Expert tips for cooking game on the BBQ

The robust flavours of wild game - be it feathered or furred - make it a wonderful addition to your barbecue repertoire. What’s more, grilling or smoking some pheasant, partridge, pigeon or venison over the summer is a good way to free up some freezer space ahead of the shooting season. However, as game is typically very lean, it requires a certain amount of care to get the best out of it. I spoke to Weber’s Head Grill Master, barbecue chef Dan Cooper to get his advice.

Before sharing his tips, Dan had one key message that he was very keen to get across. Namely that while you may think that game meats are autumnal ingredients, they are great on the barbecue. “Game of all kinds really goes well with bold flavours, especially the smokey flavours of barbecue,” he told me. “Prepped and cooked correctly, game is the ideal barbecue meat, not only from a flavour perspective, but also from a conceptual perspective - cooking with fire is a very primal thing, as is the harvesting of game. It is a marriage made in heaven!”

I couldn’t agree more, but I have, in the past, had some BBQ catastrophes with game. The fact that game is typically very lean means that it can easily turn out dry. Dan offered up some great advice on how to avoid this, and how to make the most of the barbecue to deliver the best results.

Understand the difference between direct and indirect cooking

There are, Dan explained, two main ways of cooking on a barbecue, whether gas or charcoal. These are direct, ie grilling, and indirect, like roasting and smoking. Dan recommends using direct cooking on the hottest part of the barbecue to quickly “flash” cook prime cuts like venison steaks, game bird breasts, burgers and shish kebabs. For larger cuts such as venison haunches, or those that require longer cooking, use an indirect method to roast the meat ‘low and slow’ for super tender, juicy meat. For indirect cooking on a charcoal barbecue, simply make your fire on one side, and place the meat on the other. 

Get smokey!

In the UK we tend to think of barbecue as being mostly about grilling, but in the US, arguably the home of BBQ, hot smoking is an integral part of their barbecue culture. “Smoking is a great way to make some of the overlooked cuts really sing - things like pheasant legs, which many often ignore, are wonderful when cooked for about 4 hours at around 130 degrees - you end up with a kind of pulled pheasant which I serve on bao buns with a BBQ glaze. "Weber sell a range of smokers, but you can turn your ordinary lidded barbecue into a smoker simply by using less fuel and keeping the lid on. Use the air vents to control the speed of the burn and therefore the temperature.

Get juicy roasted game, rotisserie style

Roasting whole game birds is a tricky thing to do even in a conventional oven. The lean nature of game means that many roast pheasant and partridge recipes call for the use of bacon or pancetta to help keep the meat succulent. However, this doesn’t work so well on a BBQ, says Dan. “I prefer to do whole gamebirds in a rotisserie style. The advantage of this is that the fats and liquids that are there aren’t lost in the cooking process because of the rotation - this helps to keep the meat really full of flavour and stops it from drying out. The bird effectively self-bastes. You can then supplement that with basting mixtures that you make yourself - honey and ginger for example, to add some additional layers of flavour.” If you fancy yourself as a bit of a woodsman or the next Bear Grills (geddit?!) you could probably fashion a rotisserie yourself from hazel, and maybe pay a small child to keep the spit turning, but Weber also sell a range of electric rotisserie accessories.

Buy a mincer and make game burgers

If you’ve got guests coming round for a summer BBQ, but they’re not really game-eaters, a great way to introduce them to the wonders of wild meat is to make some burgers. I was given a little hand-cranked meat grinder for Christmas a couple of years ago and it is without question my favourite kitchen utensil. I’ve whacked everything from pigeon to venison through there and with great results. They can be bought for as little as £25, and although it is a bit of a workout, I find the process of mincing up a few pheasant or pigeon breasts, or some venison, rather an enjoyable one. Dan suggests that when making game-based burgers, you incorporate some about 20% minced pancetta or pork belly. “Not only does this lend a rich depth to the flavour, but it also provides additional fat and helps bind the burgers together. If you do this, and use a burger press to form the patties, you won’t need any egg or breadcrumbs to hold the mix together.

BBQ your game to perfection by using a meat thermometer

Anyone who has had the classic barbie fare of a sausage that’s cremated on the outside and still raw in the middle will be able to attest to the fact that judging when something is cooked just right can be tricky. The key, says Dan, is to work on the internal temperature rather more than the outward appearance of the meat or some arbitrary cooking time. “When you can’t be certain of the internal temperature, judging the right moment to take something off the heat presents an issue,” adding “I always use a meat thermometer, which takes the guesswork out of things and makes sure I have exactly the right amount of 'done-ness each time'.” Weber’s meat thermometers range from the very simple to the very fancy iGrill3 that connects to your phone and ping you when it is time to turn your meat or take it off to rest.

Ideal internal temperatures for cooking game

• When cooking hot and fast, get game Birds to an internal temperature of 72C, then take them off the heat and let them rest when they get to 74C.
• For venison steaks get them to 52C for medium rare before taking them off, or 58 for medium, then let them rest until that temperature has risen by another 2 degrees.
• When cooking low and slow, you’ll be looking for an internal temp that’s much higher, even into the 80s, but you must arrive at that temperature slowly.