This week's MENU recipe: Pulled Pork

If you have a slow cooker, this week's recipe is for you. If you don't, you can put this in a very low oven and cook until you can shred the pork but you will need to check that the liquid has not evaporated and replace it with water if it does. The Chipotle chilli is not essential but it adds that final smoky hit to the pork. It is quick and easy to assemble when you have all the right ingredients to hand and cooks itself. Great for a late supper on a hot day.

This week's recipe is Pulled Pork

2 kg piece of pork shoulder, cut in two pieces - 1 large onion, finely chopped - 2 large cloves of garlic, sliced -1 cup barbeque sauce - 1 cup tomato passata - 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar - 1/2 cup chicken stock - 1/4 cup light brown sugar - 1 t English mustard powder - 1 T Worcestershire sauce - 1 t chilli powder - 2 t fresh thyme - 2 bay leaves - 1 t dried oregano - 1 Chipotle chilli in Adobo sauce, chopped.

Pour all the sauce into the slow cooker pot, add the herbs and spices, onion, garlic and chilli. Stir well. Then put in the pork and make sure it is well covered with everything in the sauce. Put on the lid and set to High and leave for 5 to 6 hours or until you can shred the meat easily using two forks. Do check that it is not drying out at any time.

Remove the roast from the slow cooker, and shred the meat using two forks. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker, and stir the meat into the juices. Serve on rolls or instead of shredding cut into chunks and serve with salad and baked potatoes

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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Best Sommelier of SA Finals

We are continually impressed by the progress our local sommeliers are making and it was good to see that ten of them, many of whom we interact with regularly, had reached the semi finals of the Inaugural Best Sommelier of South Africa competition this week. We were invited to attend and watch the final three contestants compete for the title at The Taj hotel on Monday this week. And what an arduous competition it turned out to be. It was won by Gareth Ferreira, a South African currently working at a wine-focused private club in London (67 Pall Mall) as Assistant Head Sommelier under the tutelage of Master Sommelier Ronan Sayburn. Gareth has therefore qualified to compete at the Best Sommelier of the World competition which will take place in Mendoza, Argentina, in April this year. Here, he will face more than 55 other candidates in a bid to win the title ‘Best Sommelier of the World’. Currently held by Paolo Basso from Switzerland, the Best Sommelier of the World is only awarded every three years.

To quote SASA (South African Sommeliers Association " Acknowledging and rewarding the best professional working in the South African hospitality industry, it was open to all SASA members with relevant work experience and tenure in South Africa."

We both qualified as potential sommeliers when we graduated with our Cape Wine Academy Diploma in 1996, but we never intended to practice, instead we opened our wine and food shop and spent the next 9 years tending to our customers’ wine needs at home.

These magnums of Veuve Clicquot, who were sponsors,  became part of the competition later

Neil Grant is Chairman of the SA Sommeliers Association and acted as Master of Ceremonies for the finals

There were 10 members of SASA who reached the semi-finals: Gareth Ferreira, Joakim Blackadder (Hoghouse), Manuel Cabello (Ellerman House), Jeanette Clarke (Ex-Amino), Spencer Fondaumiere (Burrata), Denis Garret (Benguela Cove), Marlvin Gwese (Cape Grace), Ralph Reynolds (Karibu), Jean Vincent Ridon (winemaker and consultant), and Roxan Waldeck (Delaire Graff ) Here they are awaiting to hear who were the final three

And they were Gareth Ferreira, Joakim Blackadder and Jean Vincent Ridon

We were then told of the five tasks each contestant would be put through and also the fact that their overall presentation, style and demeanour would be judged. Each contestant had to perform all five tasks on e after the other. The first task was to serve a bottle of a Sparkling wine to a table of four

The second task was to come up with a wine pairing for each course on a menu set by Chef Harald Bresselschmidt of Aubergine Restaurant and Auslese. This is the menu

Here is Gareth Ferreira making his pairing suggestion to judges Higgo Jacobs, Harald Bresselschmidt, Hans Aström (manager of Klein Constantia and Best Sommelier of Sweden 1986). He presented a list of mainly foreign wines and seemed very knowledgeable about them

The third task was to decant and serve a bottle of very old red Alto Rouge wine. These Non vintage wines were made by Pieter du Toit between 1959 and 1983.

The wine had to be poured into a decanter from a cradle using the candling method. The lit candle is held behind the bottle as it is poured gently into the decanter and shows up any sediment, which should not go in to the decanter.

Here Joakim Blackadder carefully removes the foil of the bottle. The cork in his bottle crumbled badly due to age

Gareth used a prong to remove the old cork, very sensible as they were very old and fragile

He also was the only one to use a funnel

Gently pour in to the decanter

And then very gently into the glass. All the wines were tasted by the sommeliers before they were served in case they were faulty. Some asked permission to taste

Every movement was watched, and scored. It was a very tense competition

Gareth pouring the wine

Task over, on to the next

The audience came from the wine trade and the media and there were other sommeliers

On to the fourth task please

Identify one white wine and one red wine, four minutes each and then five spirits in three minutes in total. This one had them a bit foxed. The white wine was Bon Vallon from DeWetshof. Gareth came closest to guessing it by choosing a Chablis. The spirits were also quite difficult. A wooded Grappa, a clear Absinth, a single Malt Scotch whiskey, Grand Marnier and Midori melon liqueur from Japan.

