Home Recipes Grouse Recipes Whole grouse recipe: roast crown, leg faggots and blackberries

Whole grouse recipe: roast crown, leg faggots and blackberries

Head chef Connor Wilson roasts young grouse on the crown and turns the legs into faggots, so nothing of the bird is wasted. Wild mushrooms, bread sauce and sharp pickled blackberries finish a dish worth saving for the first birds of the season

Roast grouse crown plated with wild mushrooms, pickled blackberries, bread sauce and fondant potato

Connor Wilson's roast grouse: the crown roasted pink, the legs turned into faggots and nothing of the bird wasted

Grouse is the most eagerly awaited bird of the shooting season, and if you have young birds of your own hanging in the larder this is a recipe that makes the most of every one of them. At The Kirkstyle Inn & Sportsman’s Rest in Northumberland, head chef Connor Wilson roasts the crowns for a clean, rosy breast, works the leg meat into small faggots and reduces the trimmings and bones down into a deep, glossy sauce. Nothing is wasted, and every element earns its place on the plate.

Wild mushrooms, a spoonful of soft bread sauce, sharp pickled blackberries and a buttery fondant potato round the dish out, each one a nod to the moorland the grouse comes from. It is an involved recipe, built from several components, but none of them is difficult on its own, and the results are worth the effort for a special early-season dinner.

Prep time: 45 minutes, plus 30 minutes brining
Cook time: 2 hours
Total time: 3 hours 15 minutes
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Advanced

Ingredients

For the grouse

4 young grouse
200g salt
2kg water
A few sprigs of hard herbs, such as rosemary, thyme and bay
50g butter
Oil

For the faggots

Grouse leg meat (from the birds above)
100g sausage meat
5g thyme leaves
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Caul fat, to wrap

For the sauce

Grouse trimmings and bones
50g butter
200g red wine
50g port
25g each of chopped carrot, shallot, celery and leek
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf and a pinch of thyme
2g peppercorns
2g coriander seeds
2g fennel seeds
1000g chicken stock (Truefoods recommended)
1000g veal stock (Truefoods recommended); beef stock can be used as an alternative
10g red wine vinegar

For the bread sauce

200g day-old or stale bread
200g milk
50g onion
1 clove
A little grating of nutmeg
Salt
Pepper

For the fondant potatoes

2 large potatoes
100g butter
A sprig of thyme and a bay leaf
100g chicken stock

For the wild mushrooms

200g wild or foraged mushrooms
50g butter
Salt
Pepper

For the pickled blackberries

8 blackberries
30g white wine vinegar
20g water
10g sugar

How to make whole roast grouse – step by step

The grouse

Step 1. Blend the salt and water together with a hand blender to make a brine, and set aside.
Step 2. Take the grouse, remove the legs, wishbone and back, leaving the crown.
Step 3. Place the crowns into the brine for 30 minutes. Remove, pat dry and set aside until ready to finish.
Step 4. Remove the meat from the legs and roughly chop or mince it.

The faggots

Step 5. Mix the chopped leg meat, sausage meat, thyme leaves and seasoning together, shape into four small balls and wrap each in a single layer of caul fat. You can skip the caul fat, but the faggot is more likely to fall apart without it.
Step 6. Set aside until ready to finish.

The sauce

Step 7. Heat a heavy pot over a medium-high heat. Add the butter and grouse trimmings, along with the vegetables and spices. Cook, stirring regularly, until the meat and veg have fully cooked and browned nicely.
Step 8. Drain off the excess butter, then add the wine and 40g of the port, plus the thyme and bay leaf. Reduce by half.
Step 9. Add the chicken and veal stock and simmer, skimming as it reduces.
Step 10. Reduce by half again, pass through a fine sieve and keep the liquid, discarding the solids.
Step 11. Return the liquid to a clean pan and continue to reduce gently until the sauce thickens to a light, slightly sticky texture.
Step 12. Remove from the heat and add the remaining port and the vinegar. Keep warm.

The bread sauce

Step 13. Bring the milk to a simmer with everything except the bread. Set aside to infuse for 20 minutes.
Step 14. Strain the milk, bring it back to a simmer and add the stale bread. Simmer together until it forms a porridge-like consistency.
Step 15. At this stage you can choose whether to serve it coarse like this or blend it into a smooth paste.

The fondant potatoes

Step 16. Peel and cut the potatoes into circles about 1in thick. You can cut them out with a ring cutter for neatness if you wish.
Step 17. Heat a heavy pan over a medium-high heat with a little splash of oil and place the potatoes in, cut side down.
Step 18. Allow the potatoes to caramelise nicely, then add the butter, herbs and chicken stock.
Step 19. Cover with a cartouche (parchment paper folded into a triangle, cut to half the size of the pan and unfolded into a circle).
Step 20. Simmer until the stock has reduced and the potatoes are cooked through.
Step 21. Allow the pan to cool slightly before removing the potatoes; this helps release them if they have stuck.

The pickled blackberries

Step 22. Simmer the vinegar, water and sugar together.
Step 23. Pour over the blackberries.
Step 24. Set aside to cool.

