A Pork Revolution - Bannatyne's

As a lover of food, who also happens to be an ecologist and animal lover, sourcing sustainable food that is ethically produced is important to me. One of my biggest struggles is finding pork which is ethically reared. Ironically, it is the pork that I am most fussy about since pigs are highly intelligent and factory farming of pork can be an extremely unpalatable business. Enter Bannatyne's - Hand Reared Pig, producers of artisan pork and charcuterie. 

The Bannatyne Husband and Wife team

We came across this husband and wife team doing a demo at the Good Food and Wine Show and were immediately taken with their passion and energy.The story of Trevor Bannatyne and his wife is point on point with our own dream in terms of the life Kyle and I are working towards. The description on the website sums it up pretty well "From Business Analyst to rural kwaZulu-Natal pig and livestock farmer. My pregnant wife, our baby boy and I packed up the creature comforts of city life to follow our dream of farming & running our own online deli. Our goal is to rear animals ethically and produce the best artisan pork products available".

Learning About Artisan Pork

They started off having bought a small intensive piggery and have been converting to an outdoor piggery (having spoken to a friend of mine who audits pig farms this is by no means a small or easy task). Trevor also explained how for them the traditional roles are reversed, he spends most of his time in the kitchen, while his wife spends her time in the piggery. And, after my brief encounter with them I say this is one women I would trust to love her pigs. They also produce free range lamb, beef and chicken which is an integral part of the piggery as it allows livestock rotation, which in turn allows the land to recover sufficiently from the destructive actions of free range pigs. This is of course, not without its own challenges, as Tevor explained. They once lost 180 chickens to Rooicat!

Dry Cured Bacon

Dry Cured Bacon:

The cooking demonstration was like an artisan pork 101 for us. Trevor explained how to dry cure your own bacon using pork belly in about 10 days. You start by curing the meat in a 3% salt cure by weight. ie. if you have a 1.5kg piece of belly you will use 40g salt and 10g sugar plus if you want a bit of pepper, clove and thyme for flavour. The pork should be placed in a zip lock bag and covered in this mixture making sure to rub it in at the ends. This is placed in the fridge and turned daily for about 2 - 2.5 days before the bacon is hung in a cool, dark place. They have converted an old rondavel on the property, for this purpose, which averages around 14 degrees centigrade throughout the year. You can also smoke it at this point if you wish. Because in this method you are using a dry curie as opposed to the quicker brining process, used by most commercial producers, you not only don't get the wet liquid coming off in the pan (only the fat which renders out) but you also get a lovely cracking from the skin as opposed to the chewy rind typical of bacon in years gone by. 

Just look at that crackling! Bacon + Crackling = Love

Trevor also demonstrated a slow cooked pork belly which had the most amazing texture and pure pork flavour and an usual fennel spiced chorizo sausage, which we both loved!

Fennel Chorizo - Yum!

You can be assured that soon as we have made space in our freezer we will be placing our on-line order for these remarkable Pork products! (visit http://bannatynes.co.za/Products for details on their range and how to order).

Trevor Bannatyne in Action

The (not so) Good Food and Wine Show

I realise this blog is a little bit after the fact but between one thing and another its been a hectic two weeks for the Two Pea's and a Potato Team. Our Potato dog somehow managed to swallow a piece of cow hoof the size of a Pringle chip which lodged itself well and truly in his gut. Needless to say, our silly Potato ended up having surgery and a lengthy (not to mention expensive) hospital stay. The good news is the little guy is now home and rather enjoying the fact he now gets four home cooked meals a day as opposed to his usual kibble. 

But I digress. Last weekend we visited the Joburg edition of the Good Food and Wine Show ("GFWS"). We were excited. Between the promise of great food, wine tasting and celebrity chefs such as, Adriano Zimbo, John Torode and Brent Owens it looked to be a good day out. I had heard mixed reviews in the past of this show but also that it has improved greatly. 

