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How to cook game at home (according to chefs)

10 Sep 2025

Journalist

Take the fear out of cooking game at home with these invaluable tips and recipes from the UK’s best chefs

With the UK game season underway, it’s time to demystify cooking game at home with tips from the UK’s best chefs. Whether it’s big game like venison, winged game like partridge or ground game like rabbit, cooking game can be intimidating for home cooks unfamiliar with preparing these beautiful meats.

What you’ll find, however, is that many principles for cooking a steak, for example, or roasting a bird can also be applied to game. When it comes to what to serve it with, you can loosely follow the rule of thumb of ‘what grows together goes together’ by choosing accompaniments from the animals’ natural environments.

Our chefs have their own takes on the best way to cook game at home; sometimes they disagree, so we suggest experimenting to find out what works best for you.

Masaki Sugisaki, Dinings SW3

"I love cooking game birds. The key is to gently cook them over charcoal, especially the breasts (smokiness is what you need), and on the bone to maximise flavour. Separate the legs and breasts before cooking and cook separately (the breasts need to be nice and juicy, while the legs need to be cooked through). Play with the gaminess by using aromatics as a rub or in the sauce (use ginger and sansho, etc.). I like to glaze with a yakitori-inspired sauce, which is normally made with soy, mirin, sake, kombu and sugar simmered with the roasted bones and trimmings. I also add seasonal berries such as blackberries to give the sauce an edge. On a side note, in Japan, we say you are lucky if you find the pellets inside."

_{Photo by David Loftus}

Chef Masaki Sugisaki seated at the the bar at Dinings SW3.

Max Coen, Dorian

“When it comes to cooking game at home, I always use the reference to cooking steak. To replicate the way we cook steak at Dorian at home, set the oven to 75°C with a low fan. Then get a really hot pan, ideally a cast-iron one, and sear the meat on all sides for two minutes, and pop it on a rack in the oven for 10 minutes. Being in the oven replicates the hot rest that we do on the grill at Dorian. After 10 minutes, put it back in the pan for 30 seconds and sear on all sides. Following the sear, pop it back in the oven for 10 more minutes to rest. This should give you a really good, even, edge-to-edge medium-rare cook. This method can be applied to all game.”

Stosie Madi, Parkers Arms

“Young birds such as grouse, teal, woodcock and mallard benefit from fast and furious cooking in extravagant amounts of butter after being slathered in and out with a heavy marinade of sage, thyme, garlic and bay. Venison shanks and old birds are great in long, slow braises or pie stuffings. Venison haunch, seamed out into lean portions, would beat the finest fillet steak in tenderness.

"I never hang game birds to avoid any funky aromas; stuff the cavities with more herbs and after a brief spell in a pan of foaming butter, roast the whole bird – always cook the birds whole – in a furiously hot oven while turning and basting regularly. Rest for the same time it took to roast, and then carve. Ask your butcher for the offal, which adds great character to the sauce. Cook dark meat (grouse, mallard, deer and woodcock) as rare as you can take it, partridge and pheasant to a lovely pink blush near the bone. Add a glossy sauce spiked with bramble vinegar and speckled with autumnal berries, rich, slightly tart and lightly sweet, for a supreme autumnal feast.”

Marco Zampese, Hélène Darroze at The Connaught

“Meat such as hare or deer has a strong flavour, with iron and metallic notes. In this case, I like to cook in salmi, as we call it in Italian, similar to a civet in French. I marinate the meat in red wine for 24 hours, infusing it with peppercorn, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, garlic, onion, carrots and celery aromas. I cook the dish slowly for a few hours using the same marinade liquid, adding even more ingredients along the way. Traditionally, I serve it with creamy polenta and some cooked seasonal vegetables as a garnish.

"For woodcock or small wild birds, the meat can range in flavour intensity and usually becomes drier when cooked. In this case, I love cooking allo spiedo, (spit-roast) in front of a wood fire. I skewer the wild birds with bacon or lardo to keep the meat tender, along with sage and sometimes vegetables. Everything cooks slowly while rotating beside the fire, typically using aromatic woods like juniper, oak, hazel and beech. Again, I like to serve it with polenta, beans or other seasonal vegetables as a garnish.”

_{Photo by Justin De Souza}

Jake Finn, Cinder

“Cooking venison at home can be a rewarding experience with the right tips. Firstly, I like to marinate the meat with a mix of rosemary, black pepper and crushed juniper. Allow at least a few hours for it to penetrate, flavour and tenderise the meat. Always season your meat well with salt. When cooking, use a pan to sear the meat, and finish with butter. Aim for medium-rare to medium doneness, as overcooking can dry out the meat. Rest the venison for the same time you cooked it to allow the juices to redistribute. Serve with a beautifully creamy mash and a red wine sauce finished with blackberries for extra ‘cheffy’ points.”

