FOOD & DRINK
‘Solid Grampian basics and innovative sophistication characterises Walker’s menu’
Getting all your deer in a roe
Chef and food writer Maxine Clark has set out to popularise venison, and her latest wonderful book on cooking with roe venison may do just that
WORDS RICHARD BATH IMAGES ANGUS BLACKBURN
and penning food articles, she had returned to her native Broughty Ferry and was working for the now-defunct Caledonia magazine running its food coverage. Trying to source some rabbit, she met Christian and Ingela Nissen of Highland Game and a collaboration was born. ‘We got on like a house on fire and I completely bought into what they
I
were trying to do for venison,’ she says. ‘For some reason people have this very strange attitude towards venison: they think it’s a Toffs-only food, or that it’s smelly, tough or expensive, and the Nissens want to educate people and fight back against that prejudice.’ One of the biggest hurdles in persuading people to cook venison is an
unfamiliarity that leads to many people being daunted, so in an attempt to demystify the whole process, Clark produced a small book of simple venison recipes which has gone down a storm. With more and more venison being sold in high street supermarkets, it’s one of several inno- vations that have led to a sharp increase in the amount of venison sold. Clark’s latest book is a sumptuous hardbook tome called ‘7 Days in
Scotland: Roe Deer & Recipes’, which is a collaboration with photographer Mikkel Adsbol and is part photographic paean to the roe deer, and part recipe book. ‘It’s all part of the ongoing attempts to educate people,’ says Clark. ‘Roe deer venison is different to that from red deer – it has a far more subtle and sweeter taste, and a finer texture – and is available all year round, so we want people to realise just how amazing a meat it is, just how easy it is to cook with it, and just what good results you can achieve. Now is a particularly good time of year because if you’re looking for an alternative to turkey, it’s as easy to cook as a big bit of beef and every bit as tasty.’ If nothing else, the recipes over the next four pages prove as much.
Right: Maxine Clark is an evangelical advocate of venison who is now turning her attention to promoting roe deer venison.
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t’s often the chance encounters that have the most profound impact, and so it proved for chef and food writer Maxine Clark. Ten years ago, after 35 years working in top London kitchens, as a food stylist
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