Game On The Best Dishes Ever

On today's selection of the Best Dishes Ever, we're asking -

are you game for game?

All of our chefs are cooking with some of the least used

but most tasty meat you can buy.

We've got venison, pigeon and pheasant coming up,

but we're jumping in at the deep end with rabbit.

Nigel Slater, over to you.

There are some things that we now think of as actually being quite

adventurous and yet at one time, they were everyday, like rabbit.

It's one of those things that was absolutely everywhere.

They were a menace. We had to get rid of them.

And yet now, when you see somebody cooking with rabbit,

it's considered quite unusual, almost daring.

I'm going to dare to be different

and cook barbecue rabbit in an orange and juniper marinade.

Rabbit has a mild flavour and I don't want to overpower it.

So pop in a few peppercorns and a couple of cloves of garlic.

And then, a bit of orange peel.

Could use lemon, but I think orange just really works with rabbit.

I'm going to put a few herbs in here,

so I'm going to put a little bit of rosemary.

All the flavourings that work with chicken also work with rabbit.

So a couple of bay leaves too.

Juniper berries will give this a real taste of summer.

They've got the same flavour as a gin and tonic.

In fact, if you crush them

and sniff, it's like someone is pouring you a drink.

This will just give a really subtle flavour.

To keep the rabbit moist, trickle in some balsamic vinegar.

And a good glug of olive oil.

So these really only need to be in overnight.

To give time for the orange and the garlic,

the rosemary and the bay, that little bit of balsamic vinegar

and the juniper all to get to know one another.

If you can't bear to wait,

just leave them in the marinade as long as you can.

In my case, a few hours.

And remember, put your rabbit on the grill

only when the coals have turned grey.

Don't complicate the flavour.

Just a few orange wedges will bring out those seasonings beautifully.

So that's only been in the marinade for a few hours, with just

a few very basic flavourings, and yet the smell is amazing.

I can't wait to tuck into that.

Rabbit is really simple to cook and well worth taking a chance on.

It's delicious.

Treat it like chicken. Simple flavours. And don't overcook it.

You can't go far wrong.

Moving on now to pigeon, a bird that we're so used to

living alongside and above us, it's a bit of a mental leap

to think of them as the basis of a meal.

But pigeon meat is deliciously tender and quite strong flavoured

and here's Raymond Blanc cooking his in a particularly fascinating way.

For his final recipe, Raymond returns to a classic,

a pigeon baked in a salt crust.

I did this dish 25 years ago and it's still modern

and this concept is still very much loved.

That's what classics are all about.

This is not just old Trafalgar pigeon, or the wood pigeon.

That one is special.

It's a special one.

Raymond is using a French farm-raised pigeon known as squab.

You will need one per person.

No seasoning, no salt, because remember,

we are going to put it into a salt crust.

So no seasoning.

The pigeons are seared in hot goose fat

to brown the skin for extra flavour.

Finish off, OK, the side. OK, tres bien.

And then now, we are going to do our salt crust.

Although not eaten, the salt crust prevents

small and lean game like pigeon from becoming dry and overcooked.

Put one kilo of plain flour into a mixer.

Add 600g of fine salt.

And nine egg whites.

Enormous amount of salt.

But you don't eat it.

It's really to seal and you get a very special flavour.

Voila.

I'm going to prepare it to cut it into four.

Voila.

Chill the dough for 30 minutes

before rolling to a thickness of five millimetres.

So now, I'm ready to wrap the squabs into the dough.

To decorate the salt crust, Raymond cuts out some wings.

Place it breast down.

Bottoms up.

OK... To have the sticking...

..that's the egg yolk.

Not too much, otherwise if you put too much, it will not stick,

it will slide.

So lift this side here, tres bien.

And then lift,

put your breast. Voila.

Pressing right, so there is no air pocket whatsoever.

It doesn't look very pretty at the moment, but it will.

We are going to do the head

because pigeon without head is not good.

Pinch the beak.

For eyes, two cloves are perfect.

This technique works without the need for decoration,

but for Raymond, the extra effort is worthwhile.

Voila. So all that you have to do is finish it off,

to put the egg yolk on it, all over.

That's what's going to give it a wonderful colour.

Don't chop his head off.

Not yet, later.

The last finish that you do is salt.

The salt crust pastry shell protects the meat from the heat,

creating an oven within an oven.

