In a nutshell, Chef Lucy Pattinson: ‘I’m always extra proud to cook something I’ve shot and butchered myself’

Lucy Pattinson is a private chef who specialises in open-fire and game cooking under her brand, The Fodderation. Lucy runs Fodder + Farm and is a passionate advocate for eating more game. 

What’s the closest thing you have to a signature dish: 

Venison over the fire with wild green sauce.

Describe your style of cuisine in ten words: 

Food, fire and fieldsports! A fresh take on game.

Best and/or most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten:

Moules over the fire on the banks of the Spey – first date with my now fiancé. 

Worst/weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten: 

Andouillette.

Worst thing you’ve ever cooked: 

Andouillette!

What’s the dish that you’re most proud of having cooked: 

I’m always extra proud to cook something that I’ve shot and butchered myself. Fresh pigeon straight from the hide is hard to beat. 

Favourite ingredient 

Wild Green Sauce.

Your go-to recipe book: 

Have recently discovered Food 52 Genius Recipes which is excellent.

What other country’s cuisine really excites and intrigues you? 

The way the Argentinians cook over fire gets me very excited.

Most you’ve ever paid for a meal: 

The one I missed a flight for! 

Your favourite Scottish chef: 

Tom Kitchin, his dedication to Scottish game is just excellent. And Will Hamer (The Wilder Kitchen): A truly sensational fine dining fire chef. 

Favourite chef outside Scotland: 

I love what Jesse Wells does at Terroir. 

Who ignited your passion for food:

I met the Irish chef Kevin Thornton in South America in 2019 and he really inspired me to become a chef. 

Most important lesson a young chef can learn: 

Be humble, always be ready to learn, care (really care) and know your produce. 

Culinary mentor:

My business partner at Fodder and Farm/ Goat Rodeo Goods Kat Goldin, she encourages my wild ideas and helps me bring them to life. 

Best thing about the industry: 

Working directly with the incredible farmers/ hunters/ producers in Scotland.

Worst thing about the industry: 

Other chef’s egos. More collaboration over competition please.

What’s the biggest sin a chef can commit: 

Over promise, under deliver. Or putting a knife through the dishwasher.

What do you eat when you’re at home: 

Bacon and tomato toasted croissant with HP sauce, although my local corner shop will tell you I eat a lot of fried egg and beans on toast, Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers and Cadbury Curly Wurly bars. 

Celebrity guest or your perfect dinner party:

Sod the celebrities, the best dinner parties are made up of the old boys and the old bats with cracking stories, sharp wit and a wicked sense of humour. 

Tell me something about you that your customers won’t know: 

I’m not very good at following recipes, I just can’t help but go off-piste.  

What’s your favourite wine? 

A big fat Burgundy almost always hits the spot though. 

Your spirit of choice? 

Without a doubt it has to be a whisky, currently enjoying a Bunnahabhain and the new Wildmoor is rather exciting. 

Do you play music in the kitchen and, if so, what’s your go-to track or artist: 

Bob Segar, old time rock and roll always gets me dancing around the pots and pans 

La Grange ZZ Top, Hard to Handle Black Crowes or anything country. 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be: 

I’d still quite like to do a stalking season at some point and be a ghillie on the hill.

Lucy Pattinson will be heating up the Kitchen Theatre at this year’s Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust Scottish Game Fair event, which takes place from 5 – 7 July at Perthshire’s Scone Palace.

Read more Chefs In a Nutshell here.

Subscribe to read the latest issue of Scottish Field.