Thursday, September 18, 2014

140918 Main Ingredient's MENU - Klink bus to Constantia, Memorial lunch, Hermanus, Riedel glass at Creation, Muratie DuToitskloof cook in

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Sunrise on Walker Bay, Hermanus
In this week’s MENU:
* Klink Awards go to Constantia on the Red Wine Bus
* Memorial lunch for a friend - No sad goodbyes
* Down an Allée Bleue
* Off to the seaside
* Riedel Glass at Creation Winery
* Hermanus & the importance of Advertising
* Lunch at Bientang’s Cave
* Du Toitskloof vs Muratie annual Cookoff
* DOC Lamb for the Karoo
* Amorim Cork Methode Cap Classique Challenge Awards
* Wine Concepts Festival of Seductive Sauvignons
* Food and wine (and a few other) events for you to enjoy
* Learn about wine and cooking
To get the whole of our story, please click on “READ ON.....” at the end of each paragraph, which will lead you to the related blog, with pictures and more words. At the end of each blog, click on RETURN TO MENU to come back to the blog version of MENU.
This week’s Product menu    One of the sweet tooth delights we enjoy is Italian Amaretti biscuits, delicious little almond macaroons which can be enjoyed with a cup of coffee or as an ingredient in desserts, especially when drenched with Amaretto liqueur  See them here
Another week of contrasts, great experiences and some chilling out of town
Klink Awards go to Constantia on the Red Wine Bus     Friday's event was a ride on City Sightseeing’s Red Bus tour to Constantia. We started from outside the Aquarium with some of Klink’s staff, other media and Klink fans. www.winetourismsouthafrica.co.za/klinkawards/
After a late start, we headed off on the bus through the southern suburbs to Constantia Nek where we were served a lovely cold glass of Steenberg’s MCC (this is NOT part of the normal tour!) before boarding the Wine Bus, which ambles through this leafy suburb and takes you to visit several wine farms. We ended up at Groot Constantia, where a special event had been set up for us. You, too, can enjoy this tour; it is a great way to see our city if you don’t want to drive – http://www.citysightseeing.co.za/tour-timetables.php     Read More
No sad goodbyes     We lost another good friend to cancer recently and we so love the way he wanted to go out. He didn’t want a sad funeral, he left money to take a large group of his friends, here and simultaneously in Durban, out for a slap up lunch. As Richard was a huge bon viveur, this was such a happy way to give him a send off. The Cape Town celebration of his life was held together with members of his family at The Food Barn in Noordhoek which was booked out for lunch on Saturday and Chef Franck Dangereux did Richard proud. We know he would like you to see the pictures of what we ate and drank Read On
Down an Allée Bleue     On Sunday we packed up our overnight bags and headed first to Allée Bleue wine farm in Franschhoek, to which we had been invited to sample Craig Cormack’s pop-up month of Pizza and Pasta for September. It was the most beautiful day and we were given a lovely table on a small balcony apart from the main restaurant, with a view of the vineyards. Read on
Off to the seaside     We left Franschhoek late afternoon and headed over the magnificently heady Franschhoek pass to Hermanus via the very full Theewaterskloof Dam. We had been lent a lovely spacious and modern flat on the coast in Hermanus and were amazed to see that we were right on the rocks overlooking the bay and we could see many whales cavorting from the large glass windows. This was to be our home for the next two nights
We meet Georg Riedel of Riedel Glass at Creation Winery     This was the main reason for our visit to Hermanus. A lunch had been arranged at Creation winery by Michael Fridjhon and Michael Crossley of Reciprocal Trading, who are the distributors of this glassware in South Africa and they had invited lots of media and restaurateurs to meet him. Over lunch, we would sample Creation wines in Riedel glasses – the one designed specifically for that varietal and also in another. This does make it easy to see how well the correct glass showcases both the aroma, the taste and the enjoyment of each wine. We learned much more about Riedel Glass and how they formulate these special glasses for specific wines, based on very scientific methods. Read on
Hermanus. The importance of Advertising     Honestly, some people have absolutely no idea about how to promote themselves. We decided, on Tuesday, to go and see some of the wine farms in Stanford that we have never visited before. Almost there, we saw an impressive set of gates with a very small dilapidated sign saying wine tasting. But there was no name on the gate. It turns out it was Misty Cliffs who had their signage stolen a while ago. We were welcomed by Angela Kies in the tasting room, who gave us a tasting of their three wines, two Shirazes and one Pinotage, made by consultant winemaker Philip Costandius, who is now at Oldenburg in Banhoek. “No, they have not been busy” she said. With no signage outside, we are not surprised that everyone is driving right past.