In an oven, the temperature goes very high

and the meat retracts here.

The heat goes very, very slowly, permeating the meat

quietly inside, changing completely the texture and flavour.

The pigeons are cooked for 20 minutes at 220 degrees centigrade.

Bye-bye!

INDISTINCT

To go with the pigeon, cabbage.

I'm asking for cabbage.

You give me lettuce!

-HE LAUGHS

-It's amazing. I'm amazed.

When the cabbage arrives, it's quartered and steamed.

Raymond is also serving his favourite,

the fricassee of wild mushrooms.

Because as a cook, anything wrapped into something you cannot see,

you cannot smell or touch, is rather unnerving. What is happening inside?

Is it overcooked? Is it undercooked?

And you have all sorts of nightmares and doubt.

To serve, remove the pigeon from the crust.

Yes, you guillotine it.

Voila.

Spoon, like that...

Well, come on out. That's it.

That's perfect. Tres bien.

Slide the blade gently towards...

Voila. So actually, it's quite a nice medium.

I think that's one of the most beautiful food experiences

you may have. It's unctuous, the most melting quality,

you must taste it once in your lifetime.

-Have you ever tasted squab before?

-No?

-Never?

-I grew up with very dry pheasant.

-Poor you.

Sorry.

-How is it?

-It's good, it's amazing how the salt crust

has seasoned the breast so well.

It has seasoned perfectly.

You see, for my mother, that would be a bit too rare.

-But that's delicious.

-OK, tell your mother

we can teach her a few tricks.

-Is that possible?

-Could you tell her, Chef?

-Of course I'll tell her!

-Thank you.

-OK, thank you, mate. OK, good.

Lovely. Thank you.

Now to venison, which, of course, comes from deer.

The flavour can vary depending on where it comes from

and what the deer's diet has consisted of.

But it's often compared to, and used as an alternative, to beef.

Which is what Rachel Khoo does here for you.

I'm going to make beautiful mini venison wellingtons.

Need a big frying pan.

Just going to brown my meat.

I'm going to season my venison

with some salt, pepper...

I have two guests coming for dinner tonight.

So I'm making a bit of an effort. Meat goes in.

MEAT SIZZLES

You can hear it sizzling away.

Really important to brown the meat.

It just caramelises the outside and you just get a richer flavour.

You just want 30 seconds on each side.

Beef wellington is usually done with one large beef fillet.

However, I think my delicious parcels are more elegant

and you get more of that flaky pastry.

Just add a generous bit of butter.

I'm going to caramelise some red onions

which will surround the venison inside its pastry parcel.

They will give a milder and sweeter taste than white onions.

And no need to wash the pan in between.

You get some of that lovely venison flavour with your onions.

And you save on washing up. I'm going to add a pinch of salt.

A pinch of sugar...

Give it a little stir.

And you want to very gently cook them for about 20 minutes.

Just so they're nice and soft and they become caramelised.

This isn't the traditional way to cover the meat.

Usually, it's a layer of cooked and seasoned mushrooms

and onions called duxelles.

But my caramelised onions make a refreshing change.

As you can see, the onions have reduced down,

they are nice and soft.

At this point, I'm going to add some Armagnac

which has this delicious flavour.

And at this point,

you just want to cook your onions a little bit further.

If the onions are too wet, then your pastry will be soggy

when you come to bake it.

Who wants soggy pastry? Ugh!

Onions are done.

Just switch it off.

They go into the blender.

You're just looking for a smooth paste.

It should only take a minute.

That's it, that's done. At this point, it's just an assembly job.

Puff pastry... You need some Dijon mustard.

And, of course, your seared venison.

I'm going to brush some mustard on top.

OK.

Put the piece of meat on your puff pastry.

Take a heaped tablespoon of the onion mix, spread it on top.

I've a mixture of eggs and water here.

Run it round the sides here.

That's going to make the pastry stick together.

Second piece of pastry. Then you want to press it down quite firmly.

I've sealed the edges and I'm just going to crimp them.

You don't have to do this,

but I think it makes it look a little bit prettier.

There you go.

Looks like a little parcel.

Grab your baking tray.

That one here.

So they are almost finished.

Just need to make a little cross at the top

and that's just so some of the steam releases.

Just going to finish off with a coating of egg wash

to make sure our wellingtons are golden.

And that's it.

