Are you game for a taste?

The Carpenters Arms in Felixkirk, North Yorks is marked the Glorious 12th – the start of the shooting season – with a celebratory gourmet game dinner, to highlight the culinary importance of all things game, at the heart of this region’s heritage.

Michael Ibbotson,co-founder of Provenance Inns says: “Game has special importance in our seasonally changing menu, and what better way than starting the season by showing off with Red Grouse: it’s wild, a local resident and has fabulous flavour. ”

The menus were created by Group chef Jason Moore, along with Stephanie 
Moon.

Richard Townsend, managing director of Yorkshire Game, who is working closely with Mount St John Sporting and Provenance Inns, said: “Red Grouse is unique to 
our shores, and its natural habitat is heather moorland, of which North Yorkshire has some of the finest in 
 the world.”

Pheasant, apple and black pudding spring roll

Makes 10 Spring Rolls

Ingredients

2 whole pheasant (Confit)

1 large carrot (julienne)

½ leek (julienne)

1 large courgette (julienne)

60g chopped coriander

300g black pudding ( small diced)

4 Granny smith apples (small diced)

300g Plum Sauce

Salt & Crackle black pepper

20 sheets of spring roll pastry 10 inch

2 whole eggs (egg wash)

Method

Pick down your confit pheasant ensuring there is no bones or cartilage. Place in a bowl with the carrot, courgette, leek, apple, black pudding and coriander.

Add the plum sauce and give a good mix so all the mix is evenly coated with the sauce season with the salt and crackle black pepper.

Place one spring roll pastry on a bench and egg wash then place a second on top and egg wash.

Place 100g of the mixture in the spring roll pastry in a sausage shape then roll from corner to corner when getting half way folding in the outside corners.

Serve one spring roll per portion with a chilli and cranberry dip slaw salad

Raspberry dusted, Hawnby Moor grouse, Mount St John salad and pickled vegetables, fresh raspberry dressing

Serves Four

Ingredients

2 oven-ready Grouse

4 baby carrots

4 large radishes

4 small radish

1 small beetroot washed
 roots removed and tops 
removed

2 tablespoons of freeze dried raspberries crushed

2 tablespoons of raspberry vinegar plus 3 extra tablespoons for the pickling liquor to mix with 1 tablespoon of caster sugar for pickle

2 tablespoons of raspberries freshly crushed

2 tablespoons of Wharfe Valley Rapeseed oil

4 washed handfuls of salad leaves

Method

Place the oven ready grouse seasoned with salt and pepper in a hot pan with a splash of rapeseed oil

Cook on the stove until golden in colour this will take one minute. Place in a hot oven at 180C until the grouse is cooked pink this usually takes around eight minutes. While this is cooking, 
bring three tablespoons of raspberry vinegar to the boil with one tablespoon of caster sugar toss the radish in the liquor until lightly poached (this takes two minutes) remove from the pickle juices and leave them for the beetroot

Bake the washed beetroot wrapped in tin foil with a teaspoon of rapeseed oil salt and pepper until soft (depending on the size of 
your beetroot this will take up to an hour at 180C remove from the oven when soft and open the foil and allow to cool)

Peel and slice the beetroot and cut into wedges toss in the pickle juices.

Remove the grouse from 
the oven when cooked pink and allow to rest in a warm place carve off the bone 
when rested and sprinkle 
with raspberry dust and 
serve on the salad leaves 
with the pickled vegetables around it.

The fresh raspberry dressing is simply made by whisking the raspberry vinegar left with the freshly crushed raspberries and Wharfe valley rapeseed oil.

Whole roasted Hawnby Moor grouse, fondant potato, green bean and wild mushroom sauce

Serves four

Ingredient

Fondant potatoes:

150g/5oz butter

4 potatoes, peeled, cut into barrel-shapes using a cookie cutter

75ml/3fl oz chicken or vegetable stock

2 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed lightly with the edge of a knife

2-3 sprigs fresh thyme

sea salt flakes and black pepper

Method

Heat the butter over a medium heat in a saucepan. When the butter is foaming, add the potatoes and fry until deep golden-brown on one side, about 5-6 minutes. (Do not move the potatoes as they cook.) Turn over the potatoes and cook for a further five to six minutes, or until golden-brown on both sides.

Carefully pour in the stock, then add the garlic cloves and thyme sprigs. (CAUTION: the hot fat will splutter when it comes into contact with the stock.) Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat until the stock is simmering. Simmer the potatoes until tender, then remove the potatoes from the pan using a slotted spoon and keep warm.

Roasting the Grouse

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

Cover the grouse breasts with strips of pancetta and roast the bird whole on the bone for nine minutes or until cooked through (depending on size).

When you think the grouse is cooked, test by piercing the thigh with a skewer at the thickest part. The juices should run clear. If not, cook for a few minutes longer.

Wild Mushroom Sauce

60g butter

4 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

60g Portobello mushrooms, sliced

60g crimini mushrooms, sliced

60g shiitake mushrooms, sliced

60g morel mushrooms, sliced

60g chanterelle mushrooms, sliced

125ml red wine

175ml beef demi-glace

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Sauté shallots briefly, then stir in all of the mushrooms. Sauté until tender and translucent, about three minutes. Pour in red wine and simmer for three minutes. Stir in demi-glace and simmer for six minutes or until sauce has thickened.