Tomato Furee

The humble tomato has got quite a chequered history. It was born in the Andes in South America, migrated to Mexico and then expropriated to Europe in the mid 16 th century where it was grown for purely ornamental purposes in gardens because people thought it to be poisonous and inedible since it belonged to the same family as the deadly nightshade plant. So considering we've only been eating it for about 150 years it is amazing how it has become such an essential ingredient in European and especially Italian and Spanish cuisine.
The Spanish, ever inventive, have found another use for this ripe red fruit and that is as a weapon at the world's largest food fight, the annual Tomatina Festival in Bunol. It all started in 1944 when Dr Paco Garces Sanchez and some friends tried to throw tomatoes into the trumpet of a passing musician - no I don't know why? The following year the mischievous doctor took aim at the balloons strung out for the town fiesta and by year 3 he didn't even wait for the balloons but simply started to pelt passers by with tomatoes.
From these auspicious beginnings a mighty tourist attraction has grown which attracts people from all over the world. On the last Wednesday in August, between 11.00 am and 1.00 pm over 130 tons of projectile tomato concasse fills the air in the town square - everyone is welcome but come prepared to wear tomato juice because no one is safe from the thud of a ripe tomato squishing onto the front of their skull.
The good doctor Sanchez is beginning to rue the day that he started this nonsense because the festival attracts so many tourists that it's difficult to aim due to crowd pressure. He also is worried about the foreigner's hurling techniques. Apparently etiquette demands that you quash the tomato before tossing so that they don't hurt on impact and some drunken festival goers are ignoring this piece of advice. I don't know how they clear up the mess afterwards but I certainly wouldn't order a pizza for a few days.

Shift in culinary focus

Talk about a paradigm shift, I read that in a book once and always wanted to see if I could remember how to spell it. I mean look where the restaurant business is today compared to 100 years ago. Then the restaurants were named either with generic names or after the owners, Maxim's in Paris, Wheeler's in London, Delmonico's in New York and Brennan's in New Orleans. There were always the " Joe's Cafes " of course but it was rare that a restaurant would be named after a chef and despite his culinary successes he would normally always be an employee.
The customers were the important people in the mix and so dishes were often named after frequent patrons of the famous restaurants.When Escoffier was at the Savoy in London he flattered Dame Nellie Melba by creating Peach Melba and melba toast in her honour. Arnold Bennet was similarily immortalised with Omelette Arnold Bennet. Meanwhile in America Lobster Newberg was originally named after a Ben Wenberg however a few months later Ben and Charles Delmonico had an argument which led to Wenberg being banished from the restaurant and Lobster Wenberg being struck from the menu .That did not stop patrons from asking for the dish. By simply changing the spelling from "Wenberg" to "Newberg," the now famous Lobster Newberg was born.
Nowadays it's difficult to work out who is more important - the customer or the chef? Chefs no longer stay in the kitchen in fact with many of today's celebrity chefs it's difficult to figure out when they ever are in the kitchen! Their new stomping grounds have become TV studios, radio stations, photo shoots, as the new darlings of the media. Everyone knows Jamie, Ainsley, Anthony, Gary, Gordon and Rick but how many can name the restaurants they actually work in?
As for me, well I'm a bit old fashioned , so I'd like to see the shift back to looking after the customer. I don't mind paying a fair price for a reasonable meal and I'm the first to understand that you can't slave over a hot stove 24/7 but when I get charged a premium I want to see the main act. If I go to a rock concert I want to experience the artist not an understudy belting out his songs so I reckon it's about time for some of our chefs to get back into the kitchen where they belong or alternatively become a fulltime entertainers.

Soy how was it for you ?

I’ve taken it for granted for years, that dark, sodium laden, condiment known as soy sauce. Sure I’ve always veered towards a quality brand such as Kikkomans instead of the jet black rot gut often found on our supermarket shelves but I’ve never really fully understood the myriad styles and varieties. Japanese, Chinese, light, dark, regular, thick, thin, heavy, superior are just some of the names in use. Then of course there’s the chinoglyphics both authentic and computer generated to further confuse you.
So here’s a quick guide to the three main types - Japanese, Chinese and rubbish.
The Chinese use about 4 parts soy bean to 1 part wheat and naturally brew the mix.
They were the guys who invented it but often Chinese soy sauce is a little bit heavy handed and sodium laden.
The Japanese use equal quantities of soy bean and wheat which results in a lighter sauce, more subtle and more in keeping with the delicate flavours of their food. The rubbish is made from hydrolised soy protein with caramel and syrup added for colour and flavour.
You’ve got to choose the sauce which suits your palate best but a good tip is to look for the words naturally brewed on the label and if in doubt shake the bottle to see if a sustainable beer type “ head ” with small bubbles forms as opposed to large foamy bubbles, a clue that the sauce was brewed in the proper manner.

