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The beautiful game
Many would say it is a symbol of Scotland, suggestive of heather-strewn hills and glens of tranquillity. Apart from its use to brand a popular blended whisky, wild game draws sportsmen from all over the world and many will choose a particular restaurant simply because it is on the menu.
But while we may have an evolutionary history of hunting game for the pot, the modern palate has, for years, been more accustomed to meat such as chicken, beef and lamb.
Jo Skailes investigates the growing potential of this indigenous product and why it should rightfully claim a place on everyone's menus…
A concerted campaign to raise the profile of our native dish is turning the tide and transforming the lean, unadulterated and flavoursome meat into a brand in demand, although many believe there is a still long way to go.
In a report commissioned by the Scottish Countryside Alliance (SCA), it was found that the total market for wild game and exotic meats grew by 17% in value from 1999, to reach an estimated value of £41 million in 2004. The game-meat market may remain small but its double-digit growth was in marked contrast to the single-digit augmentation seen in the primary red- and white-meat sectors.
It has continued upwards since then, aided by the British promotional campaign Game-to-Eat and its use on TV cookery programmes, as well as marketing initiatives up and down the country.
Hugo Straker, Vice-Chairman of the Game Conservancy Scottish Fair, said it would be further promoted at the annual event which is held in the grounds of Scone Palace from June 30 to July 2.
'It is a wonderful shop window to educate the wider public about the fruits of the countryside,' he says.
'Game brings huge numbers of sportsmen and women to enjoy Scotland's natural heritage. 'As a result of that we have fantastic produce, and food is brought to people in a kind of virtuous circle.
'It epitomises conservation through wise use; if we can conserve game species and look after the countryside well, we can justify taking a sustainable harvest.'
Scottish Food Fortnight (SFF), held between September 2 and 17, will promote it still further. We will be promoting local food for local people,' says Nicola Chalmers-Watson, SFF Co-ordinator and SCA Director of Fundraising. 'We want to emphasise game as a local, nutritious product and give people the chance to try various dishes, like pigeon, for example, or take part in competitions and workshops.'
A game-keeping course at Breadalbane Academy, Perthshire, is just one of the opportunities to spread awareness of game, and there are many more in the pipeline.
So, game may be on the up but as we look towards the start of the season in August, what do industry insiders think?
Craig Stevenson, Managing Director of Braehead Foods, was very positive: 'I think there are now so many places selling game that if someone is not selling it then they are the odd one out. It has really picked up in the last two or three years and probably 90 per cent of restaurants have it on their menus.'
Craig reported a 34.7 percent increase in his own sales in the past year: 'While other prices have gone through the roof, game is an upmarket product at a comparatively cheap price.'
Contrary to some commentators who lament the low domestic consumption, Craig believes that because it is a niche product which is relatively challenging to find in supermarkets, more people consequently eat it in restaurants.
Ian Mackinlay, Secretary of the Scottish Game Dealers/ Processors' Association (SGD/PA), says the time is ripe for game: 'What is becomingly increasingly obvious to people is that game is not just for the few, and that it is available to a far wider audience,' he says.
For Paul Hart, Head Chef at Cringletie House near Peebles, game is representative of our inherent Scottishness. When he first started using game he experienced problems with suppliers and faced unreliable quality but that had since changed.
'It is important to try and keep this industry going,' he says. 'And it's important for young people to try it. If they are used to it from a young age then we are in with a chance. They don't have a brace of pheasants in the garage like our grandparents might have had and many don't know what to do with it.'
Bob Ovington, Executive Chef at Macdonald Pittodrie House Hotel, near Inverurie, uses a lot of game on the menu throughout the season. 'I'm passionate about game and I don't believe we use enough of it,' he says. 'It is nutritious, there is very little fat and it is, essentially, organic; it covers all the bases we are supposed to be looking out for. It's very versatile and it can be used in both starters and main courses.'
On grouse, he says: 'If it is young, it is an amazing, beautiful bird, with an almost milky texture. However, old grouse is tough as old boots and might put someone off for life!'
Speaking out against a loss of core skills, he feels that many young chefs don't understand the concept: 'It's a question of education. They may not know a young grouse when they see one, I train my chefs so they know what to do but as an industry we are deskilling it.'
Jeff Bland, Executive Chef at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, said partridge and grouse were particularly popular on his menu:
'I think game is one of those things you just encourage by putting it on the menu and people try it for a change. We don't need to push it. Whatever we get we sell and there's no problem.
'For us it goes back to the traditions of the season. Game is probably one of the few things that still epitomises that. It is probably the last bastion of really seasonal products.'
Processors feel that the difficulty lies in persuading housewives and young people to prepare and cook game at home.
Alex Hogg, Chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers' Association, believes that we need to pull together to promote it as a good foodstuff: 'We have got to make that breakthrough and get people to buy it, he says. 'We can't be seen to be wasting it and we have got to try and keep the prices at a level that people can afford.'
