Art of Good Taste
in association with Tio Pepe
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the owner of Shellseekers, supplier of fresh fish to top London restaurants including Hix Oyster and Chop house and Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. Darren is very passionate about sourcing fish in an environmentally responsible way and delivers his produce to his market store in Borough Market within four hours of it coming out of the sea. Visit Darren's stall at Borough market to see what he has foraged from the seabed this time.
Best Game
Game meat can be relatively cheap and there has been a recent resurgence as people look for natural, free range and organic produce. You can't get more organic than meat like venison, raised in the wild without any human contact. Picking up an unprepared bird with feathers, guts and all from a local farm shop or butcher will save you a bit of cash as well.
Hanging the meat can affect the flavour so it's important to get it right.
Flavour in the meat is heavily related to how long the game is hung after being shot and can vary depending on preference. On average game is hung for a week to get 'game notes', this can be varied according to taste preferences i.e. for a strong game taste hang for two weeks, for a milder taste either don't hang it at all or just for a couple of days
Hang feathers from the neck and fur from the feet
All meat should be hung in a chilled, controlled environment. It is not necessary to draw (gut) bird game (pheasant, duck, woodcock) until after hanging and plucking, however you must draw fur game such as deer, rabbits and hare before hanging. This is to ensure anything the animal consumed doesn't ferment and affect the flavour of the meat.