It got worse. We could not find a tasting room on the Robert Stanford farm despite driving all over the estate looking for one and any signage and nearly took a road over a very rickety wooden footbridge that would not have held our car. There is building going on, so perhaps they are closed for a while. We left and then proceeded to Stanford Hills next door. You turn off the main road onto a smaller road and drive at least a kilometre to the small winery. It was lunch time and we were spurred on by the thought of the memorable pork pie they serve, mentioned by Christian Eedes in the Platter guide. When we reached it, we discovered that they are only open Thursdays to Mondays. It was Tuesday. We really would have appreciated this information at the turning from the main road. So it was not a successful trip to taste Stanford wines.
Lunch at Bientang’s Cave     We headed back into Hermanus to find some lunch. Lynne had met the owner of Bientang’s Cave the previous day at Creation so we decided to give it a try. And we were very pleasantly surprised READ ON
Du Toitskloof vs Muratie annual Cookoff     It was Du Toitskloof’s turn to host this competition this year and we were taken there in one of their small buses. It is in Rawsonville, just through the DuToitskloof tunnel, and they had set up a huge marquee and cooks from both farms were all busy cooking the lamb. This year they were to showcase Karoo Lamb and they had to cook some chops on a braai and larger cuts like the shoulder or leg in a pot. It was not great weather but we had a very jolly crowd of supporters and media and lots of wine from both farms flowed. Muratie were quite clever in producing a starter – they put an entire Brie on a tray on the braai till it got lovely and warm and gooey and you could scoop up warm cheese which was then topped with slices of fresh strawberry – unusual but it works. It certainly kept the wolf from the door while we waited for the lamb to cook. Read on
DOC Lamb for the Karoo      During the day Professor Johann Kirsten Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development at the University of Pretoria told us about how South Africa is trying to value, promote and protect our special regional foods,starting with Karoo lamb, as products of origin and quality, as we already do with our wines. It is rather like the European Commission has done with Welsh Lamb, Gorgonzola Cheese, Parma Ham etc. It means that identified foods are ethically produced, marked, numbered and this means their origins can be checked and authenticated. To explain this further we quote Wikipedia entry for DOC:
Denominazione di origine controllata ("Controlled designation of origin") is a quality assurance label for Italian food products, especially wines and various cheeses (Denominazione di Origine Protetta). It is modelled after the French AOC. It was instituted in 1963 and overhauled in 1992 for compliance with the equivalent EU law on Protected Designation of Origin, which came into effect that year.
The South African project will differ but basically it will be similar. We think this is a wonderful initiative and hope to see lots more of our special regional foods joining this programme. To learn more look at www.karoomeatoforigin.com
Amorim Cork Methode Cap Classique Challenge Awards     The results of the 14th annual Amorim Méthode Cap Classique Challenge were announced today at a lunch held at the 12 Apostles Hotel. Domaine des Dieux Claudia Brut MCC 2009, from the boutique wine producer in the Hemel en Aarde Valley near Hermanus, was crowned as South Africa’s best Cap Classique. The results are as follows:
Best Vintage Brut and Overall Winner: Domaines des Dieux Claudia Brut MCC 2009
Best Brut Non-Vintage: Lords Non-Vintage Blended Brut
Best Rosé Non-Vintage: Graham Beck Brut Rosé
Best Rosé Vintage: Graham Beck Brut Rosé 2009
Best Blanc de Blancs Non-Vintage: Colmant Brut Chardonnay
Best Blanc de Blancs Vintage: Laborie 2010
Best Museum Class: Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel Brut 2004
Congratulations to all the winners. We will be writing in much more detail about these awards, the wines and the food served with them next week, as we have only just got back from them.