Richard Cooke, Secretary of the Association of Deer Management Groups agrees, but thinks it will be an uphill struggle: 'The game industry is quite fragmented and in a poor state,' he says. ' Prices paid for pheasants fall far below an acceptable economic level. We are missing a trick. There has been a lot of exposure but the market has proved resistant to increasing the quantity of game.'
Johnny Rutherford, Director of Burnside Farm Foods near Kelso, feels the challenge for the game industry lies in promoting it to everyone from every walk of life. He firmly believes in the virtues of farmers' markets as effective outlets in which to promote game, and that oven-ready products such as stuffed pheasant breasts make a big difference:
'We are trying to take the myth out of how difficult it is,' he says. 'We have to do it wherever we can because it is such a small season that we have to promote whenever possible.'
He has also been involved in trying to encourage schoolchildren to eat it, and has prepared food for health weeks at Kelso swimming pool: 'I cook game and put it into forms the kids will appreciate, like burgers and sausages, but more still needs to be done. I think there is a lot that we could sell in supermarkets, and not as elite or snob value products. I think that would help a great deal.'
George Whiteford, of game dealer R. Welsh and Son, echoed his sentiments but said selling game to supermarkets is a major challenge: 'Supermarkets never place game on the prime shelves at eye level because their buyers are wary of anything that might intefere with sales of chicken, so the game often goes unnoticed. It should be the ideal product to push but instead it is a luxury item, not a simple foodstuff. We need people to be encouraged to try it in the first place and then come back because they know it's good.'
Mark Spurway of Harburn Estate, agrees: 'We need to challenge the whole culture,' he says emphatically. 'The problem is that it is not sold to the British public very well and they don't eat anything like enough game. It should look better in its packaging and it should be cheaper, then people might eat it. It doesn't look very good if it has shot holes in it.'
However, Ben Weatherall, Managing Director of Weatherall Foods and Sales Director of Yorkshire Game, has a different viewpoint: 'The use of game on celebrity chef programmes, popular because of its traceability, seasonality and local emphasis, has trickled down to more mainstream markets,' he says, 'and more and more people are keen to eat it. I have had good feedback recently.'
And Ross Montague, Campaigns Manager of the Scottish Countryside Alliance, feels mass sales should not be an issue: 'The fact that game is not an ideal supermarket product shouldn't be a worry. Supermarkets tend to demand supply via a single distribution hub, and uniformity of packaging. This goes against the essence of game as a local, low-food-miles product.'
According to Ross, we all need and want lower food miles: 'The problem with a lot of red meat is that even if it is reared on local farms, it has often travelled miles to the nearest abattoir, then the processing plant, then the wholesaler, and finally to the restaurant. Game, on the other hand, can be shot, collected by the local game dealer, processed in state-of-the-art facilities, and delivered to local eating establishments. If chefs and their customers did a comparison of food miles, there would be no contest!' 'Chicken from Thailand is fair enough if you're eating in Thailand. I eat in Scotland, though, and want my food to come from Scotland. It doesn't get much more Scottish than grouse.'
Leo Barclay, Chairman of the SGD/PA, feels that game is currently doing very well and is improving all the time. Wistfully recalling pheasant and venison being served in his college union, he says that initiatives to encourage younger people in cooking game and eating it, as well as effective game-keeping, are invaluable, and he is glad to see more being done these days.
So, with all this work going into promoting the benefits of some of Scotland's finest home-reared produce, there is a clear message here: The game industry is united in its efforts to demonstrate that game meats are very viable alternatives to the red meats of traditional consumption. Perceptions are changing and game is no longer thought of as a 'royal' food. Indeed, it is healthy, versatile, easy to prepare, surprisingly accessible, is often locally sourced, and is, above all, delicious.
Many have been converted already - are you game enough?
The education game
A new initiative using game in the training kitchens of Edinburgh's Telford College has proved a great success, with Braehead Foods supplying game for SVQ Level 3 students.
Catering Lecturer Barry Batchelor adapted their teaching recipes to work with frozen game, including pheasant, mallard and partridge, creating dishes such as Roast Pheasant with Pomegranates & Spinach for the college restaurant.
A blind tasting with partridge went down very well, 'although the customers were very surprised when they found out it was game,' he says. They also questioned the 'bits of metal' in it and were amused to find it was particles of shot.
'It has been ideal to show the students the quality of game and what to look for in a bird,' says Barry. 'It is just something to try. It adds a bit of interest for the students and it widens their knowledge. It has been an ideal experiment in versatility I would like to repeat the exercise again next year.'
The Gressingham Duck
Gressingham duck, while not itself a game product, fits a broader category of rich and wild flavours that are popular across the country.
A cross between a wild mallard and a farmed Pekin duck, the bird has been specially reared to offer a higher meat yield and less fat than farmed species, as well as reliable portion control. It also has a very gamey flavour, tender flesh and is available throughout the year.
William Buchanan, Sales Director of Gressingham Foods, says the Gressingham bird had been developed for chefs to provide even more flavour, which is a principal advantage of eating duck.
'Duck already has an excellent gamey flavour, so there is really no need to do exotic things with it, as the succulent flavour is already there. You can hardly eat a roast chicken on its own nowadays because you need to add something to make it more palatable, but duck is tasty enough to stand on its own.'