We had decided to Uber to the venue but after waiting 1.5 hours for the surge pricing to drop and then having a driver cancel our trip hoping to take advantage of the again increased surge pricing, we decided the only way we were going to get to the venue was by our own steam. Walking in the doors, a little bit grumpy it must be said, we opted to go do some wine tasting to calm our shattered nerves. This was not a good idea. There were about 10 wine estates present and it seemed like every person in the venue was trying to taste them all at once. The GFWS system is that you are required to purchase a tasting glass and tasting tickets. Each taste costs you a ticket. This means that even if you could get to the front of the lines you would not be able to taste many of the estates. It must be said most of the estates, to their credit were not enforcing this rule strictly. After all you can hardly hope to sell a case of wine to somebody who has not be able to taste it. After battling the lines for about 10 minutes we gave up and opted to rather have a draft from the guys at The Craft Beer Project. With many familiar craft brew names, we were soon watered and on our way to explore the rest of the show. 

The beer that saved us....

One of the first stops was to the Incredible India stand. The stand had a large display of all manner of spices which the stand staff diligently took us through explaining the flavour and uses. It was fascinating, though it was a pity that  we were unable to sample the spices, rather than just look and smell the small display pots. Wandering around we manged to taste a few things here and there before stumbling upon the charming husband and wife team from Stanley's Snails where we learnt about the intricacies of snail husbandry. We also loved the Disaronno Ammeretto Sour jars which keep us from going dry and left us with a set of cute jam jars. The food on sale in general was underwhelming and especially the burrito/soft shelled taco I had from a food truck in the venue whose name I cannot recall.

Learning about spices at Incredible India

Stanley and his charming snails

An underwhelming meal

Our favorite exhibitor of the day, hidden away in a far corner of the show, was the guys from Smoked Flavours. Smoked Flavours produce something they refer to as 'liquid smoke' which allows you to add a smoked flavor to almost any dish using a few drops of the liquid. The liquid is made by distilling the smoke flavour from actual smoke into a concentrated liquid which comes in a variety of wood options, each suited for different dishes or ingredients. The bottles were well priced at R35 each and we have used them a number of times since the show always to great effect. Our smoked ricotta ravioli was particularly delicious. 

Kyle learning about Smoked Flavours Liquid Smoke

There were a number of demo's going on at various paces throughout the venue but it was hard to tell what was being demonstrated where and at what times. We only, by chance, stumbled on the highlight of our day a demonstration at the Slow Food stage by Trevor Bannatynes from Bannatyne's Artisan Pork and Charcuterie which will be the subject of our next blog. Our penultimate stop of the day was to a cooking demonstration by Brent Owens in the chefs theater which we will also discuss in more detail in the next blog. 

Trevor Bannatyne showing off his dry cured bacon

Finally at 7.30pm as the crowds began to thin we decided to try the wine section again. We manged to taste some lovely wines from Alvi's Drift and purchased some of their ADS Chardonnay; which is well wooded and deliciously complex. We were just about to move on when the show organisers announced that the wine exhibitors had to stop all tastings in preparation of the show closing. This was at 7.45pm and the published close of the show was 8pm. This was less than ideal as we had planned our day around coming back to the wines after the cooking demo's and had based this on the fact the show only closed at 8pm. 

Brent Owens Cooking Demo

All in all we had a good time but I probably would not go again. At R155 per person with tasting tickets and R200 for chefs theater tickets (45 minute demo) it was an expensive day out that felt more like attending a trade show than a festival of good food and wine. 

Cafe Del Sol Classico

My first experience of Cafe Del Sol in celebration of my friend Jadene's 30th. The party was held at the Landmark Bar which forms part of Cafe Del Sol Botanico in Bryanston. The cocktails menu was as long as it was delicious and the bruschetta, truffle popcorn and other snacks were a tantalising hint at the potential delights of the main menu. I will admit to taking out a beautiful Le Cruset pot plant with my ever expanding rear after maybe a touch too much festive cheer but then I probably would have done the same without any festive cheer knowing my clumsy ways. 

