Grouse Roasted in a Woodburning Oven

You need to start off preferably the previous day to make a game gravy, grouse is too expensive to form the basis of this so use a large guinea fowl instead. Cut off the breasts and use for Guinea Fowl Fricasse  Recipe  . Joint the remainder, chop the carcassse into two or three pieces, and put in the oven with a tablespoonful of olive oil or so at 400°F/200°C/Reg6 and cook for about 50 minutes turning once.

Meanwhile top and tail the leeks, clean the celery, peel the onion, cut off the top and bottom of the garlic clove and put in a large saucepan along with a few pieces of rosemary. When done add the meat and juices, barely cover with water and simmer covered for a couple of hours.

Then discard all the vegetables, meat etc and pour the stock through a sieve into another saucepan, and reduce over a high heat to about half its volume. Allow to cool and put in the freezer.

The following day scrape the potatoes and cut into halves or quarters lengthwise depending on size and keep in some cold water. Discard the outer leaves of the cabbage/s, cut into quarters cut out the core and then cut into thick slices. Make the bread sauce  Recipe   and put to one side.

Paint the grouse with olive oil, season all over with salt and pepper and put some fresh rosemary into the cavities. Light the oven and bring up to medium temperature. Take the game stock out of the freezer, remove all the fat from the top, warm up over a medium heat and season with salt and pepper.

Drain the potatoes, put in an ovenproof dish along with a good portion of olive oil, season with a little salt and put into the back of the oven to cook for 40 to 50 minutes turning from time to time until cooked and golden  Picture  . Put a couple of tablespoonfuls of olive oil into a pan (that has a cover), lightly crush the juniper berries and add to the pan along with the cabbage. Stir well and cook over a moderate heat, then after five minutes or so cover and cook over a low light until tender. When ready, season well with salt and black pepper.

Put the grouse into the oven and cook for about 15 minutes, if they start to overcook cover with some foil. Turn over, add the bacon and cook for a further 15 minutes. Check they are cooked to your taste (not too pink for me), take out the dish  Picture   and cover with foil. Finish off the bacon if need be and take out.

Pour any juices from the grouse/bacon dish into the game stock, add a glass of red wine and cook for five minutes or so. Take out a few tablespoonfuls of the stock, stir in a tablespoonful of cornflour or so, re-add to the stock, allow to thicken and then re-season to make a really good gravy.

Reheat the bread sauce, and cut the grouse into two discarding the carcass. Put some cabbage on to serving dishes, put the grouse and baco on top, add some bread sauce and potatoes, pour over some gravy and enjoy  Zoom  .