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RECENT EVENTS
Saturday 26 February 2011: Annual wine harvest, held at
Vrede and Lust, Franschhoek
After members had picked the grapes and trodden them in the
time-honoured manner, we sat down to a sumptuous meal in
the open-air, surrounded by the towering blue Franschhoek
mountains. Jeremy Hele had this to say about the day:
Peace, passion and Petit Verdot
A record number of 70 Slow Fooders gathered at the Vrede and
Lust wine estate to create our own annual vintage. This
year, on a scorching hot day, we harvested Shiraz grapes and
duly stomped them with our bare feet to start the process
which in two years’ time will give us the 2011 Slow Food
wine. We were guided through it all by Susan Erasmus, Vrede
and Lust’s handsome wine maker, and one of the owners,
Etienne Buys. After our exertions, we were treated to a
magnificent brunch, washed down by the Slow Food Petit
Verdot, harvested at Nitida in March 2009 and bottled in
November last year.
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Saturday 26 March Boerbok Open day
by Erika Reynolds
Slow Food was invited to the Boerbok Open Day on the farm
Lelieblom outside Darling in the Swartland. We came to learn
more about this goat variety and had the opportunity to
taste ‘gourmet goat’.
Michael Basson the farmer, specially constructed the outside
dining venue for this day (nicknamed 'St Michael's Cathedral'
by his wife, Karen) while Karen served the food and
complimentary Groote Post and Cloof wines from the converted
barn.
The Boerbok as we know it today is the result of selective
breeding in South Africa since the early 1900s to improve
the meat quality and to achieve the familiar colour. The
white body was selected for easy visibility at a distance
and the darker head to protect the animals from the sun.
By 1939 the Boerbok in its present form, was an established
goat variety, but it is still evolving, with efforts to
further improve the meat quality. Nevertheless, the goats
owned and consumed today in the largest part of the world
still look like the early 1900 South African goats. South
Africa started exporting embryos to the USA in the 1990s in
order to boost the meat quality of the goats in North
America. Our Boer goats are widely recognised as the
yardstick against which goats across the world are measured.
But why take the trouble with this usually shunned animal?
Most people I invited along to the Open Day responded with a
single ‘Yuck’ due to the outdated belief that goat meat
smells bad.
In reality, the advantages of goat farming and goat’s meat
are impressive.
Jackie Jordaan who managed goat farms in Australia shared
with us that goats are very fertile and have twins quite
regularly; the young ones grow quickly to 40 kg which is the
ideal weight to sell. Farmers simply load them live on
trucks destined for Kwa-Zulu Natal which is the largest
market and where the demand by some ethnic groups are based
on religion. As demand and supply are both stable, there is
little price fluctuation and no complicated paperwork is
involved in live informal sales compared with selling packed
meat in the retail market. This way of paperless trading,
however, contributes to a dearth of knowledge regarding the
numbers of goats sold ‘off the truck’ in South Africa.
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Being highly adaptable to climate and terrain, goats can
access grazing areas inaccessible to other stock and they
are complementary browsers – eating the vegetation other
grazers decline. For this reason, explained Kokkie Coetzee,
most farmers keep goats as a third or fourth stock option in
order to make optimum use of land and terrain not favoured
by other animals. Kokkie has a herd of Boerbok to graze in
the mountain kloofs of his farm near Piketberg. Due to their
omnivorous nature and hardiness, poorer communities all over
the world also regard them as ‘insurance’ in the event of
crop failures.
The humble goat is usually associated with poor communities
but these groups are inadvertently choosing the most healthy
meat source available. Goat’s meat comes out tops in terms
of total fat percentage, calories and cholesterol. Lamb
contains six times more fat and double the calories per 100
mg. The closest rival in the health stakes is ostrich which
has 0.2% less fat and two fewer calories.
Not surprisingly then that goat, as a drier meat variety,
has to be cooked in a similar way to venison. Carmen Niehaus,
food editor for You/Huisgenoot, suggested a buttermilk or
simple olive oil, lemon and garlic marinade for a day or so.
When grilled, it should not be overcooked – a medium or
medium-rare state will retain moisture. Goat meat is also
very suitable for carpaccio, stroganoff and kebabs, the
latter perhaps in a coconut milk marinade. ‘Fynvleis’ can be
used in boboties and pies.