 Kyle and I have been keen to go back to where it all started at the Olivedale Branch or Cafe Del Sol Classico as it is now known. Getting a booking, however ,is no easy task; especially, if like us, you tend to follow your cravings rather than plan eating out well in advance. In a stroke of luck, on Friday, Jadene (who incidentally is friends with the owners and an ardent fan) managed to secure a last minute booking for four of us at Classico. 

Right off the bat we were impressed with the comprehensive wine list which is a nice mix of local and imported wines and includes both value for money and small batch boutique wines. As it was an unusually wet winter evening, we opted for dark and fruity Paul Wallace 'Black Dog Malbec' out of Elgin and a Beyerskloof Reserve Pinotage, both of which we really enjoyed. 

Dinner Delights - Pictures by Jadene Tager

My favourite dish of the evening was the Porchini Risotto which was deep and earthy; laced with the decadent flavour of truffle oil. We also enjoyed the Ameretto Semifrodo and the Chocolate Tart (both pictured above). Kyle and I shared a starter of ravioli filled with butternut and amaretti biscuit in a creamy walnut sauce. We felt this dish lacked balance but this was remedied with a sprinkling of salt. I must note that the manager, Jaques, did advise that he preferred the ravioli with a burnt butter sage sauce (not the standard sauce but available on request) which probably would have given the dish the balance we missed. 

Speaking of Jaques, we were very impressed by his attentiveness and passion. At one point he invited me over to the kitchen, where I was taken through a tasting of some of the sauces which was a lovely personal experience and a great chance to experience more of the menu. In fact all of the staff,  and the service in general, were outstanding. 

Overall we had a great evening with lovely company and a great start to our newly formed (after the second glass of wine) supper club.

Uber Delicious

We love Uber. Especially when we have have been wine 'tasting' a bit enthusiastically... We also love ice-cream. Even more so when it is as good as Pauls Home Made Ice Cream. So when it was announced that Uber would be delivering tubs of Paul's homemade around Jozi, in their international #UberIceCream promotion, we were excited. 

Not that I needed an excuse, but since it was one of the girls birthdays, an ice-cream delivery seemed like the best way to celebrate. Joburg may have been cold and grey but the demand was high! At 11am when the promo started it seemed like everyone in SA was trying to secure a delivery .After some frantic refreshing of my Uber app and a dose of mild panic, I manged to secure ours. Before long the little blue ice-cream icon could be seen as making its way across my screen towards our location. 

The Uber Ice Cream "truck"

Delicious Delivery

Ice Cream Excitement

For our R80 we received 4 tubs: Dulce De Leche, Roasted Banana, Milk Chocolate and Cookies and Cream. The roasted banana, which literally tastes like fried banana, was my stand-out favourite! 

What an Uber delicious idea...

Ice Cream Wisdom

The Birthday Girl 

Two Peas in Heaven - DW11-13 Review

I like to think only the best people are born on July 18 (Mandela being the prime example). Since I too am born on this day, this weekend was all about birthday celebrations in the Two Peas household. 

On Friday Kyle booked us a table at the fabulous DW 11-13 by Marthinus Ferriera. This restaurant, which has been on top of our dining out wish list for some time, describes itself  as offering a  "unique experience through experimental cuisine"and is regularly cited as one of the top restaurants in South Africa. DW 11-13 is located in the Dunkled West shopping Centre in  shops 11-13, which goes some way to explain the name, but apparently it is also a play on South West London postcode and Gordon Ramsay’s Boxwood Cafe where Ferriera once worked. 

Arriving at the restaurant we were greeted and showed to our seats by the hostess, a friendly and impassioned lady named Robin. Having agonised for days about whether we wanted to order a wide section off the A La Carte Menu and share everything or try the tasting menu, we arrived still unsure of which one we wanted to do. The tasting menu with wine pairing comes in at a sizeable R950 per person, while we estimated a starter, main and dessert with a bottle of wine to share would cost us in the region of R650 per person. In the end following the ardent urging of the hostess, and on the basis that we had wanted to really experience the restaurant, we opted for the tasting menu. 

