The sun is shining, and the air is thick with the scent of charcoal smoke and the clinking of ice in a jug of Pimm's. George, Jake, Sam and Avian fire up the barbecue edition of the GunsOnPegs Podcast, with ideas for using up the last of the game in the freezer before the new season begins. From pheasant skewers and bunny burgers to venison jerky, and curried game, this is a smoky, hungry, slightly chaotic celebration of cooking wild meat outdoors.
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Recipes
Leon’s sticky pheasant strips
Ingredients
Pheasant breasts, cut into strips
50g crunchy peanut butter
50g gochujang sauce
20ml sesame oil
Pinch of MSG
Crispy chilli oil, a couple of teaspoons
Optional: sweet chilli sauce instead of crispy chilli oil, though Leon prefers the oil
Method
Mix the peanut butter, gochujang, sesame oil, MSG and crispy chilli oil into a marinade. Add the pheasant strips and leave for at least 10 hours, ideally overnight.
Cook on the cooler side of the barbecue, not directly over fierce heat, because the marinade can burn. Cook for a couple of minutes per strip until nicely charred and cooked through.
Serve with: Lettuce/Noodles/Potato salad
Avian 's soy, ginger and chilli dipping sauce
This is more of a dip or sauce than a full recipe.
Ingredients
100ml light soy sauce
100ml dark soy sauce
50ml white rice wine
25ml sesame oil
4 tsp crispy chilli oil
25g grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
2 tsp MSG
Method
Mix everything together and use as a dip or glaze for barbecued game birds or other fowl.
Jake’s braai lamb breast
Ingredients
Lamb breast
Lemon juice
Braai salts
Aromat
Worcestershire sauce
Method
Sear the lamb breast over the coals, then cook slowly, turning and basting/seasoning with lemon juice, braai salts, Aromat and Worcestershire sauce.
The aim is to avoid burning or overcooking it. Cook until it is tender enough to slice and hand around as a starter.
Serving suggestion: Cut into small pieces and pass round as a salty, lemony, smoky starter.
Jake's curried pheasant and chorizo skewers
Ingredients
Pheasant breasts, chopped into chunks
Chorizo, cubed or sliced
Curry seasoning / curry marinade
Optional: partridge pieces too
Skewers
Method
Cut the pheasant into bite-sized pieces and pair with cubes or slices of chorizo on skewers. Season or marinate the pheasant with curry spices.
Cook over the barbecue until the pheasant is cooked through and the chorizo has released its oil and flavour.
Serving suggestion: Pass around as a starter or informal barbecue snack.
Jake's Simple barbecued venison backstrap
Ingredients
Venison backstrap, ideally fallow if available
Pepper
Oil
Salt flakes for serving
Method
Oil and pepper the venison. Cook it hot and fast over the barbecue.
Jake’s view was to avoid salting before cooking, then offer flakes of salt afterwards.
Serving suggestion: Slice and serve simply, letting people salt to taste.
Sam's Bunny burgers
Ingredients
Rabbit meat, taken off the bone
Milk, for soaking
Pork fat, roughly 20% of the mix
1 clove garlic, crushed
Dried thyme
Paprika
Chilli powder, optional
Salt and pepper
Burger buns
Butter
Optional: mayo, herby mayo or spicy mayo
Method
Remove the rabbit meat from the bone, dice it, and soak it in milk overnight in the fridge.
Drain, then mince with pork fat at roughly 80% rabbit / 20% pork fat. Add garlic, thyme, paprika, optional chilli powder, salt and pepper.
Press into burgers and chill in the fridge before cooking.
Cook on the barbecue and serve in a buttered bap, with optional mayo.
Sam's Middle Eastern-style venison with mango salsa
Ingredients
For the venison:
Venison haunch
Sumac
Coriander
Cumin
Smoked paprika
For the mango salsa:
Fresh mango
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Harissa
Fresh coriander
To serve:
Flatbreads
Herby yoghurt
Method
Marinate venison with Middle Eastern-style spices: sumac, coriander, cumin and smoked paprika.
Cook over smoke, possibly hot-smoked or cooked slowly until tender enough to serve in a pulled-meat style.
Make a mango salsa with fresh mango, olive oil, lemon juice, harissa and coriander.
Serve on flatbread with herby yoghurt.
George’s easy game barbecue curry
Ingredients
Pheasant or partridge, diced into roughly 1-inch chunks
Spice Tailor tikka masala kit
Optional: yoghurt or cream
Naan, ideally sourdough naan
Wild garlic butter or garlic butter
Method
Use the smaller base sauce packet from the Spice Tailor kit as a marinade for the diced pheasant or partridge. Leave for at least an hour, or a few hours if possible.
Skewer the meat and barbecue over very hot coals until cooked, with a little char. It can be a touch underdone in the middle as you can finish it in the sauce later.
Meanwhile, make the curry sauce indoors: fry off the spice blend, add the main sauce packet, and simmer briefly. Add yoghurt or cream if desired.
Take the barbecued skewers off the fire, stir the meat through the sauce, and serve with naan brushed with wild garlic butter.
George’s magic green sauce marinade
Use as a marinade for whole pheasant or partridge breasts, venison steaks or backstraps
Ingredients
Handfuls of soft herbs: thyme, lemon thyme, oregano, marjoram, basil, mint, or whatever is available
Wild garlic, if available
A few cloves of garlic
1 spoon Dijon mustard
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Optional: lemon juice
Optional: chilli
Salt and pepper
Optional: honey or sugar if it needs sweetness
Method
Blend the herbs, garlic, Dijon, olive oil, red wine vinegar, optional lemon, chilli, salt and pepper until smooth but not runny.
Taste and adjust: add honey/sugar if it needs sweetness, or more vinegar if it needs sharpness.
Marinate your meat overnight if possible.
Cook game bird fillets on skewers over a hot barbecue.
Cook venison steaks or backstrap over very hot coals.
