Top Game Bird Cooking Tips

Game is so incredibly good for you because it is so lean. But this means that you can also dry it out all too easily and it can be as tough as old boots. This is why many cooks try game once and give up. But don’t despair, to entirely avoid this, here are a few tricks:

• You can bard the roasting bird with bacon strips and tie these on with string. The bacon fat keeps the bird moist. A cheaper way is to use an oven roasting bag that keeps the juices in
• Or if roasting, you can cover the roasting dish with tin foil, which seals everything in also. Just remove it near the end so the skin gets browned
• If you think the duck (pheasant, goose, etc), may be done, use a thin sharp knife and pierce the duck breast all the way to the breastplate underneath. If it then bleeds red, give it a while longer. If it’s clear it’s done. If it’s still a somewhat bright red, then it’s probably still rare underneath, though light pink juices are fine. If no juices run at all, whip it out of the oven quick as it’s already well done

Remember that some recipes are for domestic ducks which are high in fat and much larger birds. So if using game for these, you’ll probably need to reduce cooking time considerably and you won’t be piercing the body all over to release fat, in fact, the very opposite. You want every bit you can get.