Norbert Niederkofler's

TIPS ON GAME:

Do you have a few tipsfor us on preparing game?

I’m keen to encourage people to use every part of the animal. Be creative and respect the food that is given to you. There are so many amazing possibilities.

In your experience,what goes well with game?

We combine game with all sorts of herbs and berries. As a rule of thumb, everything that grows together goes together.So this means things that grow in the animal’s habitat. The same applies to the garden: things that grow side-by-side go well together on the plate. Just ask yourself what you find in the animal’s habitat and you’ll rarely go wrong. Mushrooms, for example, go very well with game. Popular side dishes are red cabbage, mashed potatoes, celery root puree, and noodles. Pasta like the local spätzle beautifully enhance the flavor of game. In our dishes we try to balance sweet and sour in the spirit of yin and yang.

How do you recommendcooking venison?

I recommend cooking it in the traditional way over an open fire. My focus is on utilizing all the gifts that nature has provided, so making ham and sausages, pickling the meat, drying it, adding herbs or juniper. In the past, venison was often cooked sous vide, but I don’t think game is really suitable for cooking in a vacuum because you have to be extremely careful. If you leave it slightly too long the meat goes soft and mushy like liver. That’s why we roast venison on a charcoal grill like in the past.

How does it need to be stored? And when should it be shot?

The venison needs to be properly matured. Its flavor is affected by the outside temperature, humidity, even the phase of the moon when it is shot. There’s an old saying that meat as a stronger flavor if the animal is shot when the moon is waxing, and a milder flavor when the moon is waning. I don’t think this is esotericism, but actual fact. If the moon influences the tides, why shouldn’t it have an effect on animals? You can see and taste the difference.