Game took pride of place in the kitchens of Leith's School of Food & Wine this month with the first game workshops launched by Game-to-Eat. The workshops, targeting professional chefs, were hosted by top chef and Game expert Lee Maycock.
Chefs from a London based food service organisation, a London pub, Bristol restaurant, in-house caterers to a major bank and a major hotel group attended.
Eight chefs attended the day to expand their knowledge on game, from species of game; seasonality, shooting, hanging and storing of game; available cuts; health benefits and the all-important cooking of game.
Chefs were then asked to devise a game dish from a choice of game cuts available plus a selection of mystery ingredients. The mouth-watering dishes produced included stuffed pheasant with a mushroom, cream and sage sauce; roasted venison on a bed of roasted vegetables with butternut squash puree; and roast wood pigeon with leek and mushroom fricassee with beetroot and carrot.
The dishes were judged at the end of the session and Lee Maycock awarded prizes to Baboucarr Sanneh, Chef at Royal Society and Pawel Zwirek, chef at Trowers & Hamlin. A runners-up prize was awarded to Emma Carpenter of the Park Lane Hotel, London.
Game-to-Eat, in its 10th year, is working to promote British wild game specifically for chefs, encouraging them to include it on their seasonal menu.
Alexia Robinson of Game-to-Eat, said she was delighted with the first Game-to-Eat workshop open to all professional chefs and the standard of dishes produced: “Game is versatile, healthy and fully traceable so should be used by chefs whether they are in a pub or Michelin-starred restaurants. We are looking forward to our second workshop at the end of September. Chefs can apply for a place on the workshop by emailing info@gametoeat.co.uk, we will also be looking to roll out further workshops next year.”
Chefs attended the workshop included:
Ismaila Jatta of The Union Pub prepared pheasant breast stuffed with herb and garlic butter on confit mushrooms. Ismaila selected pheasant as he really enjoyed tasting the pheasant breast wrapped in bacon that Lee Maycock had demmed earlier in the day.
Juan Sanchez of Park Lane Hotel, London chose to cook a whole grouse with red onion jam, potatoes and poached pears. Juan went for grouse as it was something he had not cooked previously so wanted to experiment.
Emma Carpenter of Park Lane Hotel, London chose to cook stuffed pheasant with a mushroom, cream and sage sauce served with butternut squash and rosemary and thyme potatoes. Emma's dish impressed and she won second prize - £50 of Russum's catering vouchers.
Pawel Zwirek of Trowers & Hamlin, London opted for roasted venison on a bed of roasted vegetables with butternut squash puree. Pawel had only ever tried venison stew so was keen to try cooking a different joint of venison. Pawel took joint first prize of £100 of Russum's catering vouchers.
Hugh Chung-Ming of Hoares Bank, London cooked venison on creamy leek mash with roasted beetroot and an apple and blackberry puree. Hugh is already a big fan of venison so wanted to cook something he enjoyed.
Wieslaw Wielgosz prepared a duo of game birds, including pheasant breasts stuffed with garlic and herbs and pigeon breast served with beetroot and horseradish puree, blackberry compote plus potatoes with a juniper berry jus.
Jonathan Alexander, of Park Lane Hotel opted to cook pan fried wood pigeon with glazed celery and beetroot. Jonathan really enjoyed trying wood pigeon during Lee Maycock's demonstration so wanted to experiment with other flavours.
Baboucarr Sanneh of Royal Society London, cooked Roast Wood Pigeon with Leek and Mushroom fricassee served with beetroot and carrot. Baboucarr took joint first prize of £100 of Russum's Catering vouchers. |
