Description
A refined British game dish featuring roast grouse with creamy bread sauce, crispy game chips, and rich liver parfait toast, finished with a port and chicken stock reduction for an elegant dinner centerpiece.
Ingredients
Grouse and Accompaniments:
2 whole wild grouse
Butter
2 large potatoes (Maris Piper or similar)
2 thick-cut slices of good-quality white bread
Watercress
Duck fat
1 glass of port
300 ml fresh chicken stock
Fruit jelly (crab apple, damson, or similar)
Bread Sauce:
½ loaf of stale white bread, crusts removed and torn into crumbs
2 pints whole milk
½ white onion, studded with 6 cloves
2 fresh bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, gently crushed
Freshly grated nutmeg
Black pepper
50 g butter
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Liver Parfait:
200 g grouse and chicken livers
1 banana shallot, peeled and finely sliced
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
A splash of Marsala
Black pepper
1 tsp local honey
75 ml double cream
50 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
Instructions
- Bread Sauce: Heat milk with onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, nutmeg, and pepper. Simmer 20 minutes. Strain, keeping onion. Return onion and infused milk to pan, add breadcrumbs, cook 15 minutes, stir in butter, adjust consistency with milk. Keep warm.
- Game Chips: Peel and thinly slice potatoes. Rinse in hot water, soak in cold water. Heat fryer to 180°C. Drain and fry in batches until golden. Season with salt.
- Roast Grouse: Season birds. Heat duck fat in pan, fry bread slices golden, remove. Brown grouse, baste with butter, roast at 170°C for 3–4 minutes. Rest cavity-side up with pan butter inside.
- Liver Parfait: Sear livers 1 minute per side, remove. Add shallots and thyme, cook 5–6 minutes. Return livers, add Marsala, reduce. Stir in cream and honey, simmer 2 minutes. Blend, adding butter gradually until smooth. Season.
- Sauce: Add grouse juices and port to pan, reduce. Stir in chicken stock, reduce to desired thickness. Season, finish with cold butter. Optional: add blackberries.
- Assemble: Reheat birds if needed. Smear parfait on toast. Plate grouse with bread sauce, game chips, dressed watercress, port sauce, and fruit jelly.
Notes
- Swap grouse with pheasant or partridge if needed.
- Use brandy or port instead of Marsala in parfait.
- Add roasted root vegetables for a fuller meal.
- Replace hazelnuts with chestnuts in bread sauce for seasonal flavor.
- Serve with cranberry jelly as an alternative.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Roasting, Frying, Simmering
- Cuisine: British
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 portion
- Calories: 720 kcal
- Sugar: 8 g
- Sodium: 480 mg
- Fat: 48 g
- Saturated Fat: 22 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 23 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 35 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 36 g
- Cholesterol: 310 mg
