Cooking Guidance

We have collated some cooking notes for some of our post popular products below:

1. Goose

2. Family three bird roast

3. Party three bird roast

4. Two bird ballotines

5. Venison roasting joint

6. Wild boar roasting joint

7. Game roulade

8. Using a cooking thermometer - beef, lamb, venison & poultry

9. Poultry

We have created a simple guide to cooking game in partnership with BASC's Taste of Game - this gives details and advice about how to cook all the game available to buy from our website. Download your free copy today.

Goose

• Remove any spare fat from the inside the cavity of the bird and fill the cavity with your stuffing of choice. The fat can be used to cover the legs and for the  roast potatoes.
• Prick the bird all over and rub salt and pepper into the skin and brush with a little cooking oil.
• Cover the legs of the bird in fat and wrap the legs in foil - this is to protect them from burning as they don’t need as much cooking as the rest of the bird. 
• Place the bird on a trivet /rack in the roasting pan which will help remove the bird to drain off fat from the pan during the cooking period.
• Baste the bird periodically and at the end of cooking, cover with foil to keep warm and leave to rest for 20 minutes before carving. 

 For further advice, please refer to Free Range Goose's guide to How to cook and serve goose at Christmas (PDF)

Family three bird roast

• Pre heat the oven to 200ºC or Gas Mark 7
• Wrap the ballotine in foil and put on tray in a roasting dish
• Place in oven for 1.5 hours
• Remove but do not discard the foil and baste the bird
• Remove surplus fat/oil from dish
• Return joint uncovered into oven for 30 minutes
• Remove from the oven, cover with foil again and leave to rest for 30 minutes before carving.
• Due to different ovens and bird sizes, always use a temperature probe to check the meat is cooked through properly.
  
  
  

Party three bird roast

• Pre heat an oven to 200ºC or Gas Mark 7
• Wrap the ballotine in foil and put on tray in a roasting dish
• Place in oven for 3 hours
• Remove but do not discard the foil and baste the bird
• Remove surplus fat/oil from dish
• Return joint uncovered into oven for a further hour
• Remove from the oven, cover with foil again and leave to rest for 30 minutes before carving.
• Due to different ovens and bird sizes, always use a temperature probe to check the meat is cooked through properly.

Two bird ballotines

• Pre heat oven to 180ºC or Gas Mark 7. 
• Wrap the joint in foil and put on tray in roasting dish
• Place in oven for 25 minutes (Quail and woodpigeon) / 45 minutes (Mallard & Partridge, Pigeon and pheasant) / 60 minutes (Guinea Fowl & Mallard)
• Take foil off and baste the bird
• Return joint uncovered into oven for 10 minutes (Quail and woodpigeon) / 15 minutes (Mallard & Partridge, Pigeon and pheasant) / 20 minutes (Guinea Fowl & Mallard)
• Remove from oven. Cover with foil again and leave to rest for 10 minutes (Quail and wood pigeon) /15 minutes (Mallard & Partridge, Pigeon and pheasant) / 20 minutes (Guinea Fowl & Mallard) before carving
  
  

Venison roasting joint

• Serve rare or medium rare to keep moist. 
• Wrap in foil and roast for 15 mins/450g.
• Remove foil for last 30 mins in the oven.
• Replace foil to rest for 5 mins/450g.
  
  

Wild boar roasting joint

• Serve medium rare to keep moist. 
• Wrap in foil and roast for 20 mins/450g.
• Remove foil for last 30 mins in the oven.
• Replace foil and leave to rest for 5 mins/450g.
  
  

Game roulade

• Remove from cling film and wrap in foil.
• Place in a preheated oven 180ºC, 350ºF or Gas Mark 5 for 45 minutes
• Take from foil and place back in oven on 160ºC, 325ºF or Gas Mark 3 for 15 minutes
• Remove from oven and leave to rest of 5 minutes before carving.

Using a cooking thermometer

The best way to check if your meat is cooked is by using a digital cooking thermometer.  Always double check the reading by sticking the probe in several different spots to find the lowest reading. If returning to the oven allow 10-15 mins then test again until the correct temperature is reached.

• For beef, lamb and venison - rare: 52ºC; medium: 60ºC; well done: 75ºC-80ºC
• For pork: 75ºC - 80ºC
• For poultry (chicken, turkey, goose and duck): 75ºC - 80ºC

Poultry 

Without a thermometer, the classic way to test is to push a spoon under the leg of the bird so that it pierces the skin (or use a skewer), and inspect the juices that collect in the spoon. The juices should be pale gold and clear; if there are traces of blood return to the oven allow 10-15 mins then test again