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In search of good Boerewors

June 17, 2013 in Event

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Saturday 15 June 2013 saw the official launch of CapeCook and Signal Gun’s search for the best Boerewors in South Africa, with the first taste and judge day at Ke-Monate restaurant. We were joined on the day by Crown National and various food bloggers and other prominent foodies.

Some of these food bloggers include Anel Potgieter (lifeisazoobiscuit) Kristy Snell (Foodmonger) Zirkie Screuder (Pink Polka Dot Food) Colleen Crove (Kitchen Diary) Tami Magnin (Rumtumtiggs) Thuli Gogela  (Mzansi Style Cuisine)and Sam Linsell  food book author and blogger (Drizzle & Dip) as well as film producer and recipe book author Anne Meyers from Two Blonds and a Redhead Filming and Michele Coleman producer at Two Blonds and a Redhead Filming as well as Chantelle Taylor Beyers.

The day started off with welcoming the guest to the launch, and an explanation of the events for the day, followed by a very informative session with the guys from the South African Canon association and the firing of one of the canons at Signal Gun, and then the serious stuff started.

The judges, all 18 of them, tasted 6 different pieces of Boerewors. The judges did not know who’s Boerewors they were tasting, the sausage was numbered from 1 to 6 and the judges had to give each piece of Boerewors a point out of 10, taking into consideration the texture, stiffness of stuffing, salt and spice balance, fat content, casing and general taste of the sausage.

Peter Nordejee from Crown National explained that legislation determines that to call a sausage Boerewors it have to have a meat content of no less than 90%, and it may only contain beef, pork, mutton and goat (boerbok) or a combination of these. The fat content of Boerewors is not allowed to be more than 30% of the total content. It may contain no offal except for the casing of the raw Boerewors, and it may not contain any mechanically recovered meat. As to seasoning and fillers, the act is very specific that “no ingredients shall be added except cereal products or starch, vinegar, spices, herbs, salt, other harmless flavourants, permitted food additives and water”.

After the judging, while the scores were added, the judges was treated to a wine tasting of the Signal Gun Wines, followed by a lunch of Boerewors based dishes and more wine.

After adding all the scores of the judges the 6 suppliers was revealed, none of these suppliers was present, nor did they know that their Boerewors were judged on the day.

The Boerewors came from Checkers (2012 Championship Boerewors, Rhudi’s Sausage Deli’s Ollie Viljoen Boerewors, Calvinia Slaghuis’s Hantam Boerewors, Spar Old Oak’s Kalahari Boerewors, Eatwell Meat’s Boerewors and Joey’s Meat Product’s Boerewors.

In the first place with quite some distance was Joey’s, second was Eatwell Meats and third Checkers Championship Boerewors 2012.

If you know any of these Boerewors, you can rate them at http://www.saboerewors.co.za/buywc.html#Bellville

For recipes on how to make your own Boerewors, or for recipes with Boerewors in them, or to suggest a butcher with good Boerewors go to www.saboerewors.co.za.

Bon appetite

Potjie

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Marrow bones on toast with a parsley salad.

June 13, 2013 in Beef

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Marrow bones are a bit like offal in the sense that you either love it or you hate it. Definitely not the kind of thing you should eat every day, not because it is not good enough to eat every day, no not at all, it’s good enough to have for breakfast, lunch and supper, but that will not be a very healthy choice, so rather spoil yourself with it once in a blue moon.

Cooking marrow bones can be as easy as grinding some salt and pepper on the marrow and bake them in the oven for 20 minutes, but today I felt like doing a recipe from one of my culinary heroes Fergus Henderson, this is the one dish that according to his cook book The Whole Beast, nose to tail eating never changes at his restaurant St. John in London.

Fergus’s recipe calls for veal marrow bones, but I have always used the normal beef marrow bones that you will find at any supermarket or butchery with great success.

For the recipe, please visit www.capecook.com

Bon appetite

Potjie

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Easy Seafood Soup

June 11, 2013 in Seafood, Soup

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This is a very easy seafood soup, and unless you are going to cook your own stock on the day that you cook the soup, it will take no more that an hour from start to finish. Whenever I bone my own fish, or take prawns out of their skins, I cook stock from the bones and skins, and freeze it until this soup happens. There is however no reason you cannot use one of the commercially available fish or seafood stock and still cook a wonderful soup.

You might call this the poor man’s bouillabaisse, but please note that this is not an attempt to make this French culinary icon, this is a very simple but hearty dish. The seafood that I use in this recipe is only a suggestion, use what you have in the house, or what you like, remember, recipes is only a guide.

Please visit www.capecook.co.za for the recipe.

Bon appetite

Potjie.

For all things boerewors, visit www.saboerewors.co.za, you can also suggest places to buy boerewors here, and rate butcheries that have allready been suggested.

