A Sizzling Way to Celebrate Great British Game Week!
As Great British Game Week kicked-off this week, we celebrate wild venison – one of the great winter ingredients that offers so much for chefs to get excited about in the run up to Christmas. This week is all about celebrating natures bounty of wild game meat living a great life in the fields around us.
Great British Game Week was created by Annette Woolcock and the team at Taste of Game in 2013 to celebrate game meat at its best in the Autumn. It goes with so many great seasonal ingredients available at the moment. Now in its seventh year Great British Game Week is seeing to champion the country’s reputation for high-quality wild game meat.
Annette Woolcock, Head of Taste of Game said
“In working with Curtis Pitts Deer Services, Taste of Game is paying homage to wild venison as a delicious and healthy meat. Wild venison deserves pride of place on any dinner table at this time of year because it is abundant, sustainable and has exceptional credentials.
“We want more people to discover the delicious flavor of venison and what better way to do it than in a special celebratory festive sausage created in time for Christmas.”
To celebrate Great British Game Week (23rd-29th November), Curtis Pitts has joined forces with Taste of Game and local butcher, Chris Potter of Tim Potter Family Butchers in Wellington, West Somerset.
Chris Potter is a multi-award-winning sausage maker and used his expertise to create a rather fabulous festive sausage of venison, port, rosemary and cranberry to be sold at the special price of just £8.99 per kilo.
Curtis Pitts is delighted to be working with a national sausage-making ‘champion of champions’ to develop the perfect Christmas sausage, he said
“Tim Potter Family Butchers is one of our most local butchers’ shops and its great to be working with Chris Potter who shares a passion for the outdoors and also works in the family business. Chris is keen to produce quality products, and this shows through his numerous awards won for sausage making on a local and national level. We are very pleased with the taste of the festive sausage and look forward to promoting it to our customers for Great British Game Week.”
The sausage is available both in shop and online from both Curtis Pitts Deer Services and Tim Potter Butchers.
With Christmas on the approach, it is the perfect opportunity to encourage more people to try venison in Chris’ delicious festive sausage recipe, combining Christmassy flavours of port, cranberries and rosemary with a little bit of pork mince and a splash of ruby port and cranberry juice to add moisture and make for the perfect eat.
One of the main benefits of eating wild Venison is that is it one of the healthiest meats available. It is low in fat and cholesterol. Because deer roam free so, in turn, they do not store so much fat meaning their meat is lean.
What fat they have contains Omega 3. Venison has an optimum ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids, making it one of the healthiest sources of good fat.
Venison is a powerhouse of nutrients such with plentiful levels of iron, Vitamin B12, niacin, phosphorus, zinc, riboflavin, and linoleic acid – all of which play a role in a healthy heart.
Venison is wild, natural and untamed. It is harvested from natural landscapes such as forests, farmland and moorlands, which means a natural diet, and this gives venison its distinctive delicious taste.
It is good for the countryside and wildlife and has positive effects on the ecology of our natural landscape. The wild venison industry plays a fundamental role in managing the populations of deer in the UK; without the work of estates and stalkers, populations would increase to unsustainable levels.
Curtis Pitts Deer Services management of deer ensures woodlands, including ancient woodland, are not destroyed or damaged. On average five species of wildflowers are found in unmanaged woodland.
In managed woodland an average sixteen species can be found. Deer need to be managed to avoid starvation and maintain healthy herds.
Venison has low carbon miles. As these animals are not intensively farmed and are often locally sourced, the carbon footprint of the venison industry is relatively small, with very few miles from field to fork. Using a local butcher to produce the sausages ensures minimal food miles to create the festive sausage.
Venison is delicious and tasty. It offers a great alternative to beef and makes a great steak meal. There are six different species and all taste different and it is very easy to buy.
Curtis Pitts Deer Services sell all cuts of wild venison online, check out the brilliant festive sausage recipe and the full range here: www.curtispittsdeerservices.co.uk
