It’s been a great celebration of Gamebird cuisine this hunting season. Since the beginning of May, twenty seven of New Zealand’s premier chefs have transformed duck, pheasant, quail, swan, pukeko and Canada goose into specially crafted dishes for delighted hunters. We’ve discovered a number of new recipes for Swan and Pukeko and a number of our festival chefs will be cooking at the Fish & Game Kitchen at the Hospitality NZ culinary show from 23-25 August 2009 in Auckland.

There is still time to ”take your birds out to dinner” at a number of our festival restaurants. See links below.

For the 2010 Gamebird Food Festival site click here

Finding it hard to persuade your wife / partner/ lady to cook your gamebirds? See how Executive Chef, Tony Smith at the Crowne Plaza’s Canterbury Tales restaurant won over a group of gamebird hunter’s wives. Click here to watch the video.

It's winter and not a good time to be a duck. Game bird hunting season is in full swing, but what do you do when hunter hubby comes home with his kill and expects you to cook it? Or worse, pluck it?

For some Canterbury women enough was enough, and it was time to call in a professional - Crown Plaza Executive Chef Tony Smith. While feathers are part of the problem for hunters' wives, Tony insists that plucking is meditation. He says we should love wild ducks, as they're much leaner than commercial birds. They're also organic and free range.

Smoked, stir-fried and stuffed with kafir lime and roasted, had Tony won over the Canterbury housewives with his cooked ducks? "The meat done in the wok was so tender, you'd have never in a million years thought it was a wild animal," says hunter's wife Pam Clements. "I thought it was beautiful."

Source: TV3

The following festival restaurants have extended their gamebird dates:

Northland
A’Deco Restaurant – end of July

Auckland / Waikato
Hallertau Restaurant & Brew Bar – end of July
Cazador Restaurant – end of August
Palate Restaurant – end of August

Eastern
Bistro 1284 – end of July
Fantail Lodge – end of August

Wellington
Nero Café & Restaurant – end of August
Le Canard – end of August
Logan Brown Restaurant & Bar – end of August

Nelson / Marlborough
Bacchus Restaurant – end of July
Seifried Vineyard Restaurant & Function Centre – end of August

North Canterbury
Cook’n with Gas – end of August
Canterbury Tales – end of August
Huntley House – end of July

Central South Island
Le Monde – end of August

West Coast
Café de Paris – end of July

Otago
Bell Pepper Blues Restaurant – end of August
High Tide Restaurant – end of July

We are fortunate to have a regular spot on the BSport Fishing Show. Each week, Geoff Thomas and Andrew Baker talk to chefs from our featured restaurants about their recipes for the gamebird hunting season:

Part 1 features Scott Kennedy from Nero Café and Restaurant in Palmerston North.
Part 2 is Tony Smith from Canterbury Tales in Christchurch.
Part 3 showcases Steve Logan from Logan Brown in Wellington.
Part 4 with Lindsay Bennett from Le Monde restaurant in Timaru.
Part 5 is BSports's own Geoff Thomas shares his recipe for Duck Soup.

Take your birds and join Chef Philip Nordt at Huntley House on 27 June. Attend the cooking Masterclass with our award winning chef. This will be followed by pre dinner drinks and a degustation dinner until late. The price is $65. Click here for details.

Learn from an expert! Chef Harrie Geraerts, from Fantail Lodge and Villas, has 2 years game butchery training. Learn how to quickly and expertly pluck and prepare your gamebirds. The class is 2-3 hours in duration and costs $25.00 per person. Bring your own birds! Call 07 5491581 ext 209 to book your place.