Chefs ready to cook ducks for hunters
Step one: shoot the duck.
Step two: take it to Salt Restaurant in New Plymouth and give it to the chef, who will then cook it.
As part of the Game Bird Food Festival hunters can have their freshly harvested wild duck professionally cooked in a restaurant.
The food festival is a Fish & Game initiative to promote the variety and quality of wild harvested game and has attracted restaurants around the country.
Fish & Game’s communications manager Don Rood said the festival gave hunters a way of treating their family and friends to a game dinner.
‘‘Game birds are terrific free range food and provide lean, tasty meat because they have grown up in the wild without chemical additives.
Restaurants taking part in the festival are keen supporters of the idea of cooking a meal their guests have foraged for themselves.
‘‘It is encouraging to see that some restaurants are taking this a step further by using other local ingredients in the dish,’’ Rood said.
‘‘Hunting is ingrained into the New Zealand way of life and through the generations, people have taken pride in their ability to put game they have harvested on the family table.
That tradition continues today, with a lively interest in foraging and gathering free range food and the game bird hunting season is very much a part of that.’’
‘‘People have taken pride in their ability to put game they have harvested on the family table.’’
Don Rood
If hunters are successful, they can take their bag into a participating restaurant, as long as they meet a few conditions.
‘‘Hunters must ensure their birds are well prepared – plucked, cleaned and oven ready.
Select the very best, top condition ducks from your bag and avoid any with shot damage,’’ Rood said. ’’A bit of extra time and care devoted to preparing the birds will be rewarded by the chefs who want only the best ingredients to work with.
‘‘Make sure your reputation as a hunter is equal to the challenge of having these top chefs prepare your dish to perfection,’’ Don Rood says. The birds can only be cooked and served to the hunter and their guests.
Hunting season runs until August 27 and hunters who have a 2017 Fish & Game licence are able to pursue ducks, pheasant and quail.