Game is a sustainable and delicious choice for your festive feasts. Steven Frampton from Wild and Game told us why game Christmas hampers are a big hit this year – and read on for two winter recipes with a twist.
Game meat is gaining popularity across the UK, and West Country based game specialists Wild and Game are helping to drive the trend by making game enjoyable and accessible for all. The company educates consumers about the sustainability and health benefits of game while also demonstrating the wide range of dishes in which game can be enjoyed.
Wild and Game’s selection of ready to cook game is backed by free monthly recipe booklets full of international inspiration, drawing in flavours and cookery traditions from around the world. It also offers a full range of game ready meals, pies, pasties, sausages and burgers to make game easy and accessible even when you don’t want to cook a dish from scratch.
Wild and Game sells its products frozen, making game available all year round. In summer, it’s all about game barbecues, but in winter the more traditional game dishes come into their own. In particular, Wild and Game’s Christmas hampers are a big hit, offering all the game you need for a series of feasts over the festive period, plus additional items including cheese and chutneys.
From roasting venison joints and three bird roasts to game charcuterie and pâtés, the hampers make it possible to leave regular supermarket meats by the wayside and enjoy wild British fare right through the Christmas period.
Wild and Game co-founder Steven Frampton explains: “Our hampers are available to pre-order in the months leading up to Christmas, and you can select the delivery day, meaning you know exactly what will arrive and when. This year’s hampers are our biggest and best yet – we’re proud to have great relationships with our suppliers, which gives us access to the best quality meats, from muntjac legs to three bird roasts.
“We’ve also included plenty of items to take the strain out of cooking during the festive season, such as venison or pheasant Wellingtons and everything you need for a cold buffet spread. Christmas is a great time to get behind the game revolution, which is seeing more and more people embrace game as a healthy and sustainable alternative to meats such as turkey, beef or pork. Our hampers are one very easy way to do that.”
Five ways to switch to game this Christmas
1 Opt for a simple venison or pheasant Wellington on Christmas Eve, served up with your choice of vegetables and a red wine gravy.
2 Replace your Christmas turkey with a game three bird roast.
3 Choose roast venison for your Boxing Day feast.
4 Enjoy game pâtéand charcuterie as an easy cold buffet spread.
5 When you’re done with roasts, cook up something a bit different, such as Nordic-style venison and mash, or Asian honey garlic pheasant – see the recipes below.
NORDIC VENISON WITH CRANBERRIES
Feeds 2-3
Ingredients
1 pack of Wild and Game Nordic venison
250ml beef stock
1 onion, sliced
1 tbsp brandy
2 tbsp cranberry sauce
1 tbsp mushroom ketchup
1 tbsp cornflour
Vegetable or olive oil
Method
- Heat a glug or two of vegetable or olive oil in a sauté pan and cook the onion until soft.
- Add the venison and cook until browned.
- Add the brandy and cook until evaporated.
- Add the cranberry sauce, stock and mushroom ketchup.
- Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Thicken the sauce by mixing the cornflour with a little water then stirring it into the pan. Keep stirring until thickened.
- Serve with mashed potato.
SLOW-COOKED HONEY GARLIC PHEASANT
Feeds 4
Ingredients
1 pack of Wild and Game pheasant breast, diced
1 medium onion, diced Vegetable oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
Sauce ingredients
100 ml runny honey
100ml light soy sauce
1 tbsp hoi sin sauce
200ml chicken stock
1 tsp sriracha sauce
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp cornflour
To serve
Sesame Seeds
6 Spring Onions, chopped
Rice
1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3/170OC/155OC fan.
2. In a lidded, oven-proof pot, fry the onion in a little vegetable oil until soft.
3. Add the pheasant and cook until white.
4. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute.
5. Add all the sauce ingredients apart from the cornflour and cook, stirring, until bubbling. 6. Place in the oven for 1h 45m-2h.
7. Remove from the oven and heat on the hob until bubbling.
8. Mix the cornflour with a little water until smooth.
9. Stir the cornflour mix into the sauce and keep stirring until the sauce has thickened.
10. Serve on rice, sprinkled with sesame seeds and spring onion.