I am really excited having just returned from my first ever shoot over the weekend. We went for a day of pheasant shooting in Hopes, just south of Edinburgh. Hopes is set in 11500 acres of moors among some of the most breathtaking landscape I’ve ever seen. Not to mention the slightly sore right shoulder from having fired far too many shots to get my solitary kill- a partridge! The first one of my life, it was very special. If I were to bring it back with me and put it on the menu, it would have to be the most expensive partridge in the world selling for £1000 a portion.
Only because I used up so many cartridges to get the one bird!

 I’ve always enjoyed cooking with game when it’s in season in UK, we’ve had all sorts of game on our menus over several years and won numerous awards (including UK’s best Game Dish -2009 for our famed ‘Oisin’ Red Deer). It amazes me how versatile game can be, it has an incredible depth of flavour, handles spices really well, its extremely good for you and sustainable, it ticks all the right boxes, yet is so under-utilised in most restaurants.

Offering game on the menu gives us a point of difference and immediately sets us apart from other kitchens, and so we started using it on our menus. But the real reason that I like to experiment so much with game in our restaurants is that in India, despite our rich heritage and tradition of cooking with game, we’ve lost all those recipes because of a complete ban of any type of hunting. It’s been like this since 1947 and over the years, entire generations have grown up without having seen any game dishes in their life. My experimentation with game cooking in UK is an attempt to revive, recreate and sometimes re-imagine a genre of Indian cooking which other wise would be lost completely.

 I’ve been wanting to go on a proper shoot ( not shooting clays) for a number of years now but hadn’t got round to it, it  only made sense to see what goes on before these beautifully plucked and oven ready birds are delivered to us neatly packed in crates. Jamie Morrison, one of our investors and a friend of The Cinnamon Club always said it would be an experience I would enjoy and I was thrilled when I finally got round to it.

I must admit that going on a day’s shoot in Scotland was very different from what I had imagined reading books on hunting in India! For one, there were no jungles or woods. There were no elephants either and there seemed no apparent danger of being eaten alive by a man-eating tiger! What we had instead was a very organised shoot with a game-keeper who seemed to know exactly where we’d find the birds, an army of young men from the neighbouring villages to act as Beaters, another army of Picker-ups with their dogs to bring back the ‘kill’, a couple trucks to move them along, 9 guns, and several hundred cartridges (I used most of them).

Best of all, there were certain ground rules that I was most impressed by, you wouldn’t shoot any ground game, wouldn’t shoot grouse ( since we were out to shoot pheasants and partidges), you wouldn’t shoot anything flying low, don’t shoot if you cant see the sky…I know there is much talk about cruelty and possible ban on hunting in UK as well, but it was a revelation for me to see how much of a sport it still is. A school of thought feels, like any other sport, as long as both parties have a fair chance, hunting is OK. In my opinion, most if not all of what is shot ends up on the plate and is eaten, it’s even better!

 
A series of 6 different drives shooting pheasants and one last drive for partridges in different parts of the estate spaced out between breaks for elevenses and sumptuous lunch served in a beautiful log cabin in the midst of the mountains…I know it does not sound like a bad life at all! Actually it wasn’t, I haven’t really been on any other shoots but I am told it only goes down-hill from Hopes. Yet, I look forward to the next one with much anticipation!

Tags: Game, Grouse, Hopes, Jamie Morrison, Pheasant, Red deer, Scotland, Shooting, Vivek Singh 
Author: Vivek

Following on from last month’s post about matching wine and Chicken Tikka Masala, I thought we could stick to the ‘Curry House’ themed dishes. So this week is the big one: Vindaloo. How on Earth, I hear you shout, is it possible to match such a spicy curry with wine? Well, it’s possible. First a note from Vivek about Vindaloo. Did you know that it was the Portuguese who first pickled their meat in wine vinegar, chillies and garlic to preserve it on the journey to colonise India. When they reached Goa, the mixture was then cooked up and named Vindalho – vinho meaning wine vinegar and ahlos meaning garlic – now the famously hot Vindaloo which is usually served with an ice-cold lager on hand. Our wine buyer, Laurent Chaniac, recommends a beautiful Italian Sauvignon Blanc with delicate acidity to balance out all the vinegar in the dish. If all those chillies are just too hot for you though, try a spoon full of sugar on your tongue washed down with some water – it works!

Tags: chilli, lager, Laurent Chaniac, Sauvignon Blanc, spice, Vindaloo, Vivek Singh 
Author: Alison

This recipe is wonderful for a laid-back Saturday brunch with friends and never fails to impress. Taken from Executive Chef Vivek Singh’s The Cinnamon Club Cookbook, this classic Raj dish is derived from the popular kichri – rice and lentils cooked with ginger and onions. The British adapted the dish by adding eggs and smoked fish. It then made its way back to Britain as a breakfast dish, championed by, amongst others, Queen Victoria.  

Kedgeree with Smoked Haddock

Serves 4

200g smoked haddock
a little milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
25g butter
1 onion, chopped
4cm of fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp of ground turmeric
2 tbsps hot fish stock or water
175g cooked basmati rice
1 tsp salt
whites from 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 tbsp of chopped frsh coriander

For the poached eggs
1 litre of water
2 tbsps white vinegar
4 eggs

Put half the smoked haddock in a pan, add enough milk to cover and bring slowly to the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Heat the oil and butter in a pan, add the onion and saute until golden brown. Add the ginger and turmeric and cook for 1 minute, then add the fish stock or water. Toss in the boiled rice, then fold in the salt and chopped egg whites. Flake the cooked haddock, removing any skin and bones, and add it to the pan with the coriander. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
Cut the remaining smoked haddock into 4 portions and heat it under a grill (or in a frying pan with very little oil) for 2-3 minutes.
Meanwhile, for the poached eggs, pour the water into a shallow pan, add the vinegar and salt and bring to a gentle simmer. Carefully break in the eggs and poach until the whites coagulate and a thin film is formed over the yolk. You must take care that the water does not boil or the eggs will be ruined. Lift the eggs out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
To serve, put the rice in a bowl, the haddock on top and the poached eggs on top of that.

Tags: kedgeree, poached eggs, Raj, smoked haddock, Vivek Singh 
Author: Alison