Goes in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius.

And after about 15 minutes, your wellingtons should be ready.

OK, let's have a look at these.

Wow!

So they're golden, they're puffy, doesn't that look delicious?

That golden parcel. My guests are in free treat.

Now for pheasant, which has a beautiful flavour

but is very lean and so usually needs a good sauce to go with it.

And a big fan of the sauce was of course, the great Keith Floyd.

Here, he's in Northumberland being taught how to cook

a traditional pheasant honey and cream dish

by a Scandinavian friend called Iben.

Do you know, Northumberland must be the last bastion

of rural countryside in Britain.

Here amongst the fells, the valleys and where the north Tyne flows,

people here eat in a strange way.

BANG Whoa!

This...this is what they eat.

Not, as it is down in the succulent South, a luxury.

Here, it's quite a common dish.

In fact it's so cheap and so plentiful, and people are so bored

with it, I couldn't find a real Northumbrian person to cook me one.

But what I did find was a Wiking. A Wiking who is called Iben.

In fact, I will call her deep-and-crisp-and-Iben,

that's how I can remember it.

And she's a great pheasant plucker -

difficult to say if you have had one or two.

And as a Wiking who has been raping and pillaging for 1,000 years,

she's going to cook something for us

that demonstrates her understanding of Northumberland.

Particularly cos I don't feel very well today, got a cold and all that.

What are you going to do with this?

I'm going to skin it, take the breasts off,

-which I'm going to cook in mead.

-Mead.

Now, you are talking in a nice way, there.

What is, actually... I know you can drink it, what is mead?

-Let's have a glass.

-A honey-based drink that was actually brought over

-by the Vikings...

-Ah. Plug for the Vikings.

-Yes. Yes.

This is what they fired themselves up on

when they charged on their cricket club tours and things like that?

Yeah, yeah. Very nice.

Oh, it's brilliant. Anyway, start plucking the pheasant. And...

I mean, it is true, what I said, isn't it, that the locals

are not desperately keen on eating it in a restaurant

-because it is such a common sort of dish for them?

-Yes, that's right.

It's... They usually sort of eat the lambs and beef

and things like that.

But, as far as I'm concerned, it's one of the nicest meats you can get.

-That's right.

-So tender.

-And good value, too.

-Look at all this...

That's what it eats. That's why farmers are cross with them,

-because they eat all their...

-Last Supper.

-Last Supper!

-That's right.

-OK, well, you carry on plucking your way, there.

We all know what plucking is about.

We have actually got to get on with some real cooking.

Now, what you should do, and I've pinched

deep-and-crisp-and-Iben's recipe,

you get these lovely fillets of the pheasant

and these have still got shot in them, probably upset some people.

What I used to do in the olden days in my restaurant,

to make things really authentic, I used to have a tray of split shot

and put it into the dish at the last moment,

in case they thought they were home-reared ones.

Anyway, these breasts of pheasant have been

-marinated for how long, Iben?

-48 hours. Just in mead.

Just to keep it really simple because,

as you probably already know, the Vikings and the old

Northumberland way of cooking was to try and keep everything simple.

And also, they just didn't need to disguise any real meats.

-Any genuine flavours.

-Yes, with anything. Because it was so fresh.

Right. OK, let's get to do some cooking. The gas is on over here.

Whizz round on one of your steady, slow walks, Richard.

We'll find ourselves over here by the stove.

Iben, it's up to you to tell me what to do.

We've got the gas on, and we've got... Which is the one?

-Yes, it's on, it's on, yeah.

-We've already...

Richard, close-up here, if you please.

We've already sweated off, or melted down or softened a few onions.

-What do we do next. Iben?

-Add the pheasant breasts now.

-Right.

And just sort of blanch them off.

-One in there. No seasoning at this stage?

-Not at this stage, no.

Just sort of, close it...

-Which is it, maximum frying speed?

-That's it, yes.

Let that sizzle away.

Let them get brown and golden on both sides, like that.

So they seize up and seal.

Richard, if you don't mind, close-up.

And then organise a wibbly-wobbly shot

so that we can come back to that a little later in the cooking stage.

And certainly, this mellifluous amber liquid will make

all the difference to the dish, won't it? Sweetness and light it is.

Good word, I might add, mellifluous. What's next?

-Then you add some double cream to it.

-Right.

But first, we're just going to cook the other half of the meat.

