Tips for cooking game on a barbecue (and where to buy top quality meat online)

Barbecuing game is an ideal way to cook pheasant and venison.  We asked keen game cook, professional barbecuer and hunter Joe Carhart of GameChanger BBQ for his tips.

Top tips for barbecuing game

1. Break the mould and be adventurous with your game cooking. It doesn’t have to be stews and roasts. Take a recipe you like and experiment by replacing the usual protein with game meat.
2. Fire and smoke add fantastic flavours to game, so don’t be afraid to dust off the BBQ and swap out the usual pork sausages and chicken kebabs for some delicious British game meat.
3. Start planning your BBQ the day before by marinating the game which stops it drying out.
4. Don’t overcook game. Do it slowly and at a low temperature. Nothing too hot.
5. Don’t be too posh to pluck- admittedly this is more of a pet peeve than a tip- but let’s break the habit of just breasting birds. If you don’t want to pluck a whole bird then skin it instead, you’ll have a fantastic whole bird to work with, or you can separate the crown and legs. Pheasant Leg Tacos are a staple of the GameChanger BBQ kitchen
6. Always check where your game comes from and try to take note of any environmental factors that might impact welfare or numbers.

Joe at work at a Gamechanger BBQ pop up in a pub (pre-lockdown days)

Pre-lockdown Gamechanger BBQ hosted pop-up BBQ game events at pubs and restaurants as well as catering for private parties. Joe is on a mission to get more people eating sustainable, ethically sourced game and venison. As he says:… “Whether that’s wild deer from a woodland stalk, rabbit as part of a managed pest control plan or making sure game birds from big bag shoots don’t go to waste …”