Articled pink....

I had my second piece of food writing published yesterday which was nice. The article was about my favourite meat venison. I cooked venison as my dish for the final of RSC 2010 which was judged by celeb chef Mike Robinson of The Pot Kiln in Yattenden so it when I saw that they had followed my article with two recipes from the man himself I was pretty chuffed to say the least!

I'll be heading over to his fine establishment very soon and I'm already looking forward to sampling some of his very own venison dishes. I've never had a bad meal there and his local, seasonal and often self sourced produce means that the menu is always different.

Game is always a major part of the food at The Pot Kiln and it's something I've been experimenting with lately although I have to say not with a great deal of success. Only yesterday I had to bin a Mallard that I'd been trying to confit under vacuum but after about 2 hours in the waterbath my duck looked more like a sparrow. I think I had the temperature set too high but it's a work in progress.

My efforts with Pheasant too have been less that satisfactory. My first pan fried attempt resulted in a very dry texture although because I overcooked it however the flavour was quite good.

The second effort was done in the waterbath and although it was softer and juicer I think the actual product was a bit dodgy. The flavour was much stronger and I got the impression it'd be hung for longer than was needed, it was also very bruised. I'd expect a bit of bruising where the shot from the gun had hit but this one looked like it'd been shot with an Uzi 9mm. I'll revisit pheasant another time but for now it's shelved.

By far the best result I've had is with partridge. I made a kind of partridge vol au vent and it was incredibly tasty, well worthy of any restaurant menu and sticking my neck out I'd probably say it's the best recipe I have ever created. Of course me being me I think it can be improved and I have a brace of partridge ready in the fridge waiting.

Once I have retested the recipe and method I'll post it up and it's so easy to do I reckon anybody could do it.

Toodlepip xx