There are wonderfully rich and beguiling aromas wafting round my kitchen as I cook the first game pie of the autumn. This one is a much-loved combination of partridge and rabbit with big chunks of bacon in a white wine, rosemary and lemon gravy, with mushroom and celeriac. But I might easily have chosen wild mallard, venison or hare thickened with its own blood.

What goes into game pie depends on where we are in the game season because it’s the traditional destiny for tougher, older birds, or a means of dealing with a mixed bag of furred and feathered game. That explains why game pie, particularly one with rabbit, is often called poachers pie. As a game lover, particularly of feathered game, I see it as a way of stretching one or two small birds into a feast for many.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of game pie. This type, cooked in buttery short-crust pastry with a thick, luscious sauce to stop the lean, gamey meat from ending up dry, is my favourite. The recipe is endlessly variable and could be cooked in red wine instead of white but the distinctive gamey flavour will sing through even if it is made with water or stock.

I bone the game myself and make stock with the bones and trimmings but you may have a butcher who will do it for you.

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Rabbit, particularly wild rabbit, is one of the classic ways of padding out game pie. It can be very gamey indeed, and not everyone can take the strong flavour although I love it and often make game pie with just rabbit. Chicken could be used instead, allowing the different gaminess of partridge, pigeon or pheasant to dominate.

The other style of game pie is like a giant pork pie, the meat minced and mixed with choice chunks, usually marinated in brandy, and cooked in a hot water crust. Like raised pork pie, it is eaten cold. It’s the sort of thing to make over the festive season and would be the perfect, dare I mention it in September, make ahead centre-piece for a Boxing Day buffet.

The filling for today’s recipe is cooked then allowed to go cold before the pie is assembled. I recommend making it 24 hours before you plan to eat the pie.

Serve with boiled or roasted potatoes and whatever green veg you fancy; peas, runner beans or chard are particularly good choices.

For more recipes and information about buying, preparing and cooking game visit gametoeat.com.

Game pie
Serves 6, generously
Prep: 2 hr, plus 2 hr marinating
Cook 45 min

Ingredients

2 partridge or wild pigeon, or 1 pheasant (after Oct 1)
1 wild rabbit
2 carrots
2 large onions
1 celeriac, approx 350g
Small bunch thyme
Small bunch rosemary
1 bay leaf
6 black peppercorns
6 juniper berries
2 strips orange zest
1 lemon
200g smoked streaky bacon
3 tbsp sunflower or other flavourless oil
300ml white wine 3 field or portabella mushrooms

For the pastry:

400g plain flour plus extra for dusting
Pinch of salt
75g lard
150g butter
4-6 tbsp cold water
1 beaten egg

Method

To joint partridge, wild pigeon or pheasant, place the bird on a chopping board with the neck end facing you. Put your forefinger in the left side of the cavity and hold the bird firmly with your thumb. Using a sharp knife, place the point in the centre on the left side of the breast bone and, staying snug to the bone, gently slice down the breast. Use the hand that had been holding the bird to pull the meat away from the carcass. Cut through the wing joint at the bottom of the breast, discarding whatever remains of it.

Give the leg a little tug and the bone will pop out of its socket. Cut through the gap to remove the leg. Cut off the drumstick and slice down the thigh following the bone, and remove the meat. Pull the skin off breast and leg. Repeat on the other side of the bird. Do the same with the second bird. Put the meat to one side and place the carcass and trimmings in the stock pot. If you are buying boned game birds ask for the carcass.

Most of the meat on a rabbit is on the saddle and hindquarters. Lay the rabbit on its back and slice off the forequarters at an angle through the rib cage, and place in the stock pot. Slice the meat off the saddle and hindquarters as best you can, ending up with chunky bite-size pieces. Asked nicely, some butchers will do this for you but it’s a fiddly job because of the bone structure. Put the rabbit meat in a bowl, cover with the wine and leave to marinate for two hours.

To continue making the stock, trim and slice the carrot, chop one onion and place in the stock pot with a few sprigs of thyme, one sprig of rosemary and the bay leaf. Crush the peppercorns and juniper berries, and add them too with the orange zest. Cover with one litre of cold water. Simmer gently for two hours. Strain, taste and season.

Meanwhile, chop the bacon into chunky lardons. Peel and finely chop the remaining onion. Add a ½ tbsp oil to a large sauté pan and cook the bacon, gently at first, increasing the heat as the fat begins to run, continuing until crisp. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly coloured. Finely chop 1 tbsp thyme leaves. Remove the zest from the lemon and finely chop with 1 tbsp rosemary leaves. Chop the mushrooms into chunky pieces. Stir herbs and mushrooms into the onions. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Tip into a bowl.

Peel the celeriac, cut into kebab-size chunks, place in a bowl and squeeze the lemon over the top.

Lift the rabbit out of the marinade, pat dry and dust with flour. Dust the partridge with flour. Add a ½ tbsp oil to the pan and quickly fry the meat in uncrowded batches, transferring to a lidded pan as you go. Use the remaining oil as needed.

When all the rabbit and partridge is browned, add the marinade to the pan. Simmer gently, stirring constantly, as the flour thickens the liquid. Cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the bacon mixture and add the stock. Establish a low simmer, cover and cook until the meat is tender; young game takes minutes, older will take an hour or longer.

Take off the heat, stir in the celeriac and lemon juices. Cover and leave to go cold.

Make the pastry at least 30 minutes before you assemble the pie. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl with a pinch of salt. Cut the butter and lard into pieces directly into the flour and quickly rub the fat into the flour.

Add a couple of tablespoons of cold water and quickly mix with a knife or fork, continuing tentatively until the dough seems to want to cling together. Form into a ball. Place in a plastic bag and pop in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Put a baking tray in the oven and heat to 200C/gas mark 6.

Dust a work surface with flour and roll out half the pastry to fit a 23cm pie dish. Let the surplus pastry hang over the edge of the dish and brush the rim with a little water. Mound the cold filling into the pastry-lined dish. Roll the lid thicker than the base and carefully position. Press the two layers together, trim the excess, then go round again with the tines of a fork to seal. Paint the pastry with egg and use trimmings to decorate the top. Make steam holes in several places with a fork.

Bake for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 190C/gas mark 5 and cook for a further 20-30 minutes until the pastry is golden.

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