A Proper Game Pie: Using Everything From a Mixed Bag

The Principle

A good game pie is a braise with a pastry lid. The filling is made separately — properly browned, properly sauced, properly seasoned — and the pastry provides a crust that absorbs the sauce and provides textural contrast. The pastry does not cook the filling. The filling cooks the filling. The pastry finishes it.

Ingredients (serves 6)

Filling:

• 500g mixed game meat — diced venison shoulder, rabbit legs off the bone, game bird thighs. Any combination.
• 150g bacon or speck, diced
• 2 brown onions, diced
• 3 carrots, diced
• 250g button mushrooms, halved
• 300ml red wine
• 300ml beef or game stock
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• Bay leaf, thyme, rosemary

Pastry: 375g shortcrust pastry (homemade or quality bought). 1 egg for wash.

Filling Method

1. Brown the game meat in batches in a hot heavy pot. Do not crowd the pan — browning requires dry heat and contact. Set aside.
2. Brown the bacon. Sweat the onions and carrots in the rendered fat for 5 minutes.
3. Add flour, stir for 1 minute. Add tomato paste. Add wine and reduce by half. Add stock and herbs.
4. Return meat to pot. Cover and braise at 160°C for 1.5–2 hours until tender. Add mushrooms in the last 20 minutes. Cool completely before assembling the pie — hot filling makes the pastry bottom soggy.

Assembly and Baking

1. Line a pie dish with pastry. Fill with the cold game filling. Cover with pastry lid, seal the edges, trim. Brush with egg wash. Cut a vent in the lid.
2. Bake at 200°C for 30–35 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.

Rest 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with mashed potato or crusty bread.

The Art of Mixed Game Selection

The beauty of a proper game pie lies in combining different textures and flavours from your hunting success. Venison shoulder provides rich, dense meat that breaks down beautifully during the long cook. Rabbit contributes delicate, almost chicken-like notes, whilst game birds add complexity with their varied fat content and distinctive flavours.

When processing your mixed bag, consider the cooking times each protein requires. Duck and goose legs need longer cooking than rabbit, whilst venison shoulder sits somewhere between. Pheasant breast meat should be avoided in pies — it becomes stringy and dry. Instead, use the legs and thighs where the connective tissue melts into silky richness. This knowledge becomes particularly valuable when cooking different cuts of game birds for various applications.

For those without access to wild game, quality butchers increasingly stock farm-raised venison, rabbit, and game birds. Expect to pay around $35-45 per kilogram for venison shoulder, $25-30 for whole rabbit, and $40-55 for duck legs. The investment is worthwhile — these proteins offer complex flavours impossible to achieve with conventional meats.

Building Proper Flavour Foundations

Start with your bacon or speck — this isn't just protein, it's your flavour foundation. Quality bacon adds smokiness and fat that helps marry the various game flavours. Dice it roughly into 1cm pieces and render it slowly until the fat runs clear and the meat develops golden edges.

The vegetables aren't mere filler — they're essential for creating depth. Brown onions provide sweetness and body when cooked properly. Don't rush this stage. Allow 8-10 minutes for proper caramelisation, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. The natural sugars in properly browned onions balance the sometimes assertive flavours of wild game.

Carrots add earthiness and natural sweetness whilst helping to thicken the sauce as they break down. Cut them into 1cm dice — any smaller and they'll disappear, any larger and they won't cook evenly. Button mushrooms contribute umami depth. Don't overcrowd the pan when browning them, or they'll steam rather than develop the golden-brown surfaces that add complexity to your pie.

Wine Selection and Reduction Technique

The wine choice significantly impacts your finished pie. A robust red wine — think Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon — stands up to game flavours without being overpowered. Avoid expensive bottles; cooking wines around $15-20 deliver excellent results. The alcohol evaporates during cooking, leaving concentrated fruit flavours and tannins that complement the meat.

Reduce the wine by half before adding stock. This concentrates flavours and removes harsh alcohol notes that can make the filling taste unbalanced. A proper reduction takes 5-7 minutes over medium-high heat. You'll know it's ready when the wine coats a spoon lightly and has lost its raw alcohol aroma.

Stock Considerations and Alternatives

Game stock provides the most authentic flavour base, but quality beef stock works excellently as an alternative. Avoid commercial stock cubes — they're too salty and artificial for delicate game flavours. Look for liquid stocks or better yet, make your own from game bones if available.

Good-quality liquid stocks range from $4-8 per litre. Massel Liquid Stock offers consistent results without excessive salt or artificial additives. If using homemade stock, ensure it's properly seasoned — under-seasoned stock results in bland pie filling that no amount of later seasoning can fix.

Maximising Your Game Harvest

This pie represents an excellent way of using every part of wild game from your hunting efforts. The slower cooking process transforms tougher cuts into tender, flavourful filling whilst creating a dish that feeds multiple people from a single animal. Combined with properly breaking down your deer, you can ensure minimal waste and maximum value from your harvest.

Pastry Mastery: The Foundation of Excellence

Hot water pastry suits game pies perfectly. Unlike standard shortcrust, hot water pastry can support heavy, moist fillings without becoming soggy. The technique requires heating water with lard until the fat melts completely, then beating this mixture into flour whilst still hot.

The result is a sturdy pastry that becomes beautifully golden when baked.