Jean Vincent Ridon describing the white wine as he examines it

Joakim Blackadder tasting the red wine

The judges listening and looking intrigued ? impressed? at the conclusions

Gareth Ferreira talking about the red wine

And he alone identified the Midori

Task five was to look at this list of wines and spot the mistakes. It does require quite a lot of international and local wine knowledge.

And just when they thought they were finished they were required to do another test. To pour equal amounts from one magnum of Veuve Clicquot into 18 champagne flutes and finish with no wine left in the bottle. And all in four minutes. And no topping up of glasses was allowed, just the initial pour. No one quite succeeded. This takes a lot of experience of pouring large portions of wine

Each had his own strategy

This was Joakim Blackadder putting the glasses in one row

Gareth Ferriera poured very carefully and came close. He finished in time

Jean Vincent Ridon had his own methods but took a little longer than allowed.

Our reward for watching was being allowed to drink the Champagne. We needed it. There was a short wait while the judges conferred and chose a winner

Lovely canapés were served

50 spice chicken nuggets

The prizes await the winner

At last the announcements made by Neil Grant and the awards were presented by Michele Chantome. Joakim Blackadder in third place

Jean Vincent Ridon came second

And the winner is Gareth Ferreira

The top three with the judges

The judges with members of the SASA committee

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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Bertus Basson cooks lunch at Vondeling wine estate, Voor Paardeberg

When we booked our summer break at Paternoster we had already been invited to this lunch, so we scheduled the end of our holiday so that we could do the lunch on the way back to Cape Town. Bertus Basson has done a series of lunches this year at Vondeling and tells us more are planned for 2016. Get your bookings in now, they are extremely good and very, very popular

Our friends Loraine and Ronnie who joined us for our last night in Paternoster also booked and asked for vegetarian food and they also had a lovely lunch. We know and love Vondeling’s wines and they matched perfectly with the food

Vondeling is in the Voor Paardeberg, which is only one hour from the city and it was a lovely warm summer's day when we arrived at 11.30. This is their wedding chapel

Inside the tasting room it is cool and comfortable with great air conditioning

We were welcomed with a glass of crisply chilled Rosé wine made from Merlot, very refreshing

The tasting counter wall

Lynne cooling off in the lounge area

John crept into the kitchen to get some quick shots of Bertus and the food being prepared. This is the caramelised onion tart canapé

The production line

Light as air biltong bitterballen with a garlic emulsion

Those onion tarts

Chatting with chef are Maggie Mostert, Bertus' wife Mareli Christian Eedes and Hennie Coetzee

Hot summer vineyards. We ate outside on the terrace but under the shade cloth

Local flora for decorations. Vondeling is a nature conservancy and they have reclaimed most of the farm from alien infestation

More people, more canapés

Manager and co-owner Julian Johnsen supervising the table laying while the serving staff have a briefing

Lunch under the vines at long tables

The menu

The wine list

We (and many others) opted for their excellent white blend Babiana 2014 (Chenin Blanc 60%, Grenache Blanc 15%, Viognier15%, Chardonnay 10%)) The Babiana noctiflora is a rare species of fynbos

Lunch was served family style, which means platters were placed on the table and you could help yourselves. We had some hearty eaters at our table and you had to call loudly for the platters in order to get some. This is the Rare roast beef served with parmesan, olive pesto and semi dried tomatoes topped with young carrot fronds

Great smoked olives, olive oil mousse, butter and great bread

Beautifully crisp spiced batter squid with radish slices, miso cream

A wickedly sinful, smooth as silk, chicken liver parfait served with toasted mosbolletjie bread and jam. It could have been duck liver and the bread was as good as any brioche. One to copy at home if the blender can get the livers to a creamy consistency

Cos lettuce with crisp soy seeds, shaved parmesan, red onion and radish with a wholegrain melba and a rich creamy dressing. And these were just all the starters!

Chatting while waiting for the main courses to arrive

Cooked, pickled puréed and raw organic beetroot of different colours, with sour cream and herbs

Roasted line fish, broccoli, asparagus, courgettes, fennel and capers in a smoked velouté

Caramelised sweet potato with maple syrup and pecan nuts. Orgasmic

Salted smoked pork belly with organic carrots, salsa verde and roasted almonds. Of course all the platters were cleared and the plates went back to the kitchen clean. It was a tour de force of summer eating

Then for dessert. Bertus likes bringing back childhood dessert memories and he certainly excelled with this very sweet local favourite, Peppermint Crisp Tart with vanilla ice cream. You do need a very sweet tooth for this sort of dessert

For the non dessert lovers, Ash camembert with homemade green fig preserve, nuts and grissini

Two of the three partner owners of Vondeling, Julian Johnsen and partner Anthony Ward thanking the chef for a lovely meal

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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