Wibbly wobbly

What is it with the wobbly tables in restaurants? I mean it’s 2004, we can send a man to the moon and often bring him back but still the wobbly tables. It can be a nightmare for soup imbibers and just plain irritating when you try to cut your steak and it seems as if the entire terra firma just gives slightly under the pressure of the knife. It’s not so bad when you’re dining with your significant other, you’re both used to these little ups and downs in life but when it’s a business meal then it can be hell, almost like fighting for the armrest when you’re the ham in the sandwich on one of the budget airlines. You lean on the table, he leans on the table, you bounce up and he comes to a shuddering halt 20 mm lower. You apply pressure again and so it continues like the men’s final at Wimbledon only in this case you’re fighting for match point at Wobbledon. Whilst this entire rite of passage is being performed your wine is gaining momentum, slurping from side to side of the glass in a scene reminiscent of the First Class Dining Room on the Titanic.
Why do we have to put up with this nonsense? It only makes matters worse when you point out the problem to your waitress because she immediately calls for help “ I’ll get John, he’s very good at that, he does it all the time.” John saunters over to the table with the self assured swagger of a champion table balancer, casually folding a beer mat into four. Now how is it that the amount of leeway in a wobbly table always equates exactly to a multiple of the thickness of a standard SAB beer mat? His head then disappears under the cloth like a ferret down a hole and his builder’s bum is exposed to the entire restaurant whose undivided attention you now have. “ That’ll do it ” says John, red in the face and perspiring slightly and you smile appreciatively whilst knowing in your heart of hearts that “ that’ll not do it. ”
I think it’s crazy that we spend so much time, money and advertising space debating smoke free areas in restaurants whilst ignoring these errant tables. Can’t we divert some the money and announce a prize for the inventor of the wobble free table. Maybe SABMillar would chip in since it would save them a small fortune on beer mats. Think of the tremendous added value to the meal experience if we could declare our restaurants not only smoke free but wobble free.

Chef's night out

What happens when you get a dozen of South Africa's top chefs together to judge a culinary competition in Durban and you've got to entertain the guys. Well Craig knows the answer to that one because instead of whisking them off to to one of Durban's glitzy restaurants he took us to Don's place in Umhlanga. There were no flighty Maitre d's , no hauty waiters or waitresses, no standing on ceremony, just good food and good company.
It was great to touch base with some of the guys who I hadn't seen for some time, Glenda with her newly touched up highlights, specially for the final of the competition, Jeff the Chef who never seems to age under that facial growth and Craig who had the good sense to realise that chefs actually like simple food that is well prepared as opposed to poncey food that looks good but tastes terrible.
So what do 12 chefs eat when they're out on the prowl. Well of course they do like a drink so we'll take that as a given, we also are the most unfussy customers so Craig had briefed the restaurant to just keep bringing platters of food and dumping them on the table until we were finished. We had carpaccio of beef with shaved parmesan, pizza bianca topped with thinly sliced black forest ham, chefs salad with cheese and balsamic, grilled strips of calamari, chicken livers with Portugese rolls, grilled tiger prawns with garlic butter and peri peri, chilli roasted chicken with french fries, pan seared spiced beef strips and then even more grilled prawns. Simple food, simply great. If they did serve a dessert then I don't remember because by that time there were expressos and bottles of grappa on the table, memories were flying thick and fast about previous culinary encounters and rash promises made about culinary adventures to come. It really doesn't matter if future plans don't come to pass because the fact we committed to them for even a brief period is good enough for me and maybe that's what friendship is really all about at the end of the day.

Good nite, sleep tight, don't let the bugs bite!

Coriander is one of those few herbs which attracts really bad press and can send people into fits of near rage - garlic is perhaps another. There is no doubt that you either like or you don't like coriander leaves in, under, over or around your food, few people seem to be indifferent to it. Whether you refer to it as coriander, dhania, cilantro or kothmir it will provoke strong reactions.
It appears that coriander comes from the Greek word Koris meaning a bedbug and Ancient Greeks and also many contemporary Europeans believed that coriander leaves smelt like bed sheets infested with bed bugs. Hence the name and hence the absence of the herb from traditional European cuisine. However in Asia, Latin America and Africa the herb was universally accepted, perhaps they had different sleeping habits.
As for me I tend to side more with the Chinese who although they do not use a lot of it in their cooking, have the good grace to refer to it as " fragrant greens ". I like the fresh, almost citrusy, biting tang and it's essential in many Thai, Mexican and even Cape Malay dishes. I've never had the misfortune of encountering any bedbugs and therefore cannot relate to the Greek reaction.
Here's a recipe for a really fresh tasting chutney/salsa to use as a dip for your pappadums or to smear on rotis or chappatis :
Roasted Chilli and Coriander Chutney
60 gm green chillis roasted till soft and just beginning to colour
60 gm fresh coriander leaves
60 gm fresh mint leaves
60 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
30 gm palm sugar or soft brown sugar
5 gm salt
20 gm chopped garlic
30 gm chopped ginger
Zap everything in a blender and moisten if necessary with a little water. As always feel free to change quantities to suit your palate.

Happy birthday Mrs S

What a day to celebrate your birthday and share it with such celebrities as Freddie Mercury and Raquel Welch. I don't know if you could carry off Bohemian Rhapsody as well as Freddie but judging from the photo albums today you certainly could have given Racquel a run for her money in your younger days. But all that doesn't matter anymore because the most important thing today was to have your family and friends around to celebrate this momentous occasion.
And momentous it certainly was because for anyone to reach the ripe old age of 80 is worthy of celebration. Family celebrations are always very rich experiences and when you are priviliged to be a part of one as a friend then its a great honour. Add to that some fantastic food from argueably two of Cape Town's top chefs and you have the recipe for a great Sunday afternoon. The smoked salmon and avocado starter swimming in gazpacho was first class although if you'd caught me on any other day I might have discussed the finer points of the dish. The perfectly cooked roast fillet of beef offered no cause for dissention and the chocolate tart was exactly what all tarts should be, mysterious, in yer face and over the top. To finish off we had some of Jason's "Van der Jason liqueur" which was very moorish - if he doesn't make it as a chef then at least he has a great future with Distell.
The food was fantastic, the company magnificent, Mrs S was radiant - isn't life great!