Origin BBQ Welcomes Autumn: New Forest Venison Experience!
- Victoria
- Oct 6
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 18
Embrace the Flavours of Autumn: Our New Forest Venison Experience!
As the leaves turn golden and the air becomes crisp, we are thrilled to share a very special seasonal experience with you. It's time to embrace cosy autumnal delights like log fires and hearty roasts... that's why we hosted our New Forest Venison Experience!
With our kitchen located on the Hinton Admiral Estate in the New Forest, we are splendidly positioned to discover the wholesome delights of this land. Autumn is such a stunning time of year here, and the forest is filled with richness as we head further into October.
Word has it, there is an abundance of wild deer roaming around the Hinton Admiral Estate fields, and they are out in force as we speak.
They may look cute like Bambi, but we are told these creatures can be a nuisance. They are notorious for pushing over and ripping the bark off the Estate's precious cider apple trees, hence we call them "New Forest Bandits."
It is fortunate that we have an expert gamekeeper on speed dial (the one and only Andy Renyard), who knows all about these things. After all, there are so many deer, and venison is so nutritious...
Anyone who knows us well here at Origin Barbecue will know we love getting creative with fires! We are forever master-minding excuses to show off our collective skills and get our amazing industry friends involved with events.
As such, we pounced on a golden opportunity to bring all of this seasonal magic together in a niche market concept. The result? A full-day immersion that's enlightening, indulgent, and not for the squeamish... Our New Forest Venison Experience was quite the sensation!
A Breakfast of Champions
Here's what we did on Saturday: a classically autumnal sunny morning, a tad breezy but pleasant... (Warning: Some of the following content is not for the squeamish, and not for vegans either)!
Our booked participants were greeted with freshly brewed Colombian coffee served in Yeti mugs and Bucks Fizz in classic event-style plastic cups. This seemed like a casual and energising commencement to their experience and was well-received.
First order of the day's feasting was a sublime breakfast; a chef's special by our fire cook Chris aka @BignoseBBQ.
'Billingsgate Rolls' are inspired by Chris's trips to the fish market in East London for breakfast. In his former life, this was a regular occurrence after a shift behind the decks spinning tunes in London's West End nightclubs.
Our version of this iconic Cockney breakfast consists of a load of good local stuff: Bakehouse24 rolls filled with Butcher Joe's crispy bacon, New Forest Shellfish scallops, and the finest black pudding made for Fuller's in Hampshire.
These sexy rolls, bursting with character, were finished off with some tasty homemade 'Cafe de Paris' butter. Taste factor: off the scale!
Prepare to Be Immersed!
Whilst digesting breakfast, they were called to gather around a hanging headless deer, and so began a raw and awe-inspiring journey into the world of venison preparation and cooking.
Before their eyes, the creature was professionally skinned and given the full breakdown treatment - caveman-style - using tools including an axe and a hacksaw!
The skilled butcher delivering this presentation was our very good friend Lee Morton aka @food_fire_knives. Lee is an OG forager with 20+ years' experience; a butcher, a baker, (but not a candlestick maker). He is also a very talented chef who shares our passion for cooking on open flames, so he makes the perfect host for this specialist showcase at Origin Barbecue.
Our wide-eyed participants witnessed how to chop and cut, slice and prepare various parts of the creature for fire-cooking. One of the participants, a young man named Harry, was invited to help skin the deer! Looked like hard work to me!
Lee talked through seasoning and various options for meals with venison and demonstrated how to start a fire and work with flames, using our Kadai fire bowls.
To follow was a variety of intriguing demos, including a talk through of the cooking and recommendations for the foraged wild mushrooms Lee and Chris discovered at their secret location.
A handsome fire-roasting show of local squash from Sopley down the road, along with a batch of parmesan herb and truffle oil roast potatoes, inferno'd on the Hellrazr Fortress; all turned out banging!
The construction of tacos for lunch featured chef's special homemade slaw and candied jalapenos dressed over sliced venison steak. There was even a bonus meat of medium-rare sliced beef picanha, which was a surprise bonus treat for the carnivorous guests!
Soulful New Forest Feasting
There were so many wonderful moments of our New Forest Venison Experience Day! The most special moment for me was the feasting of our seasonal roast venison dinner, enjoyed by our guests on a long table set up with cosy candles in the snug.
This hearty, soulful dining experience captured the very essence of autumn in the New Forest. Each of our lovely participants were served up a generous plate of roasted venison saddle and chops, wild mushroom polenta, fire-roasted squash and onions, Nordic-style red cabbage, Chris's delectable parmesan, herb and truffle oil roast potatoes, and a jus made from all the stock, rich with flavour.
It was an honour to serve this variety of wild and local foraged delicacies, which also included a blackberry compote simmered in a Petromax pot over the Kadai fire bowl.
The compote was made using the wild blackberries I gathered with our son Christian during the summer holiday heatwave. These were picked from our own backyard, aka the Hinton Admiral Estate field behind our Origin Barbecue kitchen, circa 5th August.
The berries were frozen on the day, so they could thaw and cook up beautifully, retaining their freshness two months later. These special blackberries provided a tangy sweet and tart topping for the homemade San Sebastián cheesecakes Chris baked using residual heat and the insulated door in the Gozney Dome... Made even more decadent with a drizzle of double pouring cream!
Would You Love to Delve into Our New Forest Venison Experience?
Due to the overwhelming feedback from our participants and the buzz around our social media posts, we are excited to confirm we will schedule another New Forest Venison Experience Day!
If your tastebuds are tingling looking at our photos and you're keen to learn about wild venison, I invite you to send us your details through our CONTACT page.
Please mention your interest in our Venison Experience Day so we can contact you with all the details once we have set the date!
A huge thank you to everyone who took part in our New Forest Venison Experience 2025. You were a brilliant group to spend the day with, and it was a joy to feast together!
Special thanks to:
Our star of the day, Lee Morton for putting on a world-class showcase.
Fire cook Rich Willet aka @Gastronaut.BBQ for supporting in the kitchen.
Our friends at Drop The Anchor Brewery for supplying their award-winning draft beers.
The team at Hinton Admiral Estate for all their support.
Gamekeeper Andy Renyard who supplied the deer to make this all possible!
Big love,
Victoria, Chris, and the Origin Team.
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