With that in mind, here's how Simon Hopkinson cooks his roast grouse – and don't forget the game crumble and bread sauce either.
Roast grouse recipe: Serves 2
Ingredients
2 oven-ready grouse, together with their livers and hearts, if possible 2 wooden cocktail sticks About 75g butter, softened to room temperature Salt and pepper 2 thick slices of white bread cut from an oval, country loaf, say Watercress
Method
Firstly, tether the bird's legs by skewering a wooden toothpick through the thinnest part of each leg while holding them tightly together, then plunge the point deeply into one thigh; this neat trick saves all that trussing palaver-and is equally applicable to all small game birds during their subjection to high heat and sizzling fat.
Pre-heat the oven to 220˚C/gas mark 7. Smear a little of the given butter onto the base of a solid, preferably cast-iron, deep-sided frying pan or similar style stove-top dish that will also survive the heat from a hot oven. Lay the two grouse on the butter, season them and then rub the soft butter all over the breasts and legs of the grouse.
Slide the birds onto the top shelf of the oven and roast for 7 minutes. Remove, baste generously with the, by now, frothing butter, and return to the oven. Roast for another 7 minutes more, baste again and add the livers and hearts (if you have them) to the butter surrounding the birds. Finally, roast for a further 5 minutes and remove from the oven.
To check that they're done, use the thumb and forefinger and tweak the grouse breasts; they should have the bouncy spring of a shelled, hard-boiled egg and will result in perfectly pink flesh, once rested. Now, transfer the grouse to a plate, loosely cover with foil and keep warm.
Remove the hearts and livers from the roasting butter to a small bowl, mash together with a fork and spread onto the bread slices. Return these to the butter in the pan, mashed liver/heart side uppermost, and return to the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the underside of the bread has become golden-brown and crisp.
Remove to a plate lined with a double sheet of kitchen paper (to absorb excess fat) and keep warm with the grouse. Do not discard the roasting pan/dish.
In this state, the grouse are ready to be served. I used to think that some sort of gravy or some such was necessary, but now deem this to not be so. Correctly roasted and rested, the birds will exude their own juices onto the plate as you eat them.
The only other savoury accompaniments needed – and, for me, essential – are copious amounts of bread sauce and game crumbs. Some sprigs of well-washed watercress are the only other garnish one needs.
Recipe: Simon Hopkinson’s game crumble and bread sauce
The perfect accompaniment to roast grouse
Credit: Simon Hopkinson / Country Life
Simon Hopkinson's lamb cutlet recipe: Good enough for a Last Meal
Simon Hopkinson says that lamb cutlets would be his last meal. And here's how he'd like them cooked, thank you
The 10 best restaurants in Scotland
Country Life's choice of the very best restaurants and places to eat tin Scotland.
-
'I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed': Inside Jane Austen's Winchester home, the house where she penned her final words and drew her final breathJane Austen spent the last days of her life in rented lodgings in Winchester, Hampshire. Adam Rattray describes the remarkable recent discoveries made about the house in which she died.
-
An utterly charming island home in Scotland with gardens so beautiful they made the cover of Country LifeAn Cala on the Isle of Seil has a fascinating history that is only enhanced by its amazing setting.
-
You've almost certainly been making cups of tea wrong for yearsWe drink tea every day, but are we doing it correctly? Who decided on the rules and do they really matter? Jonathon Jones reveals all.
-
How to make Eton mess strawberry blondiesOur kitchen garden cook Melanie Johnson shares a mouthwatering recipe bringing together two of the greatest foodstuffs on the planet: strawberries and meringue.
-
The era of the £50 burger and chips is here — and it's a revelationThe second coming of the high-low restaurant — where chefs pair martinis with burgers — is here. Will Hosie tells more.
-
The imperfect science of the perfect martini and where you can get one in LondonDirty, dry, with fries, gin or vodka. There's a lot to think about for such a simple cocktail.
-
All hail fish and chips: Our guide to the nation’s favourite dish, done rightOur writers share their top picks of where to go for the best of the best, this National Fish & Chip Day.
-
Gill Meller's strawberry, lemon and elderflower meringueGill Meller's strawberry and elderflower meringue is basically summer on a plate.
-
Gill Meller's recipe for a herb-filled tart that makes the most of Spring produceMake the most of the last few days of May and Spring's bumper crop of ingredients with this herby spring tart recipe.
-
'Here in the South West, we value our seafood. We celebrate it': Mitch Tonks on his new Salcombe restaurant and the state of our fishing industryOliver Berry catches up with the celebrated seafood chef to discuss the opening of his new restaurant in Salcombe, the challenges of converting an old boatshed, and why he thinks his online fishmonger and cannery business might be the future.