Wine Concepts Festival of Seductive Sauvignons      Come and join us at this superb festival celebrating Sauvignons Blanc and Rouge at the Vineyard Hotel next Friday, 26th September. Always a glittering event, you can taste some of the best Sauvignons this country produces from 50 top farms. Bookings: Tickets cost R170 each and can conveniently be purchased via www.webtickets.co.za at Wine Concepts in Newlands or Kloof St or at the door on the evening, subject to availability. Telephone Newlands at 021 671 9030 or Kloof Street at 021 426 4401. And you could book yourself dinner at the Vineyard afterwards.
There is a huge and rapidly growing variety of interesting things to occupy your leisure time here in the Western Cape. There are so many interesting things to do in our world of food and wine that we have made separate list for each type of event for which we have information. To see what’s happening in our world of food and wine (and a few other cultural events), visit our list of wine and food pairing dinners, list of Special events with wine and/or food connections, list of Wine Shows and Tastings and list of special dinner events. All the events are listed in date order and we have a large number of exciting events to entertain you right through the year. Events outside the Western Cape are listed here.
Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to learn more about wine. Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run wine education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here and here and the CWA courses here. Karen Glanfield has taken over the UnWined wine appreciation courses from Cathy. See the details here
The Hurst Campus, an accredited school for people who want to become professional chefs, has a variety of courses. See the details here
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here.
In addition to the new Sense of Taste Culinary Arts School, Chef Peter Ayub runs a four module course for keen home cooks at his Maitland complex. Details here
Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has French cooking classes in Noordhoek and conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see more details here.
Emma Freddi runs the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her home in Constantia.
Lynn Angel runs the Kitchen Angel cooking school and does private dinners at her home. She holds hands-on cooking classes for small groups on Monday and Thursday evenings and she has decided to introduce LCHF (Banting classes). The Kitchen Confidence classes, which focus on essential cooking skills and methods, have been expanded and are now taught over 2 evenings. She continues to host private dining and culinary team building events at her home. She trained with Raymond Blanc, and has been a professional chef for 25 years. More info here






18th September 2014
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Our Adamastor & Bacchus© tailor-made Wine, Food and Photo tours take small groups (up to 6) to specialist wine producers who make the best of South Africa’s wines. Have fun while you learn more about wine and how it is made! Tours can be conducted in English, German, Norwegian and standard or Dutch-flavoured Afrikaans.
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The Du Toitskloof-Muratie cook off 2014 at Du Toitskloof

Du Toit’s Kloof vs Muratie annual Cook-off

It was Du Toitskloof’s turn to host this competition this year and we were taken there in one of their small buses. It is in Rawsonville, just through the Du Toitskloof tunnel, and they had set up a huge marquee and cooks from both farms were all busy cooking the lamb. This year they were to showcase Karoo Lamb and they had to cook some chops on a braai and larger cuts like the shoulder or leg in a pot. It was not great weather but we had a very jolly crowd of supporters and media and lots of wine from both farms flowed. Muratie were quite clever in producing a starter – they put an entire Brie on a tray on the braai till it got lovely and warm and gooey and you could scoop up warm cheese which was then topped with slices of fresh strawberry – unusual but it works. It certainly kept the wolf from the door while we waited for the lamb to cook.
