20th November 2017
Chefs across the UK are giving grouse pride of place during Great British Game Week which starts today.
Great British Game Week aims to highlight the best of wild and natural produce from our countryside harvest. Game is not only part of the British heritage but is also a vibrant and a modern addition to today’s lifestyle and food choices.
The wild red grouse, known as king of the game birds, has taken off as a game meat of choice for some of the country’s most renowned and adventurous chefs.
Ralph Skripek, the ‘Wild Chef’, with his passion for shooting and game cookery, is considered to be one of the most influential and passionate game chefs in the North of England.
“Grouse is a wonderfully versatile and nutritious game meat. I source my grouse directly from my local area in the Peak District and this year in particular I have seen a strong surge in demand from a range of customers. Grouse’s reputation as a flavourful and healthy source of protein is growing year on year and I am fully behind Great British Game Week and its efforts to boost people’s awareness of game.”
Ralph Skripek ‘The Wild Chef’
Vivek Singh, Executive Chef & CEO of Cinnamon Club, the London-based Indian fine dining restaurant, said: “Grouse was my first taste of game, ever. I simply cannot forget the sensation. It was almost as if my palate – jaded from years of cooking and eating just four ingredients was introduced to a whole new world of flavour that I hadn’t experienced before.”
“I love the rich, musky, depth of flavour of grouse, altogether different from boring chicken that I had been eating all my life. Cooking with game in the UK is an opportunity for me to connect with an aspect of Indian cuisine that would otherwise be lost. It allows me to reconnect, reinvent and sometimes re-imagine how things might have been. Moreover, grouse is healthy, rich in omega3 fatty acids, lean and I believe environmentally better too, so all in all a win-win!”
Vivek Singh Executive Chef & CEO of Cinnamon Club
Amanda Anderson, Director of the Moorland Association which represents managers of 190 heather-glad moorlands across England and Wales said: ‘Chefs across the UK are rightly extolling the virtues of wild red grouse found nowhere else in the world. The depth of flavour, taken from the heather they eat, the exceptional provenance, combined with the nutritional benefits makes grouse an exciting addition to consumers’ plates. Great British Game Week is a fantastic initiative that will encourage more and more people to taste grouse and realise how versatile and delicious it is.”
Roasted wild Red Grouse.