_{Photo by Nic Crilly-Hargrave}

Nathan Cornwell, The Silver Birch

“I love this time of year, as the seasons change. We like to finish our sauces [for game] with a reduction of beetroot juice and some foraged pickled elderberries. This gives a lovely earthy sauce, and the elderberries give a little burst of acidity. To prepare the berries, wash them well in cold water, make a small batch of pickling liquor that is three parts red wine vinegar to two parts water to one part sugar, bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar, pour over the washed berries, and once cool, pour into an airtight jar. Another way to finish game birds is over a BBQ. For a little smoke, use a mixture of hard herbs, savoury and rosemary, and once it is smoking and the fire has calmed, place your chosen bird on top and cover for a minute or so. This is just a finishing technique, so I recommend it at the end of your resting time.”

_{Photo: Rebecca Dickson Photography}

Chef Nathan Cornwell seated at The Silver Birch.

Roberta Hall-McCarron, The Little Chartroom

"The boudin and polenta I had in a little backstreet bistro in Paris is one of the most memorable dishes I have eaten anywhere. Using game in the sausage mix works so well with the polenta, and by September and October, there’s a great selection to choose from. My favourites to use in a boudin are grouse, partridge, venison and hare.

"[To make three game boudins] you will need sunflower oil, one medium onion, diced, 500g mixed game, 200g pork fat, minced, one teaspoon of allspice, one teaspoon of cayenne and 15 grams of salt. In a little oil, sauté the diced onion until transparent and very soft. Mix the minced meat with the fat, allspice, cayenne, cooked onions and salt. You can do it by hand, but you’ll get a better result in a mixer. Divide the mix into three. Lay out a sheet of cling film and put a third of the game mix on top. Shape it into a fat sausage about 15cm long, then wrap the cling film around it and use the worktop to tighten the cling film around the meat. Tie off each end and repeat with the remaining game mix so you have three wrapped boudins. Either steam or boil them in simmering water for 15 minutes, then set aside to cool."

_{Photo by Amelia Claudia Masters}

Taz Sarhane, Cycene

“My top tip for cooking game at home is to buy as local as possible. Flock and Herd Butcher in Peckham is my personal favourite and it’s our go-to for sourcing game for Cycene. I’d recommend starting with dry ageing, and to do so at home, you can sprinkle the outside with salt and leave it on a rack in the fridge overnight. This firms up the meat and helps to remove that sometimes ‘gamey’ twang. In terms of cooking a bird, the most important thing is to not overcook it – as it's wild, and generally organic and free-range, it actually needs a lot less time in the oven than you’d think. For venison, I’d always ask the butcher for individual muscles from the leg, as you end up with a cut that’s super lean with little to no fat. Start it off in the oven at around 60°C, before roasting it in a pan with lots of butter before serving. Pair venison with the flavours of the forest – think pine, juniper and bay leaf.”

Isaac McHale, The Clove Club

“For dark meats such as hare, venison or wild duck, roasting cuts should be served rare to medium rare. Grouse benefits from being taken just over medium, while partridge and pheasant are best cooked medium to well. Shoulder of venison is a different matter; it lends itself to braising, though being lean, it can easily dry out if handled carelessly. To prevent this, it’s best wrapped or larded with bacon or back fat. With snipe and woodcock, tradition plays a part. They empty themselves before flying, which means they can be cooked whole, guts and all. Once roasted and rested, the entrails are removed, roughly chopped, and finished in the pan with a splash of brandy before being served on buttered toast.”

Jan Ostle, Wilson’s

“The best way to roast pheasant is to sear it in a pan first, then finish it gently in a low oven. Roasting it straight through can dry the meat out, but by browning it until golden and then cooking at around 100°C until it reaches 58°C inside, you keep it tender and full of flavour. Rest it for 20 minutes before carving – and a little tip: keep the papers from your butter and lay them over the bird while it rests to keep the meat moist and add a final touch of richness.”

Chris Shaw, Toklas

“One of the main things people struggle with when cooking game at home is drying out the meat. If you’re cooking something like partridge, brine the bird, just as you would do if cooking chicken, and leave it on the bone to cook. This ensures it stays hydrated and it’s super easy to do at home. Pairing game with the right vegetables and fruit is also really important, and it helps you really make the most of the meat’s unique flavour. Opt for seasonal produce. One of my favourites is partridge with pumpkin and preserved cherries or blackberries. Preparing game can definitely be a little messy, but don’t let that put you off – you can always ask your butcher to get the meat ready for cooking at home to save you some of the hassle.”