Eat wild: the best dishes to order during Great British Game Week 2019

During Great British Game Week (November 25 until December 1), the British Game Alliance’s Eat Wild campaign is set to encourage the consumption of feathered game in the UK for a second year running.

The campaign urges those who have never tried game before to give it a go, and will see a number of special game dishes pop-up on menus across the country (scroll down for a few to try).

Billed as a healthier and more sustainable, ethical alternative to domestic farmed poultry such as chicken, game has been steadily entering the mainstream and shedding its elitist associations – you can buy it in many supermarkets, and even order it in Young’s Pubs. At Drake and Morgan in Kings Cross, the pheasant sausage roll is a staple of the menu.

Earlier this year, the Waitrose No. 1 product launch saw the supermarket introduce an extensive game range, which includes partridge fillets and a game casserole, a British seasonal selection of diced venison, pheasant, partridge and mallard. Their sales of venison have gone up by over 60 per cent compared to last year.

According to the British Game Alliance (BGA), pheasant contains approximately a third more protein than chicken and has a third less cholesterol. Game is lower in calories, and higher in minerals such as selenium. “As well as enjoying a longer, better quality of life, wild game also has a lower carbon footprint than most mass-produced meats. The industry is essential to the management and maintenance of countryside environments,” says founder Tom Adams.

With the UN urging us to eat less red meat to reduce climate change, pressures on the red meat sector have “played a part in the growth in demand for game from people who are looking for sustainable protein sources, and who are increasingly mindful about where their meat comes from.”

Chefs are rising to the demand and catering to increasingly flexitarian, environmentally-conscious diners: last year, top London chefs including Yotam Ottolenghi and Claude Bosi at Bibendum introduced quail and venison on menus for the first time. Elsewhere, hunter Mike Robinson, who co-owns the Harwood Arms in Fulham, opened a new game-focussed restaurant, The Woodsman in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

“Game is on the rise,” Robinson told The Telegraph. “When I started cooking with wild food and game 15 years ago, I was one of the only ones – now I hardly know a British restaurant or pub in the winter months that doesn't have it on the menu.”

Now, the BGA has introduced a British Game Assurance Scheme, to give buyers and consumers the assurance of provenance, from egg to plate. Products marked with the logo have been shot according to strict best practice guidelines. "So many chefs love using game, and it is important that we source exclusively BGA-assured game for our menus,” says chef Michel Roux OBE.

“It ensures adherence to best practice in game management as well as offering traceability and quality assurance. It brings game production into the 21st century and it is most welcome."

For Adams, the introduction of the scheme has “professionalised” the sector, which used to be seen as “stuffy” and associated with “toffs”. It’s not only Brits developing a taste for wild meat: the BGA made headlines earlier this year when it garnered a deal with Hong Kong to trade 250,000 game birds (the first time British game meat has been exported).

While Waitrose game is not BGA-assured, it recently announced that from the 2019-20 season, it will begin phasing out the use of lead shot for its game (according to the Food Standards Agency, eating lead-shot game meat on a frequent basis can expose you to potentially harmful levels of lead).

Founded only last year, the BGA has partnered with numerous UK restaurants who solely supply BGA-assured game, including Nobu, Hawksmoor, Holborn Dining Room, Lyles, Sketch (recently awarded three Michelin stars in the 2020 Michelin Guide), Homeslice Pizza, and The Ned – as well as chains such as Drake & Morgan and Young’s.

New, innovative ways to serve game at home are proliferating too: there are recipes such as BBQ pulled pheasant pizzas, tandoori partridge and grouse kofta kebabs with red onion salsa on the BGA website. “The flavour profiles of one type of bird are completely unlike another, giving you plenty of room to experiment in the kitchen,” says Adams.

“Grouse feeds on heather and is rich tasting, whereas pheasant and partridge has milder, subtler flavours. It's why some chefs prefer it to chicken.” With grouse season coming to a close in Britain on 10th December, now’s the time to try it.

Stockists of BGA-assured game to cook at home include Harrods and Field and Flower, an online butcher; visit eatwild.co for the full list