We where not disappointed. The 6 course tasting menu (really 7.5 if you include the sorbet, amuse bouche and pre-desserts served between courses) was not only outstanding but also generous. Both the DW 11-13 food portions and wine pairings were perfectly sized to enabled us to taste a variety of bites and flavours without being left feeling like we needed to look for the nearest drive through on the way home. 

The stand out savoury dish for us was undoubtedly, and much to our surprise, the vegetarian,  'Polenta, cauliflower espuma, sultanas, pine nuts, kale and brown butter'. This dish was delishiously balanced by the contrast of the creamy texture of the cauliflower with crispy kale and the saltiness of the brown butter with the sweetness of the sultanas. I wish I could say we got a picture before we tucked in but unfortunately I only remembered halfway through. This course was paired with what was also our favourite wine of the evening an Oak Valley  Mountain Reserve White Blend. 

What remained of my 'Polenta, cauliflower espuma,
sultanas, pine nuts, kale and brown butter' when I
remembered to photograph it.

Kyle absolutely loved the 'Springbok, dauphinoise, beetroot, blackcurrant ketchup and parsnip purée, spiced jus' but I, being rather sensitive to pepper, found the spicing of the on the springbok a bit overpowering and was unable to really enjoy any of the other flavours on the dish which was a pity. 

For me the 'Karoo stilton ice cream, walnuts, port gel, melon compote, puff disc and celery' was the most exciting dish of the day due to the creamy sharpness of the Karoo stilton ice-cream. Kyle thought the ice-cream didn't have enough stilton flavour when eaten alone but worked with the dish as a whole. 

Overall it was the details that made the DW11-13 experience exceptional. We loved the subtle South African theme to the décor and the way this linked to both the food and the plating. We also loved how knowledgeable and attentive all the waiting and hosting staff were and that they made us feel right at home.

DW 11-13's subtle South African themed décor

Two Peas in Cyrildene

One of my favourite hidden gems in Johannesburg is Derick Avenue in Cyrildene. This relativity new China Town is packed full of fresh and unusual produce, small hole in the wall type restaurants, Chinese supermarkets and is thankfully relatively free of the cheap and nasty China import type shops that dominate the China Malls around Gauteng. Since Kyle is relatively new to Johannesburg and has never been to Cyrildene I suggested a Saturday Morning outing. Once I managed to lure Kyle off the the couch and out from under his duvet with the prospect of really authentic Dim Sum, we set off.

One of my favourite parts of Derick Avenue are the street sellers peddling all manner of fresh Chinese produce at a fraction of the price you would expect to pay in supermarkets. Fascinated by the array of unfamiliar and unusual ingredients and lured by the low prices, we bought bags of oyster mushrooms, fresh spring onions, Chinese cucumber, water chestnuts, spouts, tofu and varieties of squash and potatoes we had never seen before. We then ventured into one of the larger supermarkets along the street. The supermarkets are fascinating with rows and rows of strange bottles, sauces, bags of unidentifiable ingredients and freeze dried seafood. It is often almost impossible to know what you are buying as the bulk of the labels are in Chinese with no English translations. Unfortunately most of the shopkeepers are not all that fluent in English so one generally has to look at the picture on the packet and hope for the best.

Ducks blood, and other delights

Fresh Oyster Mushrooms

Some of the ingredients and produce we brought home

We then met up with a friend and headed up to the Shun Deck Chinese Restaurant for some authentic dim sum. They run a buffet from 11am to 2.30 pm with a large selection of savoury and sweet dim sums. The trick here is not to ask what is in the the food because you probably don't want to know and its delicious anyway. We loved the steamed buns, the pork pot stickers and the glass noodle pork dumplings. Not so great were the custard dumplings which tasted like thick slightly borderline sweet egg yolk. The best advice I can give though is avoid the tea. I absolutely love tea with my meal but for some reason there was a lost in translation situation, which resulted in us drinking a detox tea of sorts. I had wondered why the lady had looked at me like I was mad when I ordered the pot and unfortunately the results started to hit just as we arrived back on the street to do some more shopping. Trust me when I say its no fun desperately seeking a bathroom along that street and having to make do with a less than standard one in  hurry.

