pheasant & Wild Garlic Dolmades: https://edible-leeds.blogspot.com/2017/03/pheasant-and-wild-garlic-dolmades.html
Slow Braised Ox Cheek & Blewit Stew w/ Yorkshire Puddings
A hearty, warming and nourishing stew for those darker, colder days (not a wild meat but it sits better on this page). I've made this dish twice in the past month & specific ingredient quantities were very different on each occasion given the differering number of folks I was cooking for. I rarely weigh out my ingredients for dishes such as this, preferring to go with my instincts. Therefore, I haven't assigned any specific quantities. The initials 'FC' mean finely chopped not football club :)
 |
| Served in Yorkshire Puds |
Ox Cheek
Onion - FC
Celery - FC
Carrot - FC
Garlic Cloves - FC
Field or Wood Blewits - Sliced
Dried Ceps
Winter Chanterelles
Bottle Red Wine (I used a home-made Elderberry/Runner Bean on the second occasion & a shop bought one first time)
Water
Calvados or other brandy
Fresh Thyme
Bay Leaves
Star Anise
Ground Cloves
Mixed Peppercorns
Plain Flour/Cep Powder/Peppery Bolete Powder for coating meat
Pepper & Salt
Yorkshire Puddings:
225g Plain Flour
350 - 375ml Full Fat Milk
4 Large Free Range/Organic Eggs
Sieve the flour into a glass bowl, whisk the eggs and milk in a separate bowl/jug and then pour onto the flour. Gently mix with a spoon and then leave at room temperature for 3-4 hours.
Main Prepping & Cooking Guidelines:
Cube the Ox Cheek, mix a quantity of plain flour and the mushroom powders together and coat the meat with it, put to one side. Place onion, carrot, celery in a casserole dish with a small amount of sunflower oil and fry very gently for approx 10mins (place lid on pan to retain moisture & flavour). Add blewits, butter and fry gently 5/6 minutes. Add garlic cook 2-3 mins. Once vegetables/fungi are cooked remove from pan as it's time to fry and brown the meat. Add meat directly to dry pan & fry on all sides until golden brown, without adding oil. Once meat is browned remove from the pan and put with the vegetables/fungi. Increase the heat of the now empty pan and add the brandy & a glass of the wine, this will 'de-glaze' the pan, after a couple of minutes add the meat/veg/fungi, dried ceps, herbs, spices (but not the salt add this salt at the end to season), remainder of the red wine and a glass or two of water. Put the lid on the casserole dish, bring gently to the boil and then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Let simmer for 20 minutes and then put casserole dish into a pre-heated oven at 150 Degrees C for 3 - 3.5 hours. Remove from the oven and up the heat to 220 Degrees C.
It's time to cook the Yorkshires!Pour the mixture into a sieve which should be placed above another bowl/jug and let drip through, any clumps left over can then be pushed through the sieve. Put a drizzle of sunflower oil into each indentation of a yorkshire pudding tray (see image)) and put the tray into the now very hot oven for approx 10 minutes. Remove and pour the yorkshire pudding mixture into tray bits - the mixture should fizz on contact with the hot oil. Put back into oven and cook for approx 15-16 minutes.
To Serve: Put Yorkshire/s onto a warmed plate, spoon in some of the stew, garnish with a little fresh chopped thyme & fresh ground black pepper. Serve with other types of veg if that's what you fancy :)
Creamy, Pheasant, Wild Fungi & Herb Risotto
I was lucky to find a hen pheasant that had been hit by a car on Sunday evening. Seeing the opportunity of a fine meal I promptly stopped the car picked up the pheasant and that was that.Summer fungi are also coming into season and it so happens that I spent Sunday afternoon checking some of my favourite sites, I was not disappointed. So, what better way to celebrate than a mouthwatering medley of these very fine wild ingredients.
Preparation: Cut/slice/dice/chop how you wish to. The following is a guideline and how I prepped mine. Serves 1 hungry forager or two as lighter snack. I haven't stipulated amounts of ingredients, you can decide on those.
Thighs & Goujons of the pheasant
Chanterelle, Hedgehog, Horse Mushroom, Fairy Ring Champignon, Horn of Plenty. You can use any variety of wild fungi or use a shop bought exotic mix - more fungi flavour the better!
