Mark Gilchrist is the head chef and director of ‘Game For Everything’. He specialises in cooking game and only uses wild meat and seasonal produce to make his signature game pies and cater for events and dinner parties. He’s not afraid to experiment either and will confidently add an unusual twist, safe in the knowledge that ‘it just works’.
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March 12, 2009
I have spent a great deal of my working life trying to stimulate people who are older than I am, whether it has been in order to start some game-related business venture or simply to get a member of the last generation to try some woodpigeon. I have to confess I am somewhat tired of trying to get my elders to take a risk, look to the future and invest in the next generation.
I am sure that all industries maintain an element of concern about today, not tomorrow. However I feel instead of spending time telling people to focus on the next generation, I am implementing this advice my own way.
This spring, I am returning to my old school, the Kings School Canterbury, where I will teach 11 students to skin, hang and cook game. I have 5 six-hour sessions to teach them to cook a summer menu I have put together, with their input.
We are then going to open a restaurant during their school arts festival (King’s
week) on 27th and 28th of June. We will offer a main meal for around £8, with all the food sourced locally and cooked fresh on the premises by the students.
I am excited at the prospect of teaching a group of people who have no preconceived ideas about game and are willing to learn. Although I am sure that not all of them will become game chefs, what does excite me is that they may well make game part of their everyday diet. This change could overcome one of game’s biggest problems: that it is seen as a luxury that cannot be afforded or that is only eaten on special occasions.
The restaurant I am opening for this weekend is open to the public and if you have any interest in trying our cooking and booking a table then please don’t hesitate to contact me, Mark Gilchrist, at theheadchef@gameforeverything.com
January 18, 2009
The greatest problem that I am faced with in trying to get game cooking, shooting and my lifestyle anywhere is changing the opinion of the masses. This problem of trying to bring about change is not just difficult with those who have no interest in game or are apathetic about it. The major problem comes from those who are in the business or life style who can’t change their small minds in light of the facts.
To structure my point I wish to bring you a few clear examples of this kind of stupidity. My first example was when two years ago I went to the CLA (country landowners association) and I wanted to put a restaurant in to their game fair. They claim that the CLA game fair is the biggest and the best, they would. I had a commercial sponsor for this venture, all the paper work and was prepared to work round any problem.
At the first meeting we had to discuss this venture I was a bit surprised to hear that the CLA could not take up my offer as “it would compete with the catering contract.” I can’t express how disappointed I am that people selling burgers come before this type of forward thinking multi beneficial idea. Further to this I resent any organisation that claims to represent the countryside, which also has this kind of pathetic lack of foresight.
Of all the branches of cooking I don’t think that any is as poorly understood as game. I have a daily battle to explain to people that what think they know about game is not right. The reality is for too many people think that something that works nine times out of ten is good enough. If it works nine times out of ten then you cannot possibly understand the process you are subjecting your meat to, by virtue of the fact you have errors in your cooking process.
What is even more difficult to change, is the endemic culture of people who have done some thing badly for a long time believe that their way is best. Personally I see forty years of doing something badly is not in fact a case for competence, it is however a fantastic bank of evidence to demonstrate the contrary.
At the root of this problem I can see the worst trait of all, a lack of ability to change. It is this lack of ability to change, coupled with a culture of premature congratulation that is so wide spread in country side organisations that has got game cooking, shooting and the countryside in the state it is in.
Personally I relish change, some of the greatest steps forward that my cooking has taken has been by realise that my methods are not 100% effective and the rules need to be changed. It is change that motivates me, and in the face of the challenge of trying to ring some reason in to game cooking I consider what is evidently a great challenge, to be a great opportunity.
December 25, 2008
on the subject of game cooking you can tell in four questions how much anyone knows about the whole topic,
1) what is the your favorite venison dish? if the person fails to give different cooking methods to different species of deer then be worried, the term venison is not used by anyone who has a good knowledge of game cooking.
2) how do you cook a rabbit? if the reply does not discuss soaking in salt water or mentions pan frying then your are dealing with a fool
3) how do you cook a widgeon? if the answers is they are inedible or fantastic you are talking to someone with no experience Read more
