“This month when the CLA Game fair came to an end, my wife Charlotte and I travelled down to the New Forest where both of us would be working in the Countryside arena.

A new venue

This is a new show to me and I was a last minute booking as the organisers had been let down by their usual chef from a local hotel due to a mass influx of business. Because of this, I was a bit wary as to what to expect in the way of equipment and the type of demonstration they wanted. The brief was prep and cooking of game and they would supply a selection of game for me to use. I prepped a few bits to take with me and once I was there found a great kitchen set up with everything I needed.

Venison demo

The first demonstration was breaking down a haunch of venison into it primal cuts and showing the first and second class cuts from the joints, followed by a tasting of venison steaks cut from the topside. Each demonstration followed the same sort of layout there after with Pat, a local housewife, doing home cookery in between my demos. By the end of the first day, all was going well and the organisers came to see me saying that this was the first time they had had butchery demos and it was going down a storm.

Ron, the manager of the Countryside arena, mentioned that he had a roe buck in his farm shop chiller at a place called the ‘Owl Barn’. I asked if he could bring it in so that I could show the crowds how to skin and break down a whole carcass. The next day the roe buck was brought in and a large crowd watched and enjoyed as I set to work. This is a great show in a beautiful part of the country and with some really lovely people. There is everything here from the massive equestrian presence to the country sports, food and local produce. I also had the pleasure of meeting fellow H&C blogger Howard Kirby for the first time and had a natter about my dog and its ability to go deaf on me every now and then. Howard and his guys put on a great dog display that was entertaining and very informative at the same time which I really enjoyed, you can tell that his dogs love what they do and love to please their master. All in all a great show and one I hope to be at next year.”