BBQ Spring 2018 | Page 37

We then paired off to have a bit of a cooking challenge, no looftlighters here, just a few basic fire lighting implements to get us started, it really made us realise how much we take for granted things like lighters, chimney starters and looftlighters, when you are down on your knees huffing and puffing to get a few twigs lit.

We were set a challenge of coming up with a meal using one of the venison cuts, I jumped straight for the beautiful top rump or picanha which had a lovely rich buttery looking layer of fat on.

We skewered two thick slabs of the picanha seasoned with salt and pepper and grilled slowly over the camp fire we had created. We also cooked some sweet potato and allowed the skin to char up, and the potato to soften, charred up some baby leeks, and red pepper.

A wonderful nasturtium chimichurri was blitzed up that was nice and peppery and herby. A little of this chimichurri was mixed with some of the suet fat from the inside of the venison carcass for the bit of theatre just before serving.

There were some other masterpieces appearing from the other teams, Team IO Shen put together a cracking venison beer can burger that was immense. Team ProQ grilled up some lovely thick venison steaks and served with a grilled cauliflower cheese that was sensational. We also got to try some of the food put together by the Hunter Gather Cook team, who did some wonderful things with venison fillets and edible flowers.

The judges seemed to enjoy all the food we put out for the day which was great, and we all made lots of new friends. I fully support what these guys are doing, it brings us all one step closer to where our meat comes from which is a really cool thing.

Find out more about Hunter Gather Cook on their website

Twitter : @HuntrGatherCook

Instagram : @huntergathercook

37