Autumn is in the air in England as the nights turn cold, and the leaves begin to turn rust red. It is also the season for hunters to clean their shotguns and spend weekends shooting pheasants and grouse. This is not a cheap pastime as the costs include around 400 pounds per gun, 25 pounds for each bird, 600 pounds for the beaters. And, of course, boarding and lodging varies from estate to estate. Some of the finest shoots belong to members of the aristocracy who lay out splendid house parties for selected hunters and charge accordingly. Shooting weekends are now part of corporate hospitality.

Not that long ago, this was a sport largely reserved for people in the rural areas, but now, many city slickers have begun to enjoy a weekend in the country, if only to show off to their urban colleagues. The result of this growing trend is an explosion of birds released for shoots during the season. For example, last year 35 million pheasants were set free into the wild by farmers and estate managers. One shoot boasted of an average bag of 328 birds per day. We have often come across pheasants blundering about by the side of narrow country roads, too stupid to escape oncoming cars. Many are crushed under wheels or run over by trains.

So what happens to all the birds that are gunned down in autumn? Hunters leave most of their kills behind — after all, who wants to de-feather and clean hundreds of pheasants? Shoot managers are known to sell them to local butchers for as little as 20 pence each. In some cases, they actually pay to have the birds removed, but generally, they are buried. Sadly, few Brits want to take the trouble of slowly cooking pheasants, and prefer to buy familiar, boring chicken. In fact, some of the best curries I have made have been with pheasants as they have a rich, gamey flavour.

Cooking game meat might seem daunting, but the results are almost always delicious

This is also the season for venison, and a local butcher usually stocks it, or accepts orders for particular cuts. Venison fillet is great for steak as deer meat is much leaner than beef, and has a deep flavour. The other day, my old friend Javed Ali Khan had come for a weekend, and was pressed into kitchen duties to cook hiran rogan josh for a party of 12. Three kilos of venison were used, and despite Javed’s punchy spicing, our English guests devoured most of the dish with the help of some raita I had whipped up.

Rogan josh is different from most other curries as no onions or garlic are used. I watched Javed prepare the base with a collection of whole spices, and then brown the meat. Next to follow were three pulped tomatoes and onion paste, a few green chillies, some yoghurt and a little cream. The meat was simmered for a couple of hours until it was absolutely tender. The depth of flavour was outstanding, and the texture was unctuous.

This is also the season for venison, and a local butcher usually stocks it, or accepts orders for particular cuts. Venison fillet is great for steak as deer meat is much leaner than beef, and has a deep flavour.

My humble contribution, apart from being Javed’s sous-chef, was to make an aloo ki bhujia and a muttar pulao. I have recently come across frozen parathas, and these were duly unthawed. I almost torpedoed Javed’s daal through my ignorance by handing him a jar of chanay ki daal that had been sitting in the larder for a long time. I had no idea that old daal takes forever to cook. After three hours of boiling, the grains still had the consistency of pebbles, so we jettisoned it and switched to a more manageable variety.

It’s a pity more people don’t try cooking game at home. In Pakistan, of course, shikar gosht is a delicacy that is seldom available, thanks to indiscriminate and uncontrolled hunting. But my old friend Fazal has promised me teetars (pheasants) on my return to Karachi, something he puts on the table for me regularly.

Published in Dawn, EOS, October 14th, 2018