72 replies to this topic

[Carolyn Tillie]

Not sure if this all got started too early, but I am arriving on Monday, September 28 and am staying through Tuesday, October 6. I was thinking of taking a few days to train up to Scotland or chunnel to Paris, but nothing is scheduled at all yet.

[g.johnson]

Can anyone recommend a good source in the U.S. for buying grouse to be shipped?

Thanks!

D'Artagnan sell them but a) they're ludicrously expensive and b) not very good IMO.

ETA: To clarify, I haven't had the grouse specifically but other game from them has disappointed.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Can anyone recommend a good source in the U.S. for buying grouse to be shipped?

Thanks!

D'Artagnan sell them but a) they're ludicrously expensive and b) not very good IMO.

Concur. I bought one once and wouldn't go there again.

[balex]

The season has just started here, and apparently it should be a good year -- I am going away on Tuesday for a couple of weeks, but I might try to squeeze in an early one before I go, though it will inevitably be a little bit underhung.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Ah, Balex -- so six weeks from now wouldn't be too late?

[balex]

No, that would be fine. The season goes on until December -- early-ish in the season they are younger and a little more tender.

I had one last night, as it happens, at Racine. It was good, only slightly gamey, very tender, extremely good flavour. With armagnac gravy and a foie gras toast.

[Gavin]

Sounds good balex. Mind sharing the cost?

[balex]

£27.50 or £23.50 for the grouse itself; I can't remember which.

[Andy Lynes]

The former according to the website http://www.racine-re...nt.com/menu.php

[Carolyn Tillie]

My London BizPartner sent me the following:

WHERE TO GET YOUR GROUSE

The Square
6-8 Bruton Street, W1, 020 7495 7100, www.squarerestaurant.org
Phil Howard sources his grouse from Butcher & Edmonds. It is available as a roast breast and croustillant of grouse with crushed celeriac, elderberries and apples. (£75 as part of a three-course a la carte)

The Greenhouse
27a Hay's Mews, W1, 020 7499 3331, www.thegreenhouserestaurant.co.uk
Antonin Bonnet sources grouse from Chef Direct. He plans to serve it with pomegranate and liquorice, to confit the legs and make a terrine from the giblets and liver (£65 as part of three-course a la carte)

Racine
239 Brompton Road, SW3, 020 7584 4477, www.racine-restaurant.com
Henry Harris will serve roast grouse sourced from Northumberland whole on the bone, with Armagnac gravy, fois gras, bread sauce and chips (£27.50)

Le Bouchon Breton
8 Horner Square, E1, 0800 0191 704, www.lebouchonbreton.co.uk
Olivier Ripert will serve his grouse a l'Anglais - wrapped in bacon with bread sauce and game chips (£40). Sourced from Smithfields Butcher.

Ristorance Semplice
9-10 Blenheim Street, W1, 020 7495 1509, www.ristorancesemplice.com
Marci Torri will be recreating his classic risotto with mixed mushrooms, fresh mint, grouse and red wine sauce. Semplice sources its grouse from Allen's of Mayfair (£18 starter, £22.50 main)

Hibiscus
29 Maddox Street, W1, 020 7629 2999, www.hibiscusrestaurant.co.uk
Claude Bosi, who sources his grouse from Johnson and Swarbrick in Lancashire, will serve a main course of roast grouse served with sourdough bread sauce, watercress and light Thai curry purée and sweetcorn blinis (£65 as part of a three-course menu).

Magdalen
152 Tooley Street, SE1, 020 7403 1342, www.magdalenrestaurant.co.uk
James Faulks sources his grouse from Yorkshire Game. He is serving grouse soup with croutons and roast grouse with bread pudding, roasted apple and red currants. (£26.50)

[Wilfrid1]

If you are eating it the first time, and only once, I'd steer for the whole roast grouse. The other dishes listed there may be wonderful, but they strike me as things you do with grouse for people who are bored with eating it the normal way. Like - spicy tempura oysters with a celeriac remoulade might be great, but try them on the half shell first.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I've had it before, but it was so long ago I barely remember it. And I want that quintessential, classic Dickensian British experience. Watercress and light Thai curry? No, thank you... Give me my bread puddings and Cumberland sauces.

[Daisy]

I think that's bread sauce you want, not bread pudding. If it's tradition you're after.

And I think of grouse served in the traditional manner as having a bit of Edwardian opulence lurking somewhere about it rather than anything Dickensian. Dickens for me evoking Oliver Twist with his porridge of course, and Mr Squeers diluting milk with water to 'serve it right for being so dear'.

[mongo_jones]

it wasn't all starvation fare for dickens' characters. see "the pickwick papers". highest food per character consumption in english literature.

[Daisy]

it wasn't all starvation fare for dickens' characters. see "the pickwick papers". highest food per character consumption in english literature.

Ah yes, right.

I still don't think of grouse as Dickensian.