Take a shot at a wonderfully wild bird

One glance at a strutting cock pheasant will tell you he is a flash foreigner. It is thought the first of these gaudy birds was introduced by the Romans and that the ring-necked pheasant arrived from China during the 17th century.

Now pheasants are a part of our landscape. But the crucial thing about these birds is that they are wild; they do get a helping hand by way of incubation and in that vital "growing-on" period, but then they are released to fend for themselves.

Pheasants get to eat whatever they can find in the woods and fields and the birds have a right to roam that makes even the most free-range chicken seem cramped for space. For cooks this is a big plus - wild meat is lean meat, full of flavour, without additives. And as an added bonus, pheasant is often cheaper than chicken.

Currently pheasants are at their very best, plump with the gleanings from the cornfields but still young and tender. Giorgio Locatelli is a big fan of game and a simple dish of pheasant ravioli has pride of place on the Locanda Locatelli autumn menu.

At the Goring Hotel they take a more traditional approach and pan-fry pheasant breasts before finishing them off in the oven. Game specialist Rules makes a pheasant breast curry. For the home cook it's hard to beat pheasant breast meat (ask your butcher to take the bird apart for you) cut into small strips and stir fried in butter with some leaves of fresh sage. You get all the flavour of the wild bird.

If that doesn't appeal, you'll find a raft of intriguing recipes in Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott's Game Cookbook.