Goat is the most-eaten red meat in the world and the largest
consumers are poorer countries. South Africa, for instance
exports live goats to South East Asia. As in South Africa,
the largest market for goat’s meat in the USA is the ethnic
peoples. Most of Australia’s exports are earmarked for the
growing Middle Eastern, Asian, and Latin American
communities there. The meat is exported as carcasses or as ‘blokkiesvleis’.
Prices range from $7 - $11 per kg in the USA (it is not
clear if this is packed meat or live goats and whether it is
imported meat or USA-grown Boerbok). In South Africa the
price for slaughter animals on auction in 2010 was R23/kg
liveweight.
The only Australians who eat Boerbok are the ‘double income
no kids’ professionals and, judging from the recipes
available, goat is also favoured by many fine diners in the
USA. The culinary possibilities of goat appear to be
endless. Cabrito Guisado, Goat Masala and Goat Teriyaki are
but a few options mentioned on
www.texasgoat.com/Goat_meat_recipes.html |
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Karen Basson our hostess, prepared a goat curry and a roast
and she shared her ‘recipe’ with us:
“I don't have recipes I cook with what I have from my
heart, but will give guidelines - no exact measures because
I just gooi it all together and hope it works out! It
usually does!
The roast was done exactly like a leg of lamb, rub with oil
and add herbs of choice, I added sea salt, garlic and
rosemary and put it in the oven (covered) slow heat till
meat drops off bone. No marinades and nonsense. Simple
recipe. Always the best.
For more information on Boerbokke visit
www.boergoats.co.za and
www.boergoatshome.com.
For those interested in sampling the meat, contact Gogo's in
Newlands (see article below). |
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FORTHCOMING
EVENTS
29 April – 2 May:
Cheese Festival at Sandringham, Stellenbosch.
Tickets are not sold at the gate, so remember to buy
your tickets in advance, from Computicket or
Checkers.
5-8 May:
Taste of Cape Town, at the Greenpoint Cricket Club.
Wednesday 11 May:
Annual General Meeting, to be held at Silwood
Kitchen. Dr Nicky Allsopp, from Kirstenbosch, will
talk to us about the types of mushrooms growing in
the environs of Cape Town. There will be a light
supper of soup provided by the Silwood students, and
cheese from the Real Cheese.
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SHOPPING NEWS
GOGO’S IN NEWLANDS
A new meat supplier has opened in the Cardiff Place shopping
complex, alongside Cassis and Wine Concepts.
Gogo’s was established in Simonstown in June 2006, but in
December 2010 they decided to re-locate to Newlands. They
specialise in biltong ranging from lean and fat beef, kudu and
beef wors, very hot and mild chilli sticks, barbeque and beef
sticks and game biltong. Also available: Game meat, game
carpaccio, whole duck, duck breasts, duck leg confit, petit
poussin, whole quails, rabbit, farm fresh chickens. Kalahari
grass-fed free-range beef fillet, sirloin and rump, and
free-range pork and bacon. They also have a selection of Rudi’s
sausages from Gordons Bay, Karoo lamb from Pofadder and
Mozambican prawns. The meat is slightly more expensive than you
would pay in the supermarket, but well worth it. They also stock
wonderful free-range eggs, available on Fridays.
Opening times:
Monday to Friday - 10h00 to 18h00
Saturday - 10h00 to 16h00
Sunday - 10h00 to 13h00
Recipes are available on request.
If you need something, we’ll do our best to get it for you.
GOGO’S,
6 Cardiff Castle,
Cnr Main Street and Kildare Road,
Newlands
Tel :
021 671 0573
HOUT BAY MARKET
There is a food market in Hout Bay on Saturday mornings,
underneath La Cuccina (turn right at the circle as though going
to the World of Birds, and continue until you see La Cuccina on
your left). There are stalls selling fruit and vegetables,
cheeses, charcuterie, Karoo lamb, breads and pastries. There are
also a number of stalls selling food to eat on the spot –
breakfast pizzas, pies, as well as more glamorous fare,
including oysters and champagne, prawns and crayfish tails.
Everything on the market is very reasonably priced.
DEAN STREET ARCADE
On Wednesday mornings there is a small market in the Dean Street
Arcade. Main Ingredient has a stall, and there are baked goods,
as well as charcuterie, smoked fish and pates, spring rolls and
much else. |
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