Murray's Food Trails: The Graaff-Reinet Trail

Paul Murray

Arriving by bus in Graaff-Reinet at 4 o'clock in the morning has one amazing consolation - you have a wide range of biltong to choose from. The café opposite Kudu Motors in Church Street keeps its doors open for latecomers such as those ending the bus journey in Graaff-Reinet or those who are going on to Cradock, Queenstown and East London and want a comfort break or just to stretch and take in the first deep breath of the clean Karoo air.

A typical question at the counter of the shop: What kind of biltong do you have and where does it come from? The attendant took care to explain that there was a choice of eland, kudu and springbok biltong and that the supplier was a farm outside Graaff-Reinet.

This is the most unbelievable consolation, for the biltong is made from the fillet of the venison and not the kind that Mrs Bonade in Leipoldt's Culinary Treasures describes as "looking like a tongue and … cut from the part of the ox that it would not be decent for me to mention".

After Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Swellendam, Graaff-Reinet is the fourth oldest town in the country. In 1785 the first magistrate, Mauritz Woeke, chose the site for the local magistracy, designed by Louis Thibault and completed in 1806. In 1878 the building was converted into an old-world-styled hotel, with friendly and personal service.

The hotel's table d'hôte dining room is the quintessential romantic venue with 144 candles lit in brass candelabras in the original court room. The choice of dishes comes with the history of the place, reflecting the cooking traditions of ages ago. Servings of traditional "Boontjiesop" with freshly-baked Drostdy bread, followed by Karoo lamb served with sweet pumpkin, brown rice and local veggies present a dining experience that underscores the strap phrase "local is lekker".

For those not engaged in romantic conversation, the more open exchange of ideas among friends around the elegantly set dining table is as worthy. Catching up, chatting, eating and drinking only the best the countryside has to offer is as enriching a gastronomic experience as any.

The combination of food and conversation form a strong part of the time-honoured tradition of the Drostdy.

Time's dimension in Karoo towns is different. It makes nothing seem like too much trouble, for instance making a fresh pot of coffee for newly arrived customers.

The Coral Tree Tea Room opposite the Dutch Reformed Church is an ideal venue for catching up with friends last seen long ago. This friendly stopover between museum and gallery-hopping is a pleasure and a delight. Visitors from Belgium, the parents of my student, Christian, enjoyed Karoo hospitality at its best. The freshly-baked carrot cake with a fresh pot of tea was a treat.

The next stop was the 1821 Dutch Reformed Mission Church and School in Church Street housing the Hester Rupert Art Collection of 1960s South African Art. This fifth oldest church building is only one of a remaining handful in the cruciform shape. Poet and curator Etienne du Pisani explains with precision some of the admirable features of the building. The piece de resistance is Irma Stern's "The African Idol" (1957), "a feast of colour" with an idealised African woman flanked by white and orange pumpkins.

Irma and her family used to cook the vegetable items she used in her still life paintings.

Use the yellow pumpkins in her still life to make pumpkin fritters: "Take the purée of the cooked pumpkin, spiced with cinnamon, mace, honey (or sugar), ginger and a little salt. A little rice flour or sifted meal is sometimes added to make firmer dough, which is shaped into flat patties or cakes and fried in fat or butter, and served with a mixture of sugar or cinnamon, either as dessert or as an accompaniment of a bobotie or curry" (Leipoldt's Food and Wine, 126).

It was time to move on.

Easter on Nooitgedacht was to be a special treat. Dining on the stoep in the evening in candlelight, drinking Constantia Uitsig Cabernet, was certainly something special. The 1998 vintage was good, but the 1999 was superb. The gathering was a special one of people from different designations: from bankers, preachers, conservationists, artists and students, to teachers.

Nooitgedacht's history is rich. The local people remember being taught at school about "Die Skat van Nooitgedacht", that illusionary treasure that shipwrecked sailors transported into the interior.

Today the treasure of Nooitgedacht lies in the fact that the game has returned. There is no hunting. This is nature at its best.

However, some culling does permit of the occasional culinary treat. That night the bill of fare included zebra fillet. Oom Danie says that there is no meat on earth that can hold its own against zebra meat.

KAR Bonade, in his essay entitled "Zebra Meat" in Leipoldt's Culinary Treasures, provides an accessible way to prepare this delicacy, and it turned out fabulously: "I cut my piece of inside fillet into proper 'tournados', or round pieces, each about two inches thick and a hand wide. They were then pounded with the handle of the knife, cut nice and even, and rubbed with a mixture of salt, pepper, young twigs of blinkblaar (Zizyphus mucronata), and some wild wormwood (Artemisia afra). Then they were braaied in an open pan with a spoonful of butter. After being nicely browned on both sides, I poured a glass of sweet wine over them and braised them in it for a while."

The sauce was made according to the same recipe: "A little sifted flour and another glass of wine made a tasty sauce of what remained in the pan, to which the blinkblaar gave a tang."

Tina had roasted veggies in the provençal style and Lea-Anne had produced a delectable bowl of salad in an avocado-olive oil dressing.

The conversation that night and the next, over a braai, was as rich as the food and wine. Eastertide coincides with the full moon and the sky was open and the stars twinkled in the clear Karoo sky. As we sat eating and talking, we could hear the kudus barking from the klowe (gorges) and the jackals whining from their holes.

The Karoo with all its splendour and magic is as unique as the eating experiences it provides, in a setting that makes getting together with friends truly unforgettable.



LitNet: 13 April 2005

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