Visit www.gressinghamfoods.co.uk for more information.
The game players
There is an abundance of fresh and frozen wild game available in Scotland, and it's right on our doorstep. Whether you live in Edinburgh or Inverness, Glasgow or the Highlands & Islands, sourcing the products you need for your menus has never been easier. These dealers and purveyors are highly knowledgeable and passionate about their work, and are only too pleased to assist.
To help you make the right decisions and to ensure you source the freshest, most flavoursome produce from the Scottish market, Catering in Scotland has compiled a list of the best game suppliers in Scotland.
It's your serve…
Braehead Foods is Scotland's largest game supplier to restaurants, hotels, delicatessens and butchers. Based at a 10,000sq ft processing facility in Kilmarnock, Braehead operates to the highest EU standards and carries a comprehensive range of fresh game and venison in addition to oils, vinegars, spices, cooking chocolate, cheese and speciality poultry.
Braehead Foods, Bonnyton Estate, Munro Place, Kilmarnock. Tel: 01563 550 008 Fax 01563 550 038
Burnside Farm Foods
As Scotland's leading specialists in the supply of portioned and oven-ready game, Burnside offers farm-fresh products with 100% traceability, processed in a Scottish- Office-approved high-tech facility in the heart of the Scottish Borders.
'We are one of the few game processors still based in the fields where our products naturally roam,' says Burnside's Johnny Rutherford. 'As well as our own game we purchase produce from estates within a 30-mile radius, allowing full traceability of the product back to its source.
With pheasant, partridge, grouse, mallard, teal, widgeon, woodcock, snipe, woodpigeon, hare, rabbit, border roe deer, venison from the Scottish Highlands and wild boar from Berwickshire, there is a full range of fresh produce available.
As Johnny says: 'Game with NO FOOD MILES, is MILES BETTER FOOD!
Contact: Johnny Rutherford on Tel 01573 229890, e-mail info@burnsidefarm.co.uk
Burnside Farm Foods, Burnside Farm, Kelso, Roxburghshire, Scottish Borders TD5 8NR
R.Welsh & Son
Established in 1992 and now employing nine staff, R.Welsh & Son is a thriving game dealer in the Scottish Borders. Run by George Whiteford, a farmer with over 20 years' experience in the game industry, the company supplies all types of game from pheasant, partridge and pigeon, to rabbit, hare, grouse, woodcock and snipe.
Processed on-site in their quality-assured premises in Duns, R. Welsh & Son delivers game to chefs, hotels, restaurants and butchers around Scotland, and all products are of the highest quality, and traceability is of paramount importance.
And with a new range of game fillets, sausages and burgers for the emerging 'game generation', R. Welsh & Son can guarantee the best quality at competitive prices.
R.Welsh & Son, 28 Castle Street, Duns, Berwickshire, TD11 3DP, Tel: 01361 883 466 Mobile: 07850 678 938
Weatherall Foods Ltd
'Seasonal - Regional - Traceable'
Established in 1999 and now a leading purveyor of game, venison, Galloway beef, Blackface mutton & lamb, and Iron Age Pigs, Weatherall Foods' website www.blackface.co.uk, is the one-stop shop for the best quality products in Dumfries & Galloway.
From their pedigree farm at Troloss in South Lanarkshire, and together with their sister company, Yorkshire Game Ltd, Weatherall Foods supply the restaurant and hotel throughout Scotland and England. With a red-meat-approved plant and UK Certification 2449ET, the firm has a long-standing reputation for excellent produce at the best possible prices. And with dinner party and home-freezing solutions, and endorsements from some of the country's premier establishments, Weatherall Foods is well-placed to satisfy any chef's game requirements.
'We use game and venison from Yorkshire Game because we like to use only the best seasonal British produce.'
Mark Hix, Chef Director, The Ivy restaurant, London
Weatherall Foods Ltd, Crochmore House, Irongray, Dumfries, DG2 9SF. Tel: 01387 730 326 or 07703 219 840
Want to know more?
If you'd like to find out more information on any of the issues raised in this article, The Scottish Countryside Alliance (SCA) provides help and advice for people who use or promote game, deal in it or simply enjoy it for its own sake.
With over 10,000 members in Scotland, the SCA are consistently campaigning and lobbying to strengthen support for the angling, shooting and rural livelihoods.
For further information, contact Ross Montague, on 0131 335 0200, or visit www.scottishcountrysidealliance.org
The WHAT'S YOUR GAME? competition gives restaurants the opportunity to experiment with different meats, introduce their clients to the broad range of game, and to assess and improve the knowledge of Front of House staff.
The winning restaurants will be invited to participate in a four-day deer-stalking and pheasant-, partridge- and duck-shooting experience on some of the best estates in Scotland.
For more information, contact Crimson Edge Pr, on 0131 311 7050
This article has been edited from the original. To view the feature in full, please see Catering in Scotland magazine. To join our database, go to Media Pack on this website and click on Subscribe.