-Take the breasts out.

-OK.

-Serve them up on your dish.

Spilt it all over the place, but that doesn't matter.

-We'll wipe those dishes in a moment.

-That's right.

-Cream into there now?

-Yes. Be quite generous.

-I mean, how...

I mean, this is your invention, isn't it, this dish?

-This is a Wiking-Northumbrian marriage, I suppose?

-Yes.

It's so simple, but I prefer simple dishes

that are really tasty and nice.

-It is tasty and nice, actually.

-Yeah.

-Isn't it?

And if you think this is a very, very rich dish, if it's too fruity

and too sweet to go with game, think about pork and apple sauce.

Think about venison and redcurrant jelly.

I mean, the thinking behind this dish is perfectly OK.

The savoury meat and the sweet sauce.

Do you want to whap those over onto the table, my darling,

and then we can have a little taste and see how it all comes out.

Right. This, as usual, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

-If it isn't brilliant, I'm cutting you out of the programme.

-Oh, OK.

THEY CHUCKLE

It should certainly be tender enough now.

Well, I think that's marvellous.

It is gamey and sweet

and I'm always worried about dishes that have honey and cream in them,

because I feel it's an excuse for not cooking properly, sometimes.

But you did reduce it all properly and it really does work.

-It's a lovely melange of flavours.

-Mm.

Yeah. Here's to you, my darling.

-Viva Northumberland.

-Cheers.

-And up with the Wikings!

-Definitely! Skol.

Why Keith kept calling them WIKINGS, I just don't know.

Just be grateful that wasn't a wenison wecipe!

HE LAUGHS Right, we're ending on game pie,

an old-fashioned favourite from Paul Hollywood

that wraps up the show perfectly

because it includes such a wonderful mix of different meats.

Paul's game pie is as ornate on the outside

as it is lavish on the inside.

Filled with venison, boar, rabbit and pigeon,

it's the perfect centrepiece for any dinner party.

Well, Mary, the Signature Challenge on Victorian week,

we kicked off with a game pie.

Very appropriate, because of course there was a lot of game about,

-and it was not expensive.

-What we've got here is a selection of meats.

We got some venison, we've got some boar, we've got pheasant,

we've got pigeon and we've got rabbit.

I need that to be chopped up.

I've got 700g there which all need to be diced up

into that sort of size, Mary.

That sort of... What is that size?

I don't know, half-inch square?

-Yes, OK.

-Ish. Over here I've got some cloves of garlic.

I'm going to rub two of these things here.

-Now, there's something I haven't cooked with, wild boar.

-I like boar.

It's becoming more popular in this country now,

because there is quite a lot of them around.

-Well, it's just like pork, only a bit more gamey.

-Yeah.

Right, that is all chopped up.

And we've got 700g now of all the meat inside that bowl.

And what I'm going to add, I've got here some bacon.

And again, that little bit of fat you're going to add to it as well.

You do need a little bit of fat,

whether it's a pork pie or a game pie,

but it's just got to be chopped up small.

-It all adds to the flavour.

-I think so.

-So here I am going to add my bacon to that as well.

-What's that,

-about 200...

-200g, and 200g of the minced pork belly.

There's a couple of other things I want to add in there, Mary.

Could I have two tablespoons of the Madeira, please?

There we are.

I'll take this as a bit of...

That'll do. A nice bit of a kick there.

And of course, if you haven't got Madeira,

-you could use port or another fortified wine.

-Yeah.

-So there's no need to go and buy a special bottle.

-Absolutely not.

Which this is.

Now, I need half a teaspoon of allspice

and half a teaspoon of mace as well, please.

Add the spices, then finely chop two tablespoons of fresh thyme

and two tablespoons of fresh parsley.

Then add them to the mixture

and season with a little salt and pepper.

I'm just mixing all these ingredients together.

Right...

Now, what I'm going to do is, that can be popped in the fridge

just to rest, and what we'll do is prepare the hot-water-crust pastry.

Could you weigh me up the flour first, please? 450g of plain flour.

-I will indeed.

-Thank you.

I love hot-water-crust pastry, I love working with it as well.

So do I. In fact, I can't wait.

Lovely, and 100g of the strong flour.

- The beauty of using a hot-water-crust pastry,

the lard in it creates a seal, because the amount of liquid

inside this pie, it creates a natural seal,

which holds all those juices in.

