Michael takes a look back at ten great reads he has had on his bedside table, in no particular order and recommends a bottle of wine to go with each.
Julis Child's Best Book
Mastering the art of French cooking – Julia Child, Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle
As old as the hills, my copy, a faded Penguin paperback was printed in 1966. Written for those who love to cook “the servantless cook who can be unconcerned on occasion with budgets, waistlines, timetables, children’s meals or anything else which might interfere with the enjoyment of producing something wonderful to eat.” Currently the theme of a movie featuring Meryl Streep as Julia Child, I heard recently that this book is in its 47th printing!
What I like about it is that you can go to it for the basics in French cooking and then do you own thing with the variations, like a super Navarin de Mouton I made this week. A delicious lamb stew with tomato and white beans.
Wine to go with this book. It’s so French, so I must choose French and what better than a French Champagne. Inke Gouws, Champagne Ambassador invited me to lunch this week to taste a range of bubblies from Maison Giraud-Hemart of Ay – in the presence of Emmanuelle Giraud. The Espirit de Giraud Blancs de Blancs would be the perfect wine to sip while rustling up a little Tarte aux Cerises Flambée now that cherries are in season.
Be my Guest - Fay Lewis
Lewis is a modern day Mrs Beeton, Hildegonda Duckitt, Constance Spry and Sannie Smit all rolled into one and dipped into the Royal Hostess.
This should be the book made for compulsory reading by every couple embarking on a life together. From picnics to hoity toity dinner parties, Fay tells you how to do it with such style. She has won a regional Gourmand award for this book. She should be in Buckingham Palace kneeling before the Queen being tapped on both shoulders for services to the Commonwealth in Food and Wine.
Fay is a bright eyed sparky person and the wine for this book needs to be Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel, a bright sparkler MCC. The first Champagne style wine made in the country by another pioneer Frans Malan also had bright sparkly eyes!
First big crush – Eric Arnold
A hugely entertaining book – perhaps unlike any other wine book I have ever read. A romp through a vintage in New Zealand with a charming young American writer. Brilliant and very funny way of writing – there are just so many people about whom he talks which have mirror images here in the Cape. He’s threatening to visit here next year and I hope he gets to have his knees under my table.
Wine for this book – something innovative, racy and different, yet making a great point. Barista – Bertus Fourie’s coffee Pinotage.
The girl with the dragon tattoo - Stieg Larsson
This is actually part of a trilogy. Followed by The Girl who played with fire and The girl who kicked the hornet’s nest. The author died of a heart attack before the books were published. I think it was self-inflicted! I almost had one in the closing stages of the second book. I just knew the third book would not match up to the excitement of book two, but it did, more so. Andrew Marjoribanks, owner of Wordsworth told me he went into mourning when he finished Hornet’s Nest – so did I.
Wine for these books – something with lots of character and flavour. A well matured Grangehurst Pinotage. Jeremy Walker releases his wines when they are so ready for drinking, on the path to perfection. Delicious classical Pinotage with a dollop of Cabernet Sauvignon for extra dignity.
The Food and Wine Pairing Guide – Katinka van Niekerk & Brian Burke
I have known Katinka for a couple of years. She is an elegant, educated, amusing lady who spent some years in the diplomatic service in Europe. She knows so much about food and wine and how best to pair the two. This is a book I will keep on my bedside and when I am dreaming up dishes to cook at home, I will refer to it in order to ensure maximum pleasure.
If you love food, if you love wine, this will help you put the two together, so perfectly. The price R135, is not much more than a good bottle of wine and just think how many more bottles it will help you enjoy.
Sadly the book lacks descriptive information about Brian Burke and does Katinka little justice too.
Wine for Katinka? A classical Cape Cabernet like Morgenhof. Breathing elegance, dignity and always perfectly turned out.
Tortoises & Tumbleweeds - Lannice Snyman
Lannice is one of my favourite Cape cooks. She is a prolific writer and each time a book appears, I think, “this is the one!” She proves me wrong every time.
Beautifully nostalgic with lovely photography and simply great food. It’s the sort of book you want to keep in the kitchen rather than on the coffee table.
Out of the can, her most recent little book is about using canned fish and there are some delights to be had there too. At under R90 a pop it makes a great stocking stuffer.
Wine for Lannice? Lannice and Michael have a house down near Cape Agulhas so a beach wine would be a good choice. Cape Point Splattered Toad – a quirky fabulous new Sauvignon blanc with a great sense of humour. Duncan Savage turns amusing!
A farm in my heart – Emilia le Roux & Francois Smuts
Nostalgia deluxe for a farm boy like me. A story of Emilia’s family in De Rust on their family farm Doornkraal. Emelia’s mother Ann is a cook of great style and all the family’s food secrets are spilled in this book. It’s a fabulous read, and will be in the tottering pile on my bedside table for months to come as I dip into it frequently when I want to get my mouthjuices running.
The wine has to be a Muscadel; Emilia’s father Swepie is Ambassador for Muscadel. De Wetshof Cape Muscadel. Sweet like honeyed apricots, some lemon drops present, Danie de Wet doing his superb thing yet again.
South Africa Eats – Philippa Cheifitz
Iconic would not be too much of a word to describe Philippa Cheifitz. One of the Cape’s consummate cooks and food writers, and a prolific one two, Philippa has been a friend for over 30 years, and she has not changed one jot in all that time, always the same, always wonderful to be with. She has an encyclopaedic knowledge of food and shares it in the most accessible way.
This is a book where Philippa takes the foods of immigrants, Jewish, Portuguese, Indians and through descendants presents dishes as used in their homes today.
Philippa’s wine should be dependable, always enjoyable and leave you wanting more. Klein Constantia Riesling, dry with a delicious acidity, mouthwatering roast pineapple and poached cape gooseberries with some riverstone flintiness too.
Drinking from the Dragon’s Well – Alexandra Smith
Alexandra Smith’s story of a year in China makes fascinating reading. I could not imagine going somewhere where no-one speaks your language, you cant read any street signs, shop signs, food packaging. Yet this little slip of a woman proves her metal by going there and doing it. And then writes the story. Hard to put down and the sort of book I want to go and tell everyone to buy and read NOW.
Alex needs a wine with backbone yet is very feminine. Peter Finlayson’s Bouchard Finlayson Pinot Noir. Beautifully constructed, elegant, slightly savoury, sweet sweet fruit and will develop well. As Alex has as a writer.
Sumptuous – Marlene van der Westhuizen
If you want proof that dynamite comes in small packages – here it is. Marlene might be height challenged, but her personality and style would fill a large hall. That she is a great cook goes almost without saying, style ditto. Her first book Delicious is also a wonderful story about her fabulous food. Sumptuous tells of the things that could not fit into Delicious. Marlene has a house in France and many of the brilliant photographs show the little village and its shops and streets. Again the sort of book you want to keep in the kitchen, as you just want to eat her wonderful food. I have been fortunate in eating her wonderful food at her studio in Sea Point – often and I always come away so excited.
Marlene’s wine needs to be a powerhouse of flavour and it needs to be white and “French”. So a Viognier from Eagle’s Nest on Constantia would hit the mark. Packed with the flavour of fresh white peaches, wonderfully floral – white flowers like frangipani, star jasmine and honeysuckle, and a flavour of those wonderful soft-dried apricot.