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Deep Fried Boerewors Roll with Camembert and Caramelized Onions

June 3, 2013 in Cheese, Sausage

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I had no intention to post another recipe with Boerewors so soon after the Boerewors and Beans recipe, but then I tried this on Sunday, and it was so good, I just could not, not post it.

You might ask, what can you do to a Boerewors roll that have not been done already, with gourmet Boerewors rolls a plenty on the recipe sites, and even restaurants dedicated to the “boerie” it all end up as just a piece of Boerewors on a roll with different kinds of fancy ingredients.

Firstly this Boerewors roll, has no roll in the traditional sense. We will use a slice of normal white bread, and the only other ingredients except for Boerewors is camembert cheese and caramelized onions, but what I am going to do with these three ingredients, will lift this Boerewors roll to gourmet status.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the recipe please visit http://www.capecook.co.za, yoy can find my facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/capecook/

For all things boerewors, and to suggest a good supplier of boerewors please visit www.saboerewors.co.za, or on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/bestboerewors

Bon appetite

Potjie.

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Boerewors and Beans

May 30, 2013 in Beans, Sausage

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Boerewors is a truly South African classic, and although the first thing one thinks of when someone says “Boerewors” is “braai” or “Boerewors roll” there is so much more one can do with this king of South African sausages.

Having a piece of Boerewors in the house virtually ensures that you can whip up something tasty if you receive some unexpected guests.

In a good piece of Boerewors the predominant spice should be coriander, with subtle hints of nutmeg, cloves, allspice and black pepper. When you use Boerewors in a dish, work around these flavours, use something that will enhance these flavours, not kill them.

This Boerewors and bean stew might remind you of chilli con carne, but I use very little chilli, as to not kill the spices already in the sausage.

For the recipe please visit www.capecook.co.za

Please join me in my search for SA favourite Boerewors on www.saboerewors.co.za or on facebook on www.facebook.com/bestboerewors.

Post your boerewors recipes, or links to these recipes on the facebook page and tell us where to buy the best boerewors in your town or city, on the website is more recipes for boerewors, and recipes with boerewors.

Bon appetite

Potjie

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Wasabi-peanut-chicken-schnitzel

May 29, 2013 in Chicken

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Peanuts goes with chicken, just google “chicken and peanut recipe” and you will see what I mean, and peanuts goes with wasabi (wasabi peanuts) so I thought, why not combine the three ingredients in one dish? And make a wasabi-peanut-chicken-schnitzel.

If there is one golden rule with schnitzels, or for any thing where you are going to use flour and crumbs, it is to flavour every layer, flavour the chicken, flavour the flour and flavour the crumbs, in this instance the crumbs is already flavoured, so don’t worry about that today.

For the recipe please visit http://www.capecook.co.za

Enjoy with a glass of wine

Bon appetite

Potjie

 

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In search of the best Boerewors

May 28, 2013 in Braai, Event

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I am looking to find the best commercially available Boerewors in South Africa, and I need your help.

This is by no means intended to be in competition with any Boerewors competition locally or nationally. Firstly there are no official entries; Boerewors will be bought at random from butcheries, supermarkets and farm markets without the knowledge of the butchers.

The Boerewors will then be braaied and tasted by myself and other judges, at each challenge there will be one or more guest judge, the results of the tasting will be posted on http://www.saboerewors.co.za , and I will post here after each challenge. Although I believe that the best place for Boerewors is the braai, I will post (with the help of friends) a recipe in which Boerewors can be used with each challange.

As it is impossible for me as an individual to get to every piece of Boerewors in the country I would love to hear from people who would do their own challenges in their home towns, please contact me at barry@saboerewors.co.za for more information, at this stage it is purely for the love of Boerewors.

To chat about Boerewors with us please visit http://www.saboerewors.co.za/contact.html , and please send me your recipes to make Boerewors and recipes with Boerewors in them to barry@saboerewors.co.za

Thank you to Nina and Zirkie who have gave me permission to use some of their recipes on the website.

May the wors be with you.

Potjie

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The Perfect Braai

May 22, 2013 in Braai, Fish, Wine

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For someone that loves to braai, to give a braai the title of “The Perfect Braai”, that braai had to be pretty special. Now imagine this. You get in your car and you drive for less than 5 minutes out of town, you light a fire in a place where no fire have been lit for 30 years, looking out on vineyards as far as the eye can see, with game grazing away no more than 50 metres from your fire, drinking excellent wine, all under the pretence that you are actually slaving over an open fire.

This is exactly what happened on Tuesday 21 May 2013, on the farm Hooggelegen, the home of Signal Gun Wines, just outside of Durbanville. The braai was build 35 years ago by people that use to rent a house on the farm in what is now part of the game camp on the farm, and the last time a braai was actually held there was 30 years ago.

