Barding and Larding

Game needs all the help it can get to overcome its natural dryness. Basting helps as does roasting birds breast-side down. The classic convention is to cover or ‘bard’ them with a thin layer of pork back-fat, and game dealers should provide this, although often it is anything but thin. You are on your own with supermarket game, but it is possible to obtain back fat from some supermarkets by asking for it - chill it well before cutting into very thin slices. Many people use unsmoked streaky bacon for this purpose but the risk here is that the strong bacon flavour will overpower the game. A better solution is to wrap the game in caul fat. This is a thin veil of fat which surrounds the stomach cavity of a pig. It is sold by butchers in a stiff piece and will need to be softened in warm water, stretched out and cut to size before being used. It continually bastes the meat as it cooks. Larding is another technique usually used for a haunch of venison or pheasant breasts. Thin strips of back fat are stitched into the top of the meat with the help of a larding needle. You can also make small slits in the meat and stuff them with lardons or strips of fat using a finger. Sometimes these lardons are seasoned first with a mixture of parsley, garlic and salt.