Game Cookery

Eating wild game doesn’t always have to be a luxury, as Rose Prince shows with some melt-in-your-mouth venison shank and a zesty risotto

The campaign to get wild game meat into the kitchens of more homes continues in an effort to introduce people to its economic, ethical and ecological benefits. It is more relevant than ever in difficult financial times. The market for higherpriced, sustainably farmed meat is likely to suffer as consumers vote with their wallets, choosing lower-grade, intensively farmedoptions. Not all game meat is cheaper. The fillets and prime cuts will always be luxuries, but cheaper cuts are good value for money. They are not always easy to find in shops, however, especially in cities, and the majority of venison sold in supermarkets tends to be farmed. It is a joy, then, to find an online game shop that has a great range of affordable meats.

Wild and Game was set up in 2017, operating out of a unit in Westbury-ontrym, near Bristol. All the game meat is wild — no farmed venison — and I particularly like the cheaper cuts on the bone, such as venison shanks (as used in this week’s recipe) and Barnsley chops, diced wild boar, mixed game for braises, sausages and marinated partridge fillets. The first grouse are on the point of coming in and I am delighted that I will be using Wild and Game’s products for my recipe column over the coming months.

All arrive frozen, so you can have the benefit of cooking meat off-season, and it makes sense to order mixed boxes — speculating to accumulate, as it were. You can subscribe and receive a variety box every four weeks. It is a very sound way to eat and astonishingly convenient.

This recipe is based on a simple method used to prepare veal shin — osso buco — and adapts very well to venison. It is wonderfully garlicky and goes perfectly with refreshing lemon risotto.