Beyond Venison - Cooking Game Birds Over Fire

Ask most people to name a piece of game and they will say venison. Fair enough - it is our signature, and it deserves the attention. But if venison is the headline act, the game birds are the band that makes the whole show work. Pheasant, partridge, pigeon, the occasional mallard - these are some of the finest, and frankly cheapest, meats in Britain.

The trouble is that almost everyone cooks them badly. Dry pheasant has put more people off game than any other single dish. So let me put that right, because cooked over fire and treated with a bit of respect, game birds are extraordinary.

Why Game Birds Get a Bad Name

It comes down to one thing: fat, or rather the lack of it. A wild bird that has spent its life flying and foraging carries very little fat compared to a supermarket chicken bred to sit still and bulk up. Cook a pheasant like a roast chicken and you will get a dry, stringy disappointment. It is not the bird's fault. It is the method.

Once you understand that leanness is the challenge, everything else falls into place. You cook game birds hot and fast, or low and protected - never long and dry.

A pheasant is not a small chicken. Treat it like one and it will punish you. Treat it like the lean, wild thing it is, and it will reward you.
- Cai

Pigeon - The Underdog That Beats Steak

If I could get one bird onto every menu in the country, it would be wood pigeon. It is dark, rich, almost beefy, and it is everywhere - pigeon is one of the few birds you can take all year round, and it is doing real damage to British crops. It is sustainable, abundant, and absurdly good value.

The breast is the prize. We sear it hard over fierce coals for ninety seconds a side, then rest it. Pink in the middle, charred outside, sliced thin. People who swear they hate game eat pigeon at our events and come back for more. It is the gateway bird.

Brining, Fat and the Fire

For the larger birds - pheasant and partridge - a simple brine changes everything. A few hours in salted water keeps the meat juicy through the cook. Then we add the fat the bird never had: we bard the breasts with a little streaky bacon, or baste with butter and herbs as they cook beside the embers rather than over them.

This is where live fire earns its keep. The radiant heat of a fire lets you cook a whole bird gently to one side, turning and basting, while the skin crisps and takes on woodsmoke. You simply cannot get that smoke and that control from an oven. It is the same principle behind everything we do on the asado cross - distance from the flame is the dial you cook with.

Knowing the Seasons

Game birds are seasonal, and that is part of the joy. Partridge comes first in early autumn, pheasant follows and runs through to winter, and pigeon is there all year as a reliable constant. Eating with the seasons means the bird is at its best and the price is at its fairest. We build our menus around what is genuinely in season, which you can read more about in our seasonal menu guide.

What You Can Do at Home

Start with pigeon breasts from your local game dealer - they are cheap and almost impossible to ruin if you keep them pink. Get a pan or a grill screaming hot, ninety seconds a side, rest, slice. Or come to one of our workshops and we will show you how to handle a whole bird from feather to fire.

Venison will always be our headline. But do not sleep on the birds. They are wild, they are British, and cooked properly over flame, they are some of the best eating you will ever do.

- Cai