IT IS STILL dark when I meet chef José Souto near the Revesby estate woodland he has permission to stalk in, but as we exchange greetings a crack of deep pink starts to seep across the Lincolnshire sky. Aware of time being against us, Souto quickly outlines a plan. Thankfully, the required brevity means I can conceal being wrong-footed by the Essex accent, having made spurious assumptions from his name. As the senior chef lecturer of Westminster Kingsway College (WKC), a BASC Eat Game ambassador, an author of venison and gamebird cookbooks and a keen falconer and stalker, he holds all the credentials necessary for today’s muntjac ‘stalk to fork’ mission.
Within minutes we are on the outskirts of the wood. As we set up equipment and close vehicle doors with almost comedic tiptoeing and wincing, the world around us begins to awaken. We have hardly moved off when a persistent, mocking barking arises from close by to our left; Souto’s good-humoured shake of the head signals he isn’t interested. But as we continue our careful creep along a track stretching the length of the wood, he turns with barely contained excitement. “There’s a
