A pop-up pigeon feast

Our chef joins like-minded Tom Payne to talk wild food, shoot a few pigeons and cook up a storm under a hot sun in an Oxfordshire field

To shoot is to be part of a global sporting community, but the way that we do things over here differs a fair bit from how people do things abroad. One thing that I’ve noted recently is that in other countries, there’s a much stronger tradition of cooking in the field. In Africa, hunters like to cook antelope liver for breakfast after a successful stalk, and in the US they often cook duck in the field. Over here, field cooking is less common, which is a shame, and I reckon we all ought to give it a go.

Shakshuka, which originates in North Africa, is a favourite dish of mine. It’s simple and quick to make. Although traditionally a smoky tomato, pepper-based dish of baked eggs, on a late summer’s day recently, I decided to reimagine it with some freshly shot pigeon. The smell of smoked bacon, onion, garlic and pigeon sizzling away in the pan is a feast for the senses.

It all started at The Game Fair at Ragley Hall, where I chanced upon Tom Payne, Shooting Times stalwart and author of The Pigeon Shooter’s Diary. Tom and I have long been keen to shoot together and we are both also passionate about sustainability and game. We decided there was no better way to spend a summer’s day than to stand in a field and bring together our professions (and passions) for shooting and cooking.

Arriving in Oxfordshire midafternoon, we decided to use one of Tom’s tried and tested locations. Tom explained to me that through shooting in the area, over the years, he’s had ample opportunity to analyse and ultimately understand the flight paths of the local pigeon population.

Shooting over the golden stubble of a recently harvested wheat crop, with the beautiful backdrop of the gently undulating Oxfordshire hills, through Britain’s heatwave may sound ideal for the shooter, but I prefer trudging through wet and muddy fields for pheasants and partridges.

In all seriousness, the heat has taken its toll on the British countryside this year. You can see the effects of weeks of prolonged drought on the leaves of trees turning

Tom Payne provides the pigeons for Leon Challis-davies’s pop-up kitchen off the back of a truck in a sun-baked Oxfordshire field