A girl's guide to game

Fancy a change from chicken? Now is the best - and easiest - time of year to buy game. But forget guns and traipsing through the countryside after your dinner: you can now buy pheasant, grouse and duck at the supermarket

Although considered an expensive treat - and usually the reserve of country dwellers or landed gentry - game animals such as partridge, pheasant, grouse and hare have become much more widely available. No longer do you need to know a man with a shotgun: even supermarkets are starting to stock game.

In the ancient and true sense of the word, game refers to wild animals, birds and fish that are not raised for food but hunted. In recent times, the distinction has become blurred with the introduction of game farming - the rearing of wild animals in controlled environments to provide a ready supply of game.

Why should we eat game?
In addition to being leaner, and therefore healthier, than traditionally raised domestic animal meat, game has a range of interesting flavours. Most types of feathered and furred game make a flavoursome and appealing change from chicken or pork, and there are centuries' worth of cooking methods and accompaniments to bring out the best in the meat.

Here's a list of the most popular game in Britain. The following pages have more information on buying and cooking that particular animal:

Grouse
Partridge
Pheasant
Wild Duck
Hare
Venison
Wild Boar

Over the page: General advice on choosing and cooking game