In the pink
Margaret Rand’s taste buds were transported when she feasted on game dishes flavoured with whisky created by top chef David Chambers
They serve 50 to 60 grouse a day at Rules, and about 60 pheasants. Chef director David Chambers likes to cook them âas pink as people will eat themâ â and at Rules thatâs pretty pink. Indeed visitors thinking of booking a table at the top restaurant in Londonâs Covent Garden should realise itâs not a place to visit if you canât stand the sight of blood.
Game, as every dram-drinking cook knows, has an affinity with whisk(e)y. So we asked Chambers to cook a game menu using whisky â and he opted for grouse, grouse, grouse all the way. Monotonous? Not a bit of it. The terrine uses smoked grouse wrapped in the brightest, greenest, most briefly-blanched cabbage youâve ever seen. For the pudding Chambers shaped a chocolate mousse with a couple of spoons until it more or less ressembled a bird, added a pair of chocolate wings, a sauce made with Famous Grouse, and a couple of raspberries to represent drops
of blood.
How far can you substitute other game for grouse in these recipes? Chambersâs view is that you canât â if you do you will never get the same flavour. âNothing tastes like grouse,â he says. âNothing smells like grouse when it comes out of the oven. But you could treat wild duck in the same way as the roast grouse.
âI donât hang young grouse. Itâs best eaten as soon as itâs shot. Iâve been up on the moors on 12 August, waiting for a brace, and then cooked them and eaten them in the garden that day. Theyâre fantastic that way. .....
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By Margaret Rand
Section : Whisky and Food
Page number : 34
