Easyezzy Foods

In Durban (South Africa's sub-tropical coast) it is traditional to serve spiced pineapple quarters on sticks at the beach. The spice mix is paprika 80% red chilli powder 2%, cassia 3% Salt 10% and maybe some tumeric - or you can get creative here. The salt is what hits you first. It totally enhances the taste. Then the chilli hits. Very refreshing. The mix is called "Pineapple spice".

Fried chicken would be a welcome surprise for the crew. Use frozen chicken pieces and a pressure cooker. No spillage problems and you get a nice juicy result. Poor man's Henny Penny.

Zebra is plentiful and tasty. Unfortunately, it has the challenging texture of Pirelli tyres. Sous vide? I'll try and report. Zebra is regarded as "Kaffir Meat" in ZA. ( A totally derogatory term for the black people and for the Zebra. Legislation changes fast. Attitudes not so fast.) That was only the first discovery at BaseCamp1. The second discovery was Angelika and Eugen Gehr's "Kaktusfeigen Brand." Ohhh yeah! Its a surprisingly smooth hooch made from (?) Prickly Pear. E-mail gehrd@iway.na Address : farm ousems sued, namibia. Truly these people are visionaries, and damn fine craftspeople. I was expecting WitBlitz (an unrefined South African digestif with a kick like an Ostrich. Actually the Kaktusjoiuce is smooth and with a hint of cocoa. Here is the www.joesbeerhouse.com Zebra steak. Joes has Kaktusfeigen on its menu! Wonderful place. A bar that you can actually smoke in. When was the last time you were in one of those? Onwards to BaseCamp2. The Shifting Whispering Sands of Walvis Bay!!

My local ChinaTown has it year-round. I don't think your problem is cultivation. More like distribution. Indian (from India) cookery also starts with aromatizing the oil with garlic and ginger. I suggest you get half a kilo (approx one pound) and use half with (say) a dozen heads of garlic to aromatize (simmer for a couple of hours) maybe 2 litres (2 qts?) of canola oil .... you have a basis for very very stunning stir fries for the next year! Also for Indian curries - they always start, "fry you onions until golden (in garlic and ginger oil) and add your chopped (plum) tomatoes" ..... whern plum tomatoes are in season and cheap I make lots of curry base and freeze it. Onions tomatoes coriander seeds, cumin seeds, sugar, salt, pepper, and cassia/cinnamon. No chilli. You have an aromatic onion/tomato base for delicate veg curries, and if you wish you can fry the base with chillies and mutton for fierce pakistani curries. Candied, the other half kilo) is also good. Candied makes real good Gingerbread. the treacle and bread soda recipes. You gotta let the gingerbread rest a couple of weeks for the candied root ginger to kindof permeate the cake. Make it in September, eat in November!

We have a saying n my kitchen," first catch your polar bear.." or whatever. The word in Windhoek is that the fisheries are really depleted. The Government word is that in the Interests of the Peoples of Namibia they are great conservationists. Not sure who to believe.

Well, Zebra is near enough to horse, which I have some experience of in France. Unfortunately Joe's Beer House in Windhoek treats Zebra as steak. That doesn't work. Sous vide might. A future experiment to look forward to. I have been reading Taras Grescoe's "Bottom Feeder". I am having serious doubts about eating anything out of the sea!

BaseCamp1, BougainVilla, Klein Windhoek, about 550km from WalVis Bay. The natives tell us the rains came too late. The farmers are slaughtering stock. So we go to Joe's Beer House (surprisingly good food) for a Zebra Steak. Its nice doen medium. Still pink and juicy in the middle. Very tasty with a sweetness not based on fruit sugar. A bit like horse. Only a LOT tougher. The local "feldschone" are easier to eat. Done well-done, though, its too dry, loses flavour and succulence, and still tough. It strikes me it is the perfect meat for SousVide. Game generally would be? Expedition vehicle is sourced. We are good to go. In the footsteps of the WalVis. I'm looking forward to fish in the desert.

Alas! BonVivantNL is correct. Whale Fish Bay. The Afrikaans for Walrus is Walrus! (according to Wynand van Staden). So walrus is off the menu. I suppose this is a Good Thing, a walrus seems too much for even a hearty seaside appetite. Shark might be a possibility, but apparently other fishes are tastier. The fish called Kob is nice size for a beach picnic. But not very exotic compared to Walrus.

Thanks for that Tabby Cat. I will only be there for a weekend so braising slowly..... dunno. The health warning is real welcome!! And the taste sounds like what I hoped. Last time I brought back Oryx meat - ohh man! Hartlief have a website - Much easier than shooting it yourself. And yes, BonVivant, I know that Walvis was once maybe a word for whale, but all my Afrikaans colleagues say it is Walrus. Etymology may not be their foremost strength and the differences between Nederlands taal and Afrikaans are subtle. ["They have 12 words and use them for everything" as Lee Hager of Dallas observed.] In fact it sometimes seems that me, as a foreign High PlainsDrifter since 1996, I know more of the history of this place than they care to know.

I will be visiting Walvis Bay soon. Its about an hour 50 from Joburg by plane. Walvis is the Afrikaans word for Walrus. I expect Walrus will be on many menus, but I would like to cook some Walrus for myself. In situ. There is a dearth of Walrus recipes on Google. (Surprise!) Can anybody help from experience? How does one select one's Walvis? Which cuts are less chewey. Further, what do I bring? Obviously my barbecue. Obviously not the Vac Pack and the Salamander. But should I perhaps bring the big Isi to pressure marinade the fillets? Should I bring ceps? Lemon grass? Has anyone perhaps a suggestion for truffles and Walvis liver? Guys, I'm from Ireland, living in Africa. Bit out of my depth with sea mammals. Any help appreciated. Serious.

I use the 2009 Flammarion repro of the 1921 classic. (Or should that be 'classique