partridge + alan partridge = anecdote

i'm going to Glastonbury festival. "good" i hear you all cry in an eerie unison that only i can hear, with some muffled "bastard"'s thrown in for good measure by the less fortunate of you, "but what has Glastonbury got to do with the beast feast?!". well, it has lots to do with the beast feast, not only for the fact that i will be consuming as many animals as i can during the festival in june, but also because i managed to help my friends get tickets! this led to offers of beers and ciders, which are most welcome, but from my good friend bodge came offers of rabbits and pheasants and partridge. and even though barbecue day failed to see these game materialise, yesterday i received them - two lovely little partridges fresh from bodge's countryside home.i took them out of their bag, my nose hit by a rather fruity smell as they had been hanging up for a few days and wondered what i had got myself in for, with no experience of preparing a bird anymore than sliding a couple of chicken breasts out of their packaging.

luckily, my housemate, mike, is a chef, and got me all straightened out - first we must pluck, then we must slice, then we must slice again. and again. he asked how i would like them done, and i suggested a marinade and bake, to which he conjured up a lime and chilli sauce. but we must not get ahead of ourselves here - i'm still to pluck the birds!

plucking was pretty simple, pulling the feathers out against the grain, coming off in great clumps under my clumsy fingers, bit of skin ripping here and there. mike had a worrying skill about him as he de-feathered and de-skinned his bird in apparent seconds, whilst i had managed to get about three feathers out. he then went at the bird with cold preciseness and was that.. no it couldn't have been, a wry smile? fear begins. but no worries, mike is happy carving up the partridge rather than me. you can see in the picture the bullet wound (red), freezer burn (yellow) and also the food that the partridge had just eaten - yum!now comes the lime and chilli marinade, which the partridge breasts were covered in before fridging them for a while whilst i popped out to the shops to get some potatoes, carrots, broccoli and cream - the partridge will be accompanied by, er, broccoli, carrots and potato gratin.seemingly hours later the potato gratin is almost cooked, so its time to pan fry the partridge breasts. because they're quite small this is done pretty rapidly, and smells bloody awesome! i did sustain an injury from spitting marinade, but i shall pull through none-the-less!finally the dish is served, and i'm bloody starving as it's way past nine and i hadn't eaten all day due to revision and being lazy. and delighting in the knowledge that partridge was going to be in my belly later. i'm afraid i skimped on the presentation for this one as i was far too hungry but you can all agree that it looks mighty fine. i will note that i put reggae reggae sauce on the broccoli and carrots - delicious!the partridge had, minus the lime and chilli taste, a sweet yet deep flavour to it, not at all like chicken, dare i say - gamey. i know that's a cop out since it is game, but it is hard to describe. i'll just stick by my guns and say deep. i recommend this one to all my budding followers and beast feasters!

oh yes, the title of this post. whilst i was enjoying the delightful partridge dinner, good old uktv gold gave me my second pleasure, an episode of alan partridge. jurassic park!

finally, hats off to mike who did a wonderful job, and i am looking forward to him helping out when i get a nice little rabbit in.