All of this changed at 12H00 on Tuesday 21 May 2013, when MJ de Witt the owner and winemaker of Signal Gun Wines and I lit a fire on the 35 year old braai, each with a glass of wine in our hands to celebrate the re-opening of one of the best braai spots in the Cape, if not in the country.

MJ have a bit of a Keith Floyd attitude to his cooking, or more specific to his prawn recipe. In his introduction to his cookbook Flash Floyd, Floyd said “For heaven’s sakes. Having friends around is meant to be fun for everybody and especially you. After all, you have paid for it, and anyway, when you do eventually manage to get the food onto the table, all they are going to do is talk about a wonderful meal they had in their favourite restaurant or tell you that their particular favourite TV cook wouldn’t have done it like that.” And a bit further “And you can be a bit flash and take advantage of the good ready-made wine sauces, stocks, etc.”

MJ’s prawn recipe for both his peri-peri and his lemon and herb prawns make use of the ready-made sauces of Ina Paarman, and both are delicious. You can spend a lot of time in the kitchen, time that could have been spend on important stuff like enjoying a glass of wine with friends, and still not make a better sauce than any of these two sauces (I am not getting paid to say this) the recipe is as easy as: add the sauce to your “skottel braai” or pan, heat it up to boiling point, add the prawns, and cook until done while you are turning the prawns every now and then. When prawns change colour from grey / brownish to red it is done, do not overcook, as with most seafood it is the single biggest mistake that people make, over cooked seafood goes either dry or tough, or both.

The recipe for the lemon and herb is basically the same as for the peri-peri prawns, only you use the lemon and herb sauce, and add a bit of white wine to the skottel as well, delicious with a Signal Gun Sauvignon Blanc, and make sure you have a piece of bread to mop up the lovely sauce.

MJ showcased is baking skills with two different beer pot breads in one pot, the dough gets divided with some folded aluminium foil (see picture), the one a Mexican bear bread and the other a seed loaf.

To read further, please visit www.capecook.co.za

Bon appetite

Potjie

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Hottentots Fish, also known as Kaapse Galjoen

May 20, 2013 in Braai, Fish

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Hottentots

Pachymetopon blochii

Other Names: Kaapse galjoen, Black bream, Hotnot Vis, Hotnot

Sassi Status: Orange

The Hottentots fish also known as Kaapse galjoen is not the type of fish you will find in fancy restaurants, as with most smaller fish, you will be tempted to dig in with your hands at some stage or another. But to disregard it because of this is a big mistake, it is only topped by the galjoen for the number one spot on my best eating fishes list, and we all know that galjoen is not easy to come by, it is also a no sale species, and on the SASSI red list, unfortunately the Hottentots fish is currently on the orange list, and under review. It is likely that the Hottentots fish have come under pressure in the last couple of years through the granting of interim relief fishing rights that specifically target this species.

The Hottentots fish do not require a lot of fancy spices, but it do require you to give attention when you are braaing it, as with most fish, people tend to overcook it, and with this I do not suggest that you must serve the fish half raw, only that you must remove it from the coals once it is done, do not leave it for another minute or two, that extra minute might just spoil your supper.

Before we get too the cooking bit, one last piece of advice. If you do buy Hottentots fish, or you get a couple and you need to freeze it, do not clean it before freezing it. Freeze it with the intestines and scales, it freezes much better this way, but the best is to use it while it is still fresh.

To prepare the fish, scale it (some people leave the scales on, I don’t) and fleck it (cut open along the spine) and let it stand in a cool place with to dry out a bit.

To read further, please visit http://www.capecook.co.za

Bon appetite

Potjie

 

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Baby squid, cook it quickly

May 13, 2013 in Seafood, Tapas

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With squid you have two choices, either you cook it very quickly, or you cook it for a very long time, anything in between and it will taste like rubber. My preference is the “cook it very quickly” method, probably no longer than 3 minutes in a hot pan, but before we come to the cooking, let start at the part that does take a bit of time, the cleaning, and do take your time here and clean it properly, no one likes pieces of back bone, intestines and beaks in their food.

Start by removing the heads from the body, you do this by pulling the head away; it will come away without any hassle. Pull the “plastic” like backbone out of the body, it is basically the length of the body, if the piece that you have pulled out is shorter than that, then it have broken off, but don’t worry, we will get to that piece just now. Put your finger inside the body of the squid and pull out everything that is inside.

Remove the skin from the squid, it comes away very easily, once the skin is removed, the squid will be white with no pink parts on the body.

With a sharp knife cut open the squid on one side, remove anything that is still attached to the inside of the body, also check for any pieces of the back bone that may have broken off when you pulled it out.

Cut the head just behind the eyes, you should only have a small piece of head with the tentacles left, make sure that the beak is removed, otherwise grab it with your thumb and forefinger, and pull it out.

For the recipe, please visit www.capecook.co.za.

Bon appetite

Potjie

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