Wright - Karoo Food

Following on the success of Veld to Fork , Gordon Wrights first book, Karoo Food is bigger, better and tastier than ever, with more recipes, stories and anecdotes about life and food in the Karoo.

Once again, Gordon takes you on a Slow Food journey, via your taste buds, to foodie nirvana. Tracing the origins of ingredients and the stories behind the dishes, this is a selection of recipes and inspirations from the important people in his life. Its a mix of the old and the new, and a tribute to all those lovely people and their marvellous food over the generations who have helped foster his love of cooking.

This book is a must-have for cooks, foodies and aspiring home chefs.

To Rose, Jason and Max, and my mom Briar, and Roses mom Anne.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The biggest thank you must go to my wife, Rose, and sons, Jason and Max, for the countless hours you have had to put up with me slumped over my keyboard, huddled over the stove or standing at the braai. For the countless tastings and testers of all the weird and wonderful concoctions I put you through. And mostly for being my beloved family. I love you guys to the moon and back.

To all my siblings Ashley, Karen, David, Bernard, Chris and Melda thanks for the eternal support and the odd push here and there when I needed it.

Once again, my great production team at Penguin Random House Linda, Bev, Brita, Sean, Joy and Elizabeth who helped me to bring life to my vision. You guys rock.

Of course, none of this would be possible without all our Karooster friends out there who have inspired this book and these recipes.

Lastly, and most importantly, to my late mother Briar and Roses mom Anne, the bedrock of our families. Thanks for the inspiration.

Published in 2018 by Struik Lifestyle

(an imprint of Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd)

Company Reg. No. 1953/000441/07

The Estuaries, 4 Oxbow Crescent, Century Avenue,
Century City, 7441

P O Box 1144, Cape Town 8000, South Africa

Copyright in published edition: Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd) 2018

Copyright in text: Gordon Wright 2018

Copyright in photographs: Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd/Sean Calitz 2018

ISBN 978 1 43230 8797

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

Publisher: Linda de Villiers

Managing editor: Cecilia Barfield

Editor and indexer: Joy Clack

Designer: Beverley Dodd

Food stylist: Brita du Plessis

Food stylists assistant: Elizabeth Ingram

Photographer: Sean Calitz

Proofreader: Bronwen Maynier

When I think of Gordon Wright (pictured right), I remember a rather sweaty day out on the vlaktes beyond Pearston village in the Eastern Cape Karoo, when he had me firmly in his rifle sights.

Of course, it was all for photographic show. Gordon was hunting springbok from a hide with a young Sunday Times journalist and I was trying to capture the moment with my Canons.

Another flash of Wright: its a Sunday afternoon on a farm outside Graaff-Reinet and hes striding towards me and my cameras in the pouring rain, a sodden buck hunter once again bearing arms.

Back at the farmhouse, the food is brilliant, succulent. The lunchtime company is convivial, laced with red wine, Karoo humour and tall tales told by Gordon and his mates. The welcome rain still beats down and the afternoon simply drifts away and becomes a fine memory.

And then theres Gordon on the cricket field, representing the Nieu-Bethesda Road XI.

I play a largely ceremonial role in the team, he admits to me over a cold one in the Graaff-Reinet Club.

Gordon will pop up with his lovely wife, Rose, in our home town of Cradock, wow the Karoo Food Festival crowd with his sausage-making skills one evening and, on the next, take over the venerable kitchen at the Victoria Manor Hotel with ginmeister Roger Jorgensen for a food and hard-tack pairing.

It seems that in the decade since the Wrights returned to the Karoo heartland (they had been sweethearts at Union High School in Graaff-Reinet before hooking up much later in Port Elizabeth) they have truly been out and about in the community.

One of Roses latest ventures is the annual Stoep Tasting weekend in Graaff-Reinet, where winemakers introduce their products to visitors, who eventually find themselves on a gentle but merry ramble through the leafy streets, drifting from Merlots to Malbecs, Pinots to Ports.

And theres Gordon at the end of it all, with a glorious garlicky lamb spit-braai done to perfection, waiting for the tasters in the backyard of one of the guesthouses.

Hows the wine, Gordon?

Going down like a rat up a drainpipe, boet!

Many chefs hide in the kitchen, their creative cave, and produce works of genius from behind the batwing doors, so to speak. Not our Gordon Wright.

He is all about being out in the field, preferably in his man-van, usually wearing shorts, off to hunt down fresh, local, seasonal, veld-raised, ethical, slow food with a story.

All chefs cook. The best ones source their own food. Gordon goes a step further. He gets to know the suppliers, their farms and their produce. It doesnt hurt that Gordon is a natural raconteur, party animal and teacher.

Underpinning it all is his passion and respect for the terroir, the intact ecosystem of the Karoo.

An instinctive chef, Gordon lives, breathes, laughs, drinks with and cooks for his Karoo people, all the way from Cradock to the Camdeboo and into the Sneeuberg mountains. And he often takes his Veld to Fork message, his Slow Food philosophy, his convivial good cheer and his ever-growing culinary skills out to the rest of South Africa and the world.

As an ambassador for the Karoo, Gordon Wright is the life and soul of our party. We all hope this new book will sell up a storm and sprinkle more stardust on our region.

CHRIS MARAIS

Karoo Space

AH YES, THE QUINTESSENTIAL INGREDIENT THAT NO KAROO MEAL WORTH ITS SALT COULD DO WITHOUT. Sublime lamb or mutton from the heart of the Karoo has been the staple of Karoosters for hundreds of years and is arguably its most famous export. Revered around the world for its flavour and free-ranging hardiness, the humble Karoo sheep is unique in all the world. Farmed by hardworking and humble people of the land, it is a treasure of this region that cannot be matched or equalled.

What a privilege it is to have regular access to meat of such excellent quality. When you are working with top-quality meat with a magnificent flavour all of its own, your sole job, really, is to do it justice and not to bugger it up. There is no need for fancy sauces and marinades to drown out or add flavours; a fresh herb or spice to enhance the existing delicious flavour is really all you need.