August provides us with, for me, the seasonal meat highlights of the year. Young grouse, the wildest and most delicious of gamebirds are harvested from the heather hills from 12th August onwards. Soon after our first Blackface Lambs are drawn from the same hills. We have updated the website this week so please have a look at www.blackface.co.ukand tell us what you think. We strive to make it as simple and easy to use as possible.
This noble game bird is available from us fresh from August 27th.If you’d like them sooner we can supply them, price on request. Being so low in fat, grouse freeze incredibly well, so you can order some to eat fresh and some to put in the freezer. We have them cooked simply, roasted as per our recipe on the website and serve them with game chips and bread sauce.
Our favourite Grouse quote from last year:
“Needless to say, the last box of Grouse was absolutely outstanding. You really are 1st Class!!”
W C Sept 08
Blackface Lamb
The lambs have spent the summer on the hill at Overfingland in the Dalveen Pass. They eat the heather blaeberries and the wild grasses and roam the 6,000 acres of hill.Our lamb is available in Compact Boxes, Halvesand as Whole Lamb.We also have some jointed to go on the pick and mixpage of the website, if you’d just like to try a little.Despite the huge price rise in lamb this year across the markets we have held our mail order prices at last year’s levels.
Hare
Hare is now also in season.Hare, like mutton and rabbit used to be much more popular than it is today and there are an abundance of old recipes about.The meat has a strong gamey flavour and cooking is best slow.Talking to people at the recent Dumfries Show some are put off by memories of the smell of rabbit and hare cooking. We like to soak hare and rabbit overnight in salty water. This helps the meat to cook more cleanly so that we can just enjoy the taste. We sell the Brown Hare from the pick and mix page and we also have a Hare Box, containing 2 jointed Blue Mountain Hares.
Recipes
We have lots of recipes on our website for you to print off, and you’ll see our new recipe collection on the pick and mix.This contains our favourite ways to cook the gamebirds, Mutton and Galloway Beef.
Recipe of the Season:
Dutch Hare Stew
A recipe from The Poachers Cookbook by Prue Coats.Serves 6 – 8.
Ingredients:
1 hare cut into joints
flour for dredging
butter for frying
½ bottle white wine
½ pint (300ml) game stock
20 stoned prunes
4oz (100g) chestnuts
1 pinch ground cloves
salt and pepper
potato or cornflour
1 tablespoon (15ml) fromage frais (optional)
Method
Dredge the hare joints with flour and brown in the butter.Place in a casserole with all the other ingredients and put into a pre-heated oven set at 400F/Gas Mark 6/200C.After 20 minutes turn down to 325F/Gas Mark 3/160C and leave for 2-3 hours or until tender.If the sauce is too thin thicken with a little potato or cornflour mixed with cold water and stir in a tablespoonful of fromage frais.
taste so good.
August provides us with, for me, the seasonal meat highlights of the year. Young grouse, the wildest and most delicious of gamebirds are harvested from the heather hills from 12th August onwards. Soon after our first Blackface Lambs are drawn from the same hills. We have updated the website this week so please have a look at www.blackface.co.ukand tell us what you think. We strive to make it as simple and easy to use as possible.
Grouse
This noble game bird is available from us fresh from August 27th. If you’d like them sooner we can supply them, price on request. Being so low in fat, grouse freeze incredibly well, so you can order some to eat fresh and some to put in the freezer. We have them cooked simply, roasted as per our recipe on the website and serve them with game chips and bread sauce.
Our favourite Grouse quote from last year:
“Needless to say, the last box of Grouse was absolutely outstanding. You really are 1st Class!!”
W C Sept 08
Blackface Lamb
The lambs have spent the summer on the hill at Overfingland in the Dalveen Pass. They eat the heather blaeberries and the wild grasses and roam the 6,000 acres of hill. Our lamb is available in Compact Boxes, Halvesand as Whole Lamb. We also have some jointed to go on the pick and mixpage of the website, if you’d just like to try a little. Despite the huge price rise in lamb this year across the markets we have held our mail order prices at last year’s levels.
Hare
Hare is now also in season. Hare, like mutton and rabbit used to be much more popular than it is today and there are an abundance of old recipes about. The meat has a strong gamey flavour and cooking is best slow. Talking to people at the recent Dumfries Show some are put off by memories of the smell of rabbit and hare cooking. We like to soak hare and rabbit overnight in salty water. This helps the meat to cook more cleanly so that we can just enjoy the taste. We sell the Brown Hare from the pick and mix page and we also have a Hare Box, containing 2 jointed Blue Mountain Hares.
Recipes
We have lots of recipes on our website for you to print off, and you’ll see our new recipe collection on the pick and mix. This contains our favourite ways to cook the gamebirds, Mutton and Galloway Beef.
Recipe of the Season:
Dutch Hare Stew
A recipe from The Poachers Cookbook by Prue Coats. Serves 6 – 8.
Ingredients:
1 hare cut into joints
flour for dredging
butter for frying
½ bottle white wine
½ pint (300ml) game stock
20 stoned prunes
4oz (100g) chestnuts
1 pinch ground cloves
salt and pepper
potato or cornflour
1 tablespoon (15ml) fromage frais (optional)
Method
Dredge the hare joints with flour and brown in the butter. Place in a casserole with all the other ingredients and put into a pre-heated oven set at 400F/Gas Mark 6/200C. After 20 minutes turn down to 325F/Gas Mark 3/160C and leave for 2-3 hours or until tender. If the sauce is too thin thicken with a little potato or cornflour mixed with cold water and stir in a tablespoonful of fromage frais.
Serve with rice.
Yours seasonally
Ben Weatherall