Some recipes arrive through the usual channels – cookbooks, food magazines, and the back of a packet. This chocolate-basted partridge is not one of them. And then there are the ones that find you in the middle of a food show in London, delivered by the man himself while you're making your way to the exit.

I first encountered Willie Harcourt-Cooze entirely by accident while channel hopping in a hotel room in deepest Hertfordshire. A Channel 4 documentary was running — Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory — following William George Harcourt-Cooze, a Londoner who had gone to Venezuela, grown his own cacao, and come back to Britain to make chocolate from scratch. I was immediately fascinated.

Chocolate-Basted Partridge — Willie Harcourt-Cooze Recipe — The Flexible Chef

Fast forward a few years. I was attending a food and drink exhibition at Olympia in London, wearing my Tea Cargo hat. Coming towards the end of the show, making my way to the exit, I heard a voice ask if I liked chocolate. I looked over my shoulder. It was Willie, at his chocolate stand, talking to me.

I admitted that I ate chocolate once or twice a year — mostly Toblerone, straight from the fridge. We got talking. I told him about the hotel room in Hertfordshire and the channel hopping. One thing led to another, as it does with food people, and eventually he handed me this recipe for chocolate-basted partridge. Then he gave me a block of 100% pure Nicaraguan Black, which I still have to this day. I gave him my Tea Cargo business card. He promised to buy some of our organic Puerh tea.

He never did.

A Note on the Chocolate

Willie's chocolate is made from single-origin cacao — intense, complex, and nothing like the sweetened blocks most of us grew up with. For this recipe you need finely grated cacao or very high-percentage dark chocolate — 85% minimum, ideally higher. The chocolate doesn't sweeten the bird; it deepens it, adding a dark, earthy note that works extraordinarily well with the gamey flavour of the partridge and the saltiness of the pancetta.

Chocolate-Basted Partridge with Pancetta and Shallots

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 1 oven-ready partridge
• 10 g goose fat
• ½ tbsp cacao, finely grated (or 85%+ dark chocolate, finely grated)
• 1–2 shallots, peeled and sliced
• Olive oil
• 3 slices pancetta
• A few sprigs of thyme
• Salt and black pepper

For the gravy

• Reserved shallots and cooking juices
• A splash of red wine or stock

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Place the goose fat and grated cacao in a small pan over low heat. Stir until the goose fat has melted and the cacao is incorporated. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
3. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan. Add the shallots and fry until soft.
4. Season the partridge, then add it to the pan with the shallots. Fry until golden brown all over. Remove from the pan and leave to cool slightly. Reserve the shallots and cooking juices.
5. Use a pastry brush to paint the partridge generously with the chocolate and goose fat mixture.
6. Wrap the pancetta slices around the bird, sprinkle over the thyme sprigs, and place in a roasting tin.
7. Roast for 25–30 minutes until the pancetta is crisp and the bird is cooked through.
8. Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
9. Meanwhile, deglaze the frying pan with a splash of red wine or stock, scraping up the shallots and cooking juices to make a quick gravy. Season and serve alongside.