A FEW year’s back I was down to co-present a tasting at Manchester Food and Drink Festival’s Big Indie Wine Fest in the People’s History Museum. I would introduce the various Spanish wine regions and then lovely Jane Dowler of Evuna would talk our audience through a wine from each area. A masterclass in general merriment ahead.
Pick of the dishes? It had to be the mallard duck breast
En route I ran into hunting/shooting/fishing chef Robert Owen Brown toting a bagful of unplucked game birds. At his insistence I gratefully accepted a pair of partridges and stashed them in my Barbour’s handy game pockets.
Cue, half way through our wine gig, La Mancha. “A region associated with Don Quixote and big inky reds, perfect accompaniment to its abundant game such as...!” The front row gasped (but no one fainted) as I whipped out my partridge props. The closest I’ve come to showbiz. Beats Orville the Duck.
I was reminded of that command performance at a game tapas dinner hosted by Iberica in Spinningfields, where Group Head Chef Cesar Garcia introduced six dishes that showed vividly Spanish chefs’ knack with venison, hare, wild duck and, of course, partridge.
Cesar GarciaThe raw materials were all sourced from a sustainable supplier in Lincolnshire but the cooking was pure Iberian, each tapa size course matched by Spanish reds from Navarra, Manchuela, Extremedura, Somontano and Castilla plus a white from Rueda. Not a Rioja or Ribeiro del Duero in site. It’s Iberia policy to encourage customers to sample from lesser known regions. Ours were gorgeous.
Pick of the dishes? It had to be the perfect mallard duck breast (main image), served pink, with sweetly pickled chanterelles and beetroot, both roast and cured. Cesar is an enthusiastic convert to beetroot, which barely figures in his native Asturian cuisine.
Not far behind were two quite distinct venison dishes, sourced from Fallow Deer and Muntjac. Meatballs with a slick of tangy apple puree were gamier albondigas, while loin with roast garlic and honey alioli was smelly and soothing.
Deer loin, Jerusalem artichokes, roast garlic & honey alioli 
Partridge piePartridge featured twice, contrastingly in an escabeche with rib-sticking beans from Avila, then cooked as a pie in a potato crust. Hare, subtler than usual, was stewed with butter beans in a variation of the Asturian Fabada, the slightly oaky Verdejo white from Rueda, accompanying it beautifully.
All these dishes are, of course, seasonal. Come early Spring few might feature on Iberica’s Special Game Menu (below):
Asturian bean stew with hare £9.50; partridge in escabeche sauce with beans from Avila £7.50; partridge pie £7.50; venison meatballs with apple purée £7.50; mallard duck breast with beetroot textures £10; deer loin, Jerusalem artichokes, roast garlic & honey alioli £18.
Iberica, 14-15 The Avenue Spinningfields, Manchester M3 3HF. 0161 358 1350
Asturian bean stew with hare
Venison meatballs with apple purée 