Some of the dim sum we sampled at Shun Deck Chinese Restuarant

These had the hollow centres and the most remarkable texture

On Sunday we decided to experiment with making dim sum for some of our friends and family using some of the weird and wonderful ingredients we had bought. We managed to produce with varying success Vietnamese glass spring rolls, pickled diakon, pork and coriander steamed won tons, sweet pork steamed buns,  dipping sauces, a funky kimchi and marinaded tofu noodle dish and a tapioca, coconut and water chestnut dessert.

Making Wontons

Steaming with our electric and bamboo steaming contraption

 Kimchi and Marinaded Tofu  with Noodles

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Tapioca with Coconut and Grated Water Chestnut

The food was washed down with copious amounts of wine, chatter and laughter. Jersey even managed to steal a few won tons off the table while no one looked before photo bombing our duckface picture!

Introducing Pea #2

Mmm... Food: Millions obsess over how much they they consume, millions are unable get enough and millions of tons of it are wasted every day. In fact, globally about half of all food goes to waste. It is such an integral part of the human experience. On average we will spend about 4 years of our lives eating. Food is therefore understandably a part of so many memories (good and bad). And, when looking to form new memories it is invariably integral to our plans. Food always has been and always will be a celebration of life.

Some of my earliest and warmest memories are of my mom teaching me to cook "zambezi mud" (essentially a thick chocolate custard) or choc chip cookies on a rainy day. Later in life when I was home schooling and both the folks were working, I often cooked for the family. And my obsession with experimentation, meant they never ate the same thing twice.

These facts serve to highlight my food philosophy. That is that food is there to help us enjoy life. And yet sustainability is key. Part of our responsibility to the human race is not wasting it and part of the responsibility to ourselves in not eating rubbish or mediocre food. I want to enjoy the experience every time, and this has lead to my love of cooking. Being surprised by a new flavour or combination, is like opening a present and finding something you didn't know you always wanted. Seeing the expression on someone else's face when they do the same is priceless!

Introducing Pea #1

I have always been passionate about food (as evidenced by my waistline). Food, for me, has always been a fully immersive experience. It is not just about taste but texture, background, and the experience of eating. As a child I used to drive my parents crazy by eating with my hands, saying it 'tasted better' when I used my fingers. My strongest memories of our family trip to Europe when I was six were not the sights or even Disney Land but eating a whole chicken with rolls in the hotel room, the fact sugar came in lumps, and the size of the apples. 

I wish I could say that I come from a culinary family where we celebrated food at every turn but the reaility is Lizzy, our domestic and my second Mum, did all the cooking in my family (with the exception of camping trips where dad would haul out the skottle and potjie pot). My fondest home cooked food memories where always at Lizzy's hand; golden roast potatoes that we would fight over and a sausage gravy that I still strive towards. Now, while Lizzy is a dab hand in the kitchen the reality of feeding a family on a budget and a rather set in his ways father meant food was more utilitarian than exciting. Despite this somewhere along the way I started to be interested in cooking and so I learnt to cook; half taught by Lizzy, part self-taught experimentation and part thanks to the various food channels on TV. 

My favourite part of cooking has always been the celebration of feeding people.  In fact my 27th Birthday included a full-on Christmas in July feast for forty-five people comprising three turkeys, a gammon,  a kilogram of sausage stuffing, four kilograms of roast potato, various trimmings and an enormous salad. It may  be true that we ran out of plates, Potato stole half the roast potatoes off the table (Cannibal!) and my friend set fire to the oven but it was worth the three days of cooking just to see everyone eating and being happy. 

A  (small) Sample of the Birthday Christmas in July 2014 Spread

And therein lies the crux of it all. When I cook for people it doesn't feel like work. I can spend days tied to the stove in preparation of a single meal and feel only happiness. Basically I want to work in food, for food and with food.