Thank you. And on top of that, 75g of butter.

-Nice, Mary!

-How about that?

-Very nice!

-I'm getting as good as you at judging.

Could you weigh me up 100g of lard, please?

Because over in the pan over there I have 200mm of water

to which I'm going to add that lard.

Perfect.

Over here I've got the water.

So I'm just going to drop in a couple of little drops

just to melt it.

I'm going to take that off the heat now.

It's got enough heat in there now which is beginning to melt the lard.

Now, I've got some... A little salt, please, Mary.

Now, that is nearly all melted.

Straight in.

Pop that over there.

Now, obviously, don't put your hand straight in this.

It's a tad warm.

So get a wooden spoon, or any spoon,

and just stir round and bind the ingredients together.

You've got to work with it fairly soon

because it will begin to firm up.

Your hands must be quite tough because that is hot.

It is fairly warm, yes.

But it's the quickest way of doing it.

It's get your hands in there, work that pastry in the bowl.

It comes together quite quickly.

So I'm just going to bring this pastry together.

SLAPPING

Now, I've got my tin ready.

Happy with the pastry.

Matt had a tin like this, which he borrowed off his mate,

Dangerous Dave.

I've got a new version of it

which is basically clipped together.

Now, I've just rubbed the inside.

with a little bit of butter,

and I've got the pastry ready,

so I'm going to rip off about a third.

Leave that for the...

..top. Get my rolling pin

and I've got to line this now.

What's tricky about lining this is

you've got to get right underneath at the bottom.

So, begin to roll out your pastry.

What we've got to do is coerce this into the middle.

You're being very gentle as you do that.

I am, because I don't want to form any cracks.

I don't mind a fold,

because you can thin that out

with your fingers and shape it.

So I'm just dropping it down,

pushing it with my fingertips

into the corners.

-And would you mind bringing out the meat for me, please, Mary?

-Right.

While you're doing that, I'm going to prepare the lid.

Cutting off a little bit there

for a bit of decoration.

You'll also note, what have I not used while rolling out?

Flour.

You don't have to, because, um,

because the lard in there,

it's not really conducive to sticking to a rolling pin.

Happy to leave that there for a minute. We've got our shell lined.

Get the meat...

I'm just breaking it up to allow it to get into the corners.

And it really does have to get right into the corners,

so that it's tightly packed.

-You don't want any spaces whatsoever, do you?

-No.

Now, I've got an egg.

Could you crack an egg, Mary, and we'll use that as a...

a little bit of egg wash to bind the lid base.

Get the lid, place it on to the top.

Once the lid is in place, neatly trim the excess pastry

and crimp the edges to seal.

Now, what we need to do is make a little hole in there.

So the first thing I need to do

is just put a little hole in there first.

There it is. A little steam hole.

Right.

What that does, you know when it bubbles up

and all the gravy and all the stuff from the meat comes out?

It'll end up coming through there rather than inside the pie,

-so it looks a bit neater.

-That's very clever.

Next, for the decoration.

Roll out the pastry trimmings.

Using an oak leaf cutter, cut out 20 leaves

and arrange around the lid to decorate.

Finally, brush with egg wash.

And that's ready to go in the oven.

Now, you're going to put it into an oven at 180C fan for 30 minutes.

Drop it to 140C and leave it in there

for another hour and three-quarters,

and it'll be beautiful, golden brown

and smelling like heaven.

So the idea is to have that blast of hot heat to start with

to make this a lovely chestnut brown colour on top

and then lower it down so that the meat becomes tender.

-Look at that!

-Wow!

Now, obviously you can see the hole.

All the juices have been through. The leaves are all slightly shrunk.

Again, that's because the protein has just shrunk them back.

But that's perfect. Beautiful colour.

I'm going to leave it in there now for at least an hour

before I consider taking it off.

It just needs to set

and we'll be able to eat it later a little bit warm.

But ideally, it is best served cold, and that would give

the liquid time, the natural juices of the meat, to set into a jelly.

-No need for gelatine.

-I'd have that with a few chips.

-I beg your pardon?!

-HE CHUCKLES

You wouldn't!

I fear he would, Mary! I fear he would.

Right, that's it for today.

Thanks to all of our chefs for their wonderful recipes,

but do join me again next time for more of The Best Dishes Ever.

Take care.