The wild mushrooms

Step 25. Heat a sauté pan over a medium-high heat, add the butter and mushrooms and sauté until golden brown. Season to taste.

To finish the grouse

Step 26. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Step 27. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat, coat with oil and fry the grouse crowns all over to an even golden colour.
Step 28. Add the butter and herbs and baste the grouse for 2 minutes.
Step 29. Place the whole pan in the oven for around 6 minutes, until the grouse is cooked to medium.
Step 30. Rest for 6 to 8 minutes.

To plate

Step 31. Remove the grouse breasts from the crown and arrange them neatly on the plate.
Step 32. Warm the garnish through again if necessary by placing it in the oven while the grouse rests.
Step 33. Put the garnish around the grouse and add a spoonful of bread sauce.
Step 34. Finish the dish with the pickled blackberries and some of the grouse sauce.

Serving suggestion

Serve one grouse crown per person, the breasts sliced and set over the fondant potato with a faggot alongside, the mushrooms and pickled blackberries spooned around and the glossy sauce poured at the table. A spoonful of bread sauce and a robust red do the dish justice.

Tips for the best roast grouse

Young grouse are the ones to look for early in the season; they have a tenderness and delicacy that older birds lose, and they need little to show at their best. The brief brine seasons the crowns right through and keeps the breast moist, so do not be tempted to skip it, but do not push much beyond the 30 minutes either. Grouse is best served pink: 6 minutes in the oven and a proper 6 to 8 minute rest will give you a rosy, evenly cooked breast, whereas cooking it through will leave the meat dry and liverish. Take your time over the sauce, as the slow reduction is where the depth of flavour comes from, and reduce it gently at the end so it stays glossy rather than turning sticky. Finally, wild mushrooms and blackberries gathered at the same time of year as the grouse are the natural partners here, so use whatever is good and local.

Connor Wilson, head chef at The Kirkstyle Inn and Sportsman's Rest in Northumberland

About the chef: Connor Wilson

Head chef at The Kirkstyle Inn & Sportsman’s Rest, Connor Wilson was born and raised in Haltwhistle, just 10 miles from this Northumberland institution, much loved as a rest stop by travelling Guns. Since joining the Inn for its reopening in 2023, Connor has brought to the kitchen a philosophy that centres on a deep respect for food provenance. He sources the finest ingredients from small, local producers across the North of England, many of whom have worked the moorlands for generations and bring a deep knowledge of the land and of animal welfare.

Connor prioritises local produce from the estate and neighbouring farms, including wild game, pasture-bred sheep and cattle, and often buys whole animals to make use of every part while minimising waste. Fish is sourced mainly from the Northumberland coast and the Tyne, and everything is made on site, sourdough bread included. He is particularly committed to promoting wild game, championing its sustainability and its role in supporting rural communities, with bar snacks such as game sausage rolls designed to make game more accessible to a broader audience.

Preservation techniques, including pickling and fermentation, are also central to his ethos, building a pantry that reduces reliance on distant sources and lowers the restaurant’s carbon footprint through leaner seasons. His dishes use classic techniques with minimal intervention, letting the flavour of each ingredient do the talking.

Connor cooked this dish for Fieldsports Journal, where it first appeared.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know when the grouse is cooked?

Grouse is best served pink. Roasted on the crown at 180°C for around 6 minutes it should reach medium, with the breast rosy and just firm to the touch. The rest is as important as the cooking: 6 to 8 minutes off the heat lets the juices settle and the temperature even out. Cooked beyond pink the meat quickly dries and takes on a livery edge, so err on the side of underdone and rest it well.

What can I do with the grouse legs?

Grouse legs carry more sinew than the breast and are rarely worth roasting on the bone, but the meat itself is excellent. Here it is stripped off, chopped or minced and bound with sausage meat, thyme and seasoning to make small faggots, wrapped in caul fat and cooked alongside the crowns. The same mix works as a stuffing or as the base of a ragu, so nothing of the bird is thrown away.

Can I make the faggots without caul fat?

Yes. The caul fat holds the faggots together and bastes them as they cook, but you can leave it out if you cannot get hold of any. Without it the faggots are more fragile and likelier to break up, so handle them gently and chill them firm before frying. A good butcher or game dealer will usually supply caul fat if you ask ahead.

What can I use instead of veal stock?

Beef stock is the recommended alternative and gives a similar body and richness to the sauce. Whichever you use, a good-quality stock makes a real difference here, as the sauce is built almost entirely from reduction. If you only have chicken stock, reduce it a little further to build depth, and lean on the grouse bones and trimmings to carry the flavour.

How much can I prepare in advance?

Most of the components can be made ahead. The sauce, bread sauce and pickled blackberries all keep happily in the fridge for a day or two and only need reheating, and the blackberries are served at room temperature. The faggots can be shaped and chilled ahead too. Leave the grouse crowns and the fondant potatoes until close to serving, so the birds are freshly roasted and rested and the potatoes hot and buttery.

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Whole grouse recipe: roast crown, leg faggots and blackberries