🦌 Is Your Game Really Wild?

🌲 Truly wild game follows nature

A wild animal does not live according to a production schedule.

It finds its own food, is constantly on the move and lives according to the seasons. What it eats, how much it moves, its age and even the conditions of its habitat all influence the meat that eventually reaches our plate.

That is why truly wild game is never completely uniform.

One wild duck may be slightly larger than another. One roe deer may have a somewhat finer texture than the next. Colour, fat content and intensity of flavour can vary too.

For an industry that strives to produce a perfectly consistent product, this might be considered a disadvantage.

For us, it is part of the charm.

Truly wild game is a product of nature. And nature simply doesn't produce according to a specification sheet.

🦌 So what exactly is farmed game?

There are also animals that we traditionally associate with game but which are raised or kept under controlled conditions.

Their diet, environment and growth can be managed much more closely. The animals are also often slaughtered at a particular age or target weight.

The major advantage is predictability.

Cuts tend to be similar in size, the texture of the meat is more consistent and tenderness is much easier to predict.

And there should be no misunderstanding about this: farmed game can be excellent meat.

For us, the main difference lies in its character.

🦆 A wild duck is very different from a farmed duck

The difference is particularly obvious with duck.

A farmed duck is generally larger and fattier. Its meat is relatively consistent in texture, while its generous fat content also helps during cooking.

A wild duck has lived a completely different life. It has flown, swum and searched for its own food. As a result, it is generally smaller, leaner and firmer in texture, while at the same time having a much more distinctive flavour.

That is precisely why a wild duck should not simply be prepared in the same way as a farmed duck.

Giving a wild duck a good initial sear is an excellent start, but afterwards slower, gentler cooking can help tenderise its firmer meat.

Because the bird contains considerably less fat, it is important to prevent the meat from drying out during cooking.

💧 Adding moisture without letting the meat swim in liquid

Adding a little moisture while cooking wild duck or pheasant is therefore certainly not unusual.

You can, of course, use a little stock, wine or another liquid, but there are also more subtle ways of doing this.

One of our favourites is to cook the meat together with vegetables that naturally contain plenty of moisture.

Vegetables such as onion, shallot, carrot or Belgian endive gradually release moisture during slow cooking. At the same time, they impart flavour to the meat and combine with the cooking juices to create a delicious base for a sauce.

Fruit can serve the same purpose. Apples and pears, for example, release moisture while adding flavours that pair beautifully with game.

This way, you are not simply adding moisture: you are building flavour throughout the cooking process.

🐦 Pheasant: sometimes farmed almost like an agricultural crop

Pheasant is another fascinating example.

In certain regions abroad, you can sometimes encounter huge numbers of pheasants in fields. They are raised on a large scale, almost as though they were an agricultural crop.

Again, there is nothing inherently wrong with this meat.

In fact, its great advantage is consistency. The birds are of a similar age, receive controlled nutrition and consequently produce a relatively uniform product.

A genuinely wild pheasant is a different story.

The bird has moved much more throughout its life and has found its own food. Its meat is generally leaner and firmer, with more character and a more pronounced flavour.

Wild pheasant therefore benefits from a different approach in the kitchen. Brown it thoroughly first and then allow enough time for gentle cooking. A little added liquid or moisture-rich vegetables during cooking can once again make a significant difference.

🐗 Wild boar: more tender doesn't automatically mean better

We see the same distinction with wild boar.

A fillet from a truly wild boar from our own region, for example, can be noticeably firmer than meat from animals that have lived under more controlled conditions and received supplementary feeding.

Such systems can be found in countries including Spain. By exercising greater control over nutrition and living conditions, it is possible to obtain more consistent and often more tender meat.

Compare that with a wild boar that has genuinely roamed freely through our forests and the difference can be considerable.

But does that mean the most tender piece is automatically the best?

Not necessarily.

The more controlled product offers tenderness and consistency. Truly wild boar offers its own texture and a flavour shaped by the environment in which the animal lived.

They are simply two different qualities.

🦌 Deer: New Zealand versus truly wild game

Deer is perhaps one of the best examples of just how good farmed game can be.

Venison from countries such as New Zealand is renowned for its remarkably consistent quality. Animals are raised under controlled conditions, allowing diet, age and slaughter weight to be managed much more precisely.

As a result, the cuts are consistently similar in size and texture.

And above all: the meat is almost always exceptionally tender.

For a professional kitchen, that consistency is obviously a major advantage. When a chef needs twenty identical portions, predictability is extremely valuable.

A young deer that has genuinely lived in the wild simply cannot offer that same uniformity.

Every animal is different. Size, texture, tenderness and even flavour can vary.

But once again, you receive something else in return: the character of truly wild game.

🔥 Not all game should be cooked in the same way

This is where things become particularly important.

The statement "game is lean, so it should always be cooked quickly" is far too simplistic.

It depends on both the animal and the cut of meat.

A whole wild duck or pheasant has a very different structure from an exceptionally tender roe deer fillet.

A roe deer fillet is precisely the kind of cut we prefer to cook briefly. Sear it well, carefully monitor its core temperature and serve it beautifully pink. Cook such a lean and tender piece for too long and you lose the very qualities that make it so special.

With a whole wild duck or pheasant, the opposite can be true. After searing, slower and gentler cooking may be required to tenderise its firmer texture. Because these birds contain relatively little fat, preserving moisture during cooking also deserves particular attention.

That may be the most important lesson of all:

There is no single universal cooking method for game.

👨‍🍳 Look at the meat, not just the recipe

With a highly uniform farmed product, it is relatively easy to repeat a recipe. The next fillet will be approximately the same size and have roughly the same texture as the previous one.

With truly wild game, you need to cook a little more with your eyes and your hands.

How large is the animal? How lean is the meat? What does its texture feel like? Which cut are you preparing?

A small wild duck may behave differently during cooking from a larger bird. One roe deer fillet may simply be a little thicker than another.

A recipe remains an excellent guide, but with truly wild game, the product ultimately dictates the cooking method.

🍂 So… is farmed game inferior?

Absolutely not.

Farmed game actually has several significant advantages. It is more consistent, often more tender, more uniform in size and easier to predict during cooking.

But truly wild game offers something else.

An animal that has lived freely in nature, found its own food and been constantly on the move will never produce a perfectly standardised piece of meat.

It produces a natural product.

Sometimes a little smaller. Sometimes a little firmer. Sometimes surprisingly intense in flavour. And never quite identical to the one before it.

For some people, that variation may be less convenient.

For lovers of game, it is precisely what makes it so special.

Tenderness can be influenced. Uniformity can be farmed. But character? That is much harder to reproduce.

And that is exactly why, at Gustor, every year we look forward to the moment when the true wild game season begins. 🦌🦆🍂