Chickweed
 |
| Assorted wild fungi & herbs |
Garlic
Onion
Celery
Carrot
Leek
Risotto Rice
Stock (I used the pheasant carcass for mine)
Double Cream
Parmesan
Salt/Pepper
Thinly slice & dice the onion, carrot, celery, garlic & just thinly slice the leek. Place the all but the garlic in a saucepan, add a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of salt and saute on a gentle heat until the onion is soft (approx 7-8 mins). Add the garlic & saute for 2 mins more. Add 3/4 of the warm stock, bring to a gentle simmer and leave approx 20-25 mins but make sure to stir every now and then to prevent sticking. While risotto is cooking, clean, chop the fungi, clean chickweed (I use a pair of scissors while out picking this and I only take the top 5cm), clean sheeps sorrel (keep 4-5 leaves for garnishing), put all to one side. Put the pheasant goujons/thighs into the remaining stock & poach gently for 3-4 mins, remove, cool slightly, dice, put to one side. Once rice is al dente add the fungi, double cream, cook 5 mins, add pheasant meat, cook 2 mins more and that should be it. Remove from heat, add chickweed/sorrel/parmesan, stir to mix in & season. Serve in warm bowl/s, garnish with a few sorrel leaves and tuck in.
Homemade Pheasant Stock:
In a saucepan place, pheasant carcass, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, star anise, peppercorns, fresh thyme and 1.5pints water. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer pop a lid on and leave for an hour or two. Strain contents through a sieve into a claen pan and reduce to about 1 pint, the stock should have a deep, rich flavour and not be watery tasting, if it is, reduce it some more.
I first made this dish approximately 4 years ago - my lovely hound Alfie (a Lurcher) caught one while we were out on an autumn forage, no, we weren't actively hunting hares. I had never even seen a hare before let alone cook one. Fortunately, I did have a copy of the 'River Cottage Cookbook' which happened to have a recipe for Jugged Hare. Alf has since had a couple of hares over the years while out walking. I've tweeked the original recipe by adding wild ingredients, these are optional but highly recommended (see recipe below). As mentioned in the book 'this is perhaps the ultimate dish for game-lovers', pretty bang on imho!
A few weeks back I was lucky enough to find a fresh road kill hare, in pristine condition - it joined the rest of the days mouth watering foraged finds. Usually I'd 'hang' the hare a few days prior to prepping/eating. Given my recent schedule, a quick butchery session ensued & hare was put into freezer, to await my return.
Jugged Hare
1 Adult Hare + its blood
1 large firm porcini (optional)
Bottle of ace red wine (home-made elderberry & blackberry ideal!)
100g smoked pancetta
3 shallots, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
30g butter
Flour & mushroom powder to coat the hare (I use a couple of tablespoons of dried ground porcini tubes - optional)
100ml Calvados apple brandy
25g quality dark bitter chocolate, grated
Marinade
3 garlic cloves fine chopped
6 shallots, sliced
4 sprigs spignel (optional)
4 sprigs thyme (wild if poss & double the quantity)
4 sprigs parsley
3 bay leaves
10 peppercorns
Recipe
Joint the hare and place it in a bowl with all the marinade ingredients and the bottle of wine, put in the fridge overnight.
Next day, remove the hare from the marinade & pat dry with kitchen paper, put hare pieces and marinade to one side.
Put the pancetta in a cast iron casserole dish, add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and cook gently for 5 mins, add the other finely sliced shallots & carrot and sweat down for a further 5 mins. While this sweats mix the flour and mushroom powder and dust the pieces of hare with it, put them in a frying pan with a little oil and butter and fry until nicely browned. Place the browned hare pieces in the casserole dish, add the marinade (wine /herbs/vegetables) and a little water to just cover all ingredients, bring gently to the simmer. Once simmering place the casserole dish in a pre-heated oven at 150 degrees and leave for approx 3 hours. The meat should after this time be very tender and fall away from the bones.
The final stage before tucking into this delightful dish is to add the blood (if you so choose to). To do this, remove the pieces of hare (place in a warmed bowl) & strain the liquid through a sieve. Ensure the blood is in a small jug, add a couple of spoons of the cooking liquid to warm it slightly, then add a couple of spoonfuls of the blood to the main liquid on the hob and stir as you do so until all the blood is added. If you do this gradually the liquid shouldn't curdled (don't worry if it does only the appearance and not the taste, will be affected). Add the hare and strained vegetables back into the cooking liquor along with the grated chocolate, stir and then serve. I served the above on crushed buttered new potatoes and have a glass of the same wine with it. Hugh recommends serving with creamy mash which works equally well. Enjoy!
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