Restaurant of the Month January 2010

The Gaggle of Geese,
Buckland Newton,
Dorchester,
Dorset, DT2 7BS

Tel: 01300 345249
Web: thegaggle.co.uk
email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Our restaurant of the month is The Gaggle of Geese pub in the rural village of Buckland Newton. Owners Mark and Emily have taken great care to make this pub a place for the customers to enjoy proper pub food prepared with traceable local produce, in a comfortable, cosy environment – whether you choose a full meal in the dining room or just a drink on the sofa in front of the fire. The menu features a huge variety of locally sourced game, depending on what is in season and pan-fried pigeon bruschetta with black pudding and bacon is his star dish. No wonder this award-winning establishment features in Alastair Sawday’s Pubs and Inn’s of England and Wales guide.

1. Name of chef(s)?
   Mark Hammick, Neil Ingram, Chris Harris & Jamie Hill


2. What is chef’s favourite game dish?
   Possibly one of the best meals I have ever had was the result of many friends and a good seasons shooting. We sat down to a veritable protein feast all shot by ourselves. Just simply roasted and served with roast potatoes and some fresh vegetables. It included grouse, woodcock, snipe, golden plover, partridge, teal and mallard. The food that night not only sated our appetites but brought back many memories and funny stories


3. What is chef’s favourite tipple to go with the game dish?
   A good earthy Madiran from the south west of France.


4. What types of game are served on the menu?
   Venison, Partridge, Pigeon, Pheasant, Mallard, Rabbit, (Snipe & Golden Plover when I or friends have been shooting in Cornwall), occasionally Teal. We also serve Goose from Michaelmas Day, when we celebrate the quarter day with a special dinner. Pan fried livers and neck to start followed by flash roasted breast and confit leg. I await the arrival of a Canada Goose to try this way.


5. Is game a popular choice on the menu?
   Pan fried pigeon breasts are probably our biggest selling starter. Some people feel trepidation about eating game but if you can get them to try some they are always won over. We had a lady in at the start of the season who ate her first partridge. A few days later I had a phone call asking for the recipe, so that she could serve it at a dinner party at home. The day after her party she phoned to say it had gone down incredibly well and would that recipe also work for pheasant. As a chef this is more rewarding than receiving accolades, as you have got someone to try something new, pushed their boundaries and then converted them. Fortunately the lady in question still returns to dine with us rather than just practicing at home.


6. Where do you get your game from?
   Pecker (Richard Peck a local farmer) & his chums (Boyce Vigar & Ian Chookie a local chicken farmer) shoot a lot of our pigeon, 180 last week and then breast the birds for us. L&C Game at Buckland Newton provide our venison. We have had pheasants left anonymously in the shed at night. Our main pheasant supplier is Mark Leatham of Lyons Hill Farm, he also supplies Mark Hix, Mark Leatham also founded Merchant Gourmet.


7. What is your signature dish on the menu?
   It has to be our Pigeon starter as this is our biggest seller, even some of our drinkers have this as a bar snack - Pecker’s Pan Fried Pigeon Breast Bruschetta with Bacon, Black Pudding, Capers, Pine Nuts & Pan Juices


8. Is that fact that game is a seasonal dish a positive factor?
   Seasonality in food is so important. Food eaten in season is always at its best. Who looks forward to eating a tomato forced under glass in the winter? Who does not look forward to their first grouse of the season, the first pick of asparagus, St Georges mushrooms (the first wild mushroom of the year). Seasonality brings expectation and excitement. Food is meant not just to sustain us but to bring us pleasure. Bring on the autumn, time to dust off your gun, have a fun day with your friends and then back home or to the pub for a proper shoot lunch. Pheasant casserole with warming winter root veg, sautéed kale & creamy mashed potato. The autumn is the time for thick broths and warming heartfelt food.
   
   Working in a kitchen you look forward to the change of seasons for the new raw materials it will bring. Seasonal foods bring a breath of fresh air and time for experimentation.


9. Anything else you’d like to add…..
   I have included one of my favourite Rick Stein recipes - Poached Pheasant in a Star Anise and Chilli Broth with Bok Choi and Udon Noodles - as this is a great and different way to enjoy partridge or pheasant. Just give it a go, or come and eat it in my pub.

The Gaggle of Geese, has just won the Wessex Best Rural Enterprise Award. They won the Wessex area last year with their sister pub The European so owner Mark Hammick is really pleased – congratulations to Mark and the team on their success.