Brace of Partridge, Whole

Wild partridge are shot from 1 September to 1 February.

French or red legged partridge is a great introduction to feathered game. The tender, white breast meat and dark, flavoursome leg meat is perhaps the mildest of game flavours, yet not without character. Traditionally oven-roasted and served with bread sauce for a truly magnificent Sunday lunch - one portion per bird. We love to spatchcock, marinade and barbecue wild partridge - the skin crisps up beautifully and the meat is wonderfully smokey.

The landscape on our doorstep is rich with wild game and as such we work with smaller shoots across the Yorkshire Dales who manage the landscape sympathetically and maintain high levels of biodiversity, something we feel passionately about.

Chef Valentine Warner on French or red legged partridge:
"I will no longer lift my gun to the 'Grey' or English partridge as since the great post-war hedge uprooting, combined with the constant disturbance of mechanised farming, their numbers have fallen dramatically. It is the hunter's responsibility to be aware of such things and so as a truly indigenous bird in decline I leave them well alone, only muttering kind words of goodwill and encouragement whenever I see them huddled in their covey or put up to flight in surprise and escape.

However, from the gentler crop covered gradients of the south and The Midlands (their preferred habitat) to the steep northern heather and the introduced French partridge may be found in abundance. Obviously French they are red-beaked and -footed fashionistas with racy striped waistcoats and dark shades decorating the eyes.

I used to watch them as a child playing king of the castle on the rotting haystacks or scurrying quickly down the verges of the country lanes in a long line. Mum used to cook them fairly regularly over autumn and winter, dad using the term 'roast justice' given they were the scourge of our kitchen garden, their raspy screech so often heard from inside it. Trying to get my own children to eat more adventurously and I now peddle them as 'hedge chickens'. But first timers to partridge should not need such trickery as both plump and delicious French partridge are incredibly versatile and easy to cook, responding very well to roasting, braising and as DFP (deep-fried partridge)."