Arrival as the bad weather sweeps in across the mountains. But the marquee wil protect us. Lynne is chatting to Pete Goffe Wood and Arnold Tanzer, who was visiting from Johannesburg. Both are involved with SA Masterchef, Pete as a judge
The Du Toitskloof ladies get ready for us
Their chops were seasoned with just salt and pepper and coriander seed
Their shoulder of lamb in a huge potjie also was just flavoured with salt and pepper and coriander
A welcome glass of Du Toitskloof Sauvignon Blanc sparkling wine with a strawberry, some good biltong and droëwors (dried sausage)
On the Muratie table, some of the Karoo lamb they are using. A whole shoulder and some "Saratoga" chops. They also just seasoned with salt and pepper to show the meat at its best
The whole Muratie team at their cooking station
The tray of a whole brie topped with strawberries warming on the braai fire
Their shoulders of lamb were cooked very simply with onions, salt and pepper and some water and braised for hours till very soft and tender
Some vegetable kebab sticks ready for the fire
After the tasting we were to have a spit roasted lamb for lunch, prepared by a local family. This is not part of the competition. This is it, turning on its spit
Cutting up the spit roast lamb and putting it into the gravy with the roast potatoes. This is a very traditional South African specialty
Tables all laid in the marquee
Bubbly chilling
TV is filming
Rijk and Kim Melck with the producer
Those Saratoga chops have been seasoned ready for the braai
A selection of wine for drinking
Those chops go on the coals watched by Neil Pendock and chef Arnold Tanzer
The judges' table
No input allowed from the professionals, they didn’t even get to vote
Marius Louw of Du Toitskloof gives words of welcome and introduces proceedings
We wait for the competition food to come to the table
The Du Toitskloof team
DOC Lamb for the Karoo. During the event Professor Johann Kirsten Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development at the University of Pretoria told us about how South Africa is trying to value, promote and protect our special regional foods, starting with Karoo lamb, as products of origin and quality, as we already do with our wines. It is rather like the European Commission has done with Welsh Lamb, Gorgonzola Cheese, Parma Ham etc. It means that identified foods are ethically produced, marked, numbered and this means their origins can be checked and authenticated. 
To explain this further we quote Wikipedia entry for DOC:
Denominazione di origine controllata ("Controlled designation of origin") is a quality assurance label for Italian food products, especially wines and various cheeses (Denominazione di Origine Protetta). It is modelled after the French AOC. It was instituted in 1963 and overhauled in 1992 for compliance with the equivalent EU law on Protected Designation of Origin, which came into effect that year.
The South African project will differ but, basically, it will be similar. We think this is a wonderful initiative and hope to see lots more of our special regional foods joining this programme. To learn more look at www.karoomeatoforigin.com
He shows us how wine is classified
And now how Karoo lamb is also classified as Meat of Origin
Red wine is served, the meat is on the way
We listen to the presentation
We are given two corks, one for each farm. Our winner’s cork will go into the hat
Muratie's serving of half a Saratoga chop and their meltingly tender and very tasty lamb shoulder from the potjie
Rijk Melck pours us glasses of Ansella van de Kaap red blend and his wife, Kim, holds a handful of Saratoga chops to distribute
Nicely cooked, with crisp fat
Mother and son
Du Toitskloof serve their lamb
Paired with their excellent 2010 fruity and spicy shiraz, which goes beautifully with the lamb
The two chefs wait to hear which team won
And the winners are: Muratie takes the award this year. They will host the competition next year and pick the dish that will be cooked by both teams.
Koeksisters (crisp plaited syrup donuts), profiterols and caramel cream horns for dessert. The traditional South African Koeksister also needs to become a food or origin! But where would we put the stamp?
The girls pose for the camera
Maryna Strachan and Pete Goffe Wood
Pete, Maryna and Bernard Kotze of Du Toitskloof
Maryke and Clifford Roberts
And then it is time for a late lunch. Some more traditional South African food. A carrot and pineapple salad, a tomato feta and olive salad, a butternut and courgette bake all to go with the spit roasted lamb
Errieda du Toit of Kokkedoor with Michael Olivier
Johan de Wet, Rijk Melck and a friend
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014