Game season gives chefs a chance to show off their classic, traditional skills on a variety of meats that do not seem susceptible to more modern treatments.
The highly flavoured ingredients have been shot, eviscerated and possibly left on a hook to virtually turn rotten, yet in the hands of the right chefs, they can turn into refined dining at a high level.
British chef and restaurateur Marco Pierre White, whose TV series Great British Feast begins next week on Fridays on TLC Asia, says that hunting has never really been merely a hobby for the rich and that when he was growing up he would go fishing and looking for ferrets. Now relatively wealthy, White is one of Britain's most famous aficionados of hunting, shooting and fishing and also a keen promoter of British produce.
Eating wild produce is 'celebrating its life through an enjoyment of eating', says White.
Defining himself as a classicist in the kitchen, White says great British food is 'robust, directed by the produce and the climate'.
Being able to source the right produce has also been a boon for Vincent Thierry at Caprice at the Four Seasons Hotel. 'This is real cooking,' Thierry enthuses as he explains his seasonal game menu.
The dishes are based on pheasant, venison, hare, wild duck, wild boar and partridge, with luxury ingredients lifting the cooking above peasant fare.
