Once considered a novelty, game meat is having a moment. You can now find goat curry pies at market stalls, wallaby tacos at catered events, and wild venison delivered to your doorstep.
“Native games are showing up more in the big supermarkets,” says Samantha Nyudbi Martin, TV presenter, author, and proud Aboriginal woman known as the Bush Tukka Woman. “If you ask your butcher to stock kangaroo or wild geese, they will actually do it. If they know that there's an audience for it out there, they will order it.”
Wild game meat in Australia
Australia has several types of wild game meats. Kangaroo and wallaby are the ones we’re the most familiar with, but there’s also venison, boar, rabbit, duck, geese, goat, etc.
“In other countries, wild game is seen as a delicacy. But for some reason, here in Australia, we have this backward stigma about itJo Barrett, chef and sustainability advocate.
Mark LaBrooy, a chef and subsistence hunter, who has Swedish and Sri Lankan heritage agrees. “When I would go and visit my family in Sweden, moose, and deer meat were revered. In Scandinavia, hunters don't have an image problem like they do here,” he says.
Both Barrett and LaBrooy are involved with gourmet game meat pie brand Wildpie and wild game meat supplier Discovered Wildfoods.
A more sustainable way to eat meat
Sustainability is one of the strongest arguments for eating game. Wild animals require no feed, water or land use, and are not subject to intensive farming conditions.
Many game species are invasive and damage ecosystems. Culling them is essential for environmental management, yet much of the meat goes to waste.
Mark LaBrooy is a chef and subsistence hunter Credit: Duncographic
“I don't think that there's no culling required, but I think that to kill so many of these animals and to leave them right on the ground, it's just atrocious.”
Healthy, flavourful, and often affordable
Game meat is high in protein and minerals like iron, low in fat, and free of added hormones and antibiotics.
“It's really safe meat that is highly regulated,” says Barrett. But it’s also free-range and wild. And it’s delicious and often a lot leaner. So, it’s a healthier meat.”
Venison skewers made by Jo Barrett on The Cook Up With Adam Liaw Credit: Kitti Gould
Compared to farmed meats like beef and lamb, game cuts can also be more cost-effective.
And most importantly, game meat is plain delicious. There’s often a misconception that it tastes “gamey” with a strong and earthy taste, but butchered and cooked properly, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
How to cook game meat
You can buy game meat from online retailers such as Discovered Wildfoods and Something Wild, as well as some butchers and supermarkets.
If you’re just getting started, Barrett recommends kangaroo or venison for their versatility and wide availability.
Analiese Gregory, chef and host of A Girl’s Guide to Hunting, Fishing and Wild Cooking, loves wallaby, which she finds works just as well in a tartare with traditional accompaniments as in a bold pie rendang pie.
Analiese Gregory cooks this pheasant breast and roasted peaches dish on the second season of A Girl's Guide to Hunting, Fishing and Wild Cooking
LaBrooy says the cooking method depends on the cut: “If you're using a secondary cut like the shin or the shank, go low and slow in your slow cooker, don’t even bring it up to a boil. And then you’ll find that the protein will start to break, and that silver skin will turn really gelatinous, tender and succulent.
And for the prime cuts, your tenderloin, your rump cap, and your back strap, they should all be cooked very quickly. High heat, long rest period. Cook them more on the side of rare to medium rare. And they will be incredibly tender.”
Later this year, LaBrooy will open Barney’s, a takeaway pizza shop and wild game butchery in the Illawarra. Alongside cuts of wild meat, it will offer wallaby meatballs, wild boar dim sims, and a 24-hour milk-braised venison Bolognese lasagna with three-cheese béchamel. The response so far has been “overwhelmingly positive”.
Be game, give it a go
Martin hopes game meat will shed its novelty status and become a regular feature in Aussie kitchens.
“People will say ‘Oh yeah, I've tried kangaroo once’ or ‘Once upon a time when I was in the Northern Territory, I tried buffalo, and I haven't eaten it again’. Be game enough to bring kangaroo burgers to a dinner party, it's always a talking point. It will become the highlight of the conversation,” she assures.
