Northwest Recipes, Bowland Roast Grouse

Bowland Roast Grouse

This recipe is for a version of the classic English roast dinner which substitutes the traditional Lamb or Beef for Grouse, which is relatively inexpensive*, available from local suppliers, healthy and environmentally friendly.

If made with locally sourced ingredients, as much as is possible anyway, it should give you a proper taste of Bowland.

The Red Grouse, endemic to the British isles and found nowhere else in the world, offers a lean, subtly flavoured, meat and as it is usually only sold by butchers and game dealers local to the moor it was shot on, and rarely in supermarkets, this means that it is about as locally sourced a meat as you can find. They cannot be reared in captivity or farmed either so there are none of the issues you face with intensively farmed meat, like other game Grouse offers a humane alternative.

Grouse can be bought from many local butchers and game dealers and out of season (the shooting season for grouse is from the 12th of August to the 10th December) it can be bought frozen, Alpes butchers on Shawbridge St in Clitheroe occasionally stock it and it can be bought online from dealers such as the Artisan Food Company too. It is better to buy Grouse later in the season as earlier birds will still be a bit young.

*As of writing (Aug 2024) most moors have had a very poor season or have cancelled shooting entirely due to low numbers because of this year’s wet spring and cool summer, so it may be very hard or expensive to source any this season.

Wine and music pairings

The recommended wine to go with Red Grouse is Burgundy, Bowland Forest Vintners at the Inn at Whitewell always keep their cellar stocked with a few cases of Burgundy as do Byrnes wine store in Clitheroe. It is a fragrant, fruity and slightly acidic wine so matches the subtle gaminess of the grouse quite well, it also counteracts the fatty flavours of the bacon.

It should serve 4 and take about an hour and a half to 2 hours to prepare, recommended listening whilst preparing this dish could include Fuzzy Birds by the Super Furry Animals, or Great Speckled Bird by Roy Acuff.

Ingredients

• Four grouse breasts
• 3 bottles of a fine Burgundy, (1 for cooking with and the other 2 for your guests)
• 6 thick cut rashers of unsmoked bacon
• 1 kg of potatoes, a waxy variety such as Yukon Gold or Charlottes are best
• 100g of Shallots
• Half a loaf of white bread
• 300 ml of full fat milk
• Half a tablespoon of freshly grated nutmeg
• 100 ml of chicken stock, you can make this with stock pots or bisto
• Vegetables of your choice to serve with the grouse
• A jar of Cranberry sauce or even better Bilberry or Rowan jelly.

Before starting preheat your oven to 180°C and make sure you have 1 frying pan, 1 baking tray, 1 roasting dish/pan and 2 sauce pans ready, why not pour yourself some of the Burgundy whilst your at it.

It helps to chop and boil the potatoes now ready to cook later on.

To roast the Grouse;

First pan fry the Grouse breasts until they are a nice golden brown colour.
Then place the rashers of bacon over the grouse.
Next roast the grouse in the roasting dish for 15 minutes at 180°C.
When the grouse is cooked take it out of the oven and leave it to sit for a couple of minutes, then place the grouse back in the frying pan with some bacon and Shallots around it.
Fry for a little longer until the bacon and Shallots are fried then pour some of the red wine and chicken stock over it until ‘reduced’, when most of the liquid has evaporated.

Now is a good time to put the sautéed potatoes or chips in the oven on an oiled baking tray with a sprinkle of salt and ground pepper on them.

Depending on the vegetables you are serving it’s a good time to start those too, I always prefer to serve them all dente as they retain some crunch and it takes less time. Also make sure your guests have their glasses of wine topped up and tell them dinner will be ready soon!

To make the bread sauce:

First mix the nutmeg into the milk and simmer on a medium heat,
When this is at simmering point, make sure not to boil it!, add the bread and stir until thickened.

I always warm up plates in the oven before serving and if I’m going to pour a red wine like burgundy I will keep that on the kitchen worktop whilst cooking, this means it will be just above room temperature when it’s time to take it to the table.

It also means it’s handy for me pour a glass! of course not all reds have to be served at room temperature as some need to be cooler. To give this dish a finishing touch you can always serve it with a little sprig of heather as a garnish as a little bit of colour and interest always makes food taste better, and if it looks a bit small a chef’s trick is to place one thing on top of another to make it look taller, that or use a smaller plate!

A B-H

(Aug 2024)