The CLA Game Chef of the Year competition, in association with The Field, will retun for the second time at the CLA Game Fair at Harewood House in Yorkshire this year, 31 July – 2 August, 2015.

The Field has a passion for good food and great game cookery. By joining forces with the CLA to launch the hugely popular Game Chef of the Year competition we hope to find a brace of exceptional chefs.

This year the competition is divided into two categories: amateur cooks and professional chefs, who will compete within their category.

The aim is to seek out the best professional and best amateur game chefs in the country.

So if your pigeon pasties receive regular thumbs up, or your talent at making pheasant flavoursome draws a crowd then it is time to put your skills to the test and enter our competition. Perhaps you think you can best our top 10 best pheasant recipes?

The competition is designed to find two unrecognised chefs who relish cooking with game meats and embrace the Great British Countryside through their food.

Four finalists will be chosen from entries to cook in front of a live audience in the CLA Game Fair Cookery Theatre. The competition will be judged by the editor of The Field Jonathan Young and Mike Robinson, the UK’s leading game chef and owner of the Pot Kiln in Berkshire and the Michelin-starred Harwood Arms in London.

To enter visit the CLA’s website.

And if you need a little inspiration then here is last year’s winner, Guy Paterson’s winning recipe.

CLA GAME CHEF OF THE YEAR COMPETITION – WINNER’S RECIPE

Guy Paterson, a Norfolk farmer and amateur chef, took the laurels with his pigeon dish in 2014.

■ 2 whole pigeon
■ Oil for frying
■ Butter
■ 4 shallots, sliced
■ 50ml (2fl oz) whisky
■ Chicken stock
■ 500g (18lb) new potatoes
■ 2 pheasant and
pear sausages
■ Seasoning
■ 1 tsp horseradish sauce
■ Bag of kale
Brown the pigeon legs in a pan in a little oil. Add the butter and shallots, soften for a minute then add the whisky. Add enough stock to cover and reduce by half. Simmer potatoes until cooked. Remove pigeon breasts and sausage meat from skin and roll the sausage meat into patties (four per sausage) and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side then rest. Season the breasts then fry on both sides, keeping hot in oven. Sieve sauce, season and thicken if preferred. Mash the potatoes with skins on, add a knob of butter, horseradish sauce and season. Wash kale and wilt in a little butter. Serve the
sliced breast on the mash surrounded by the kale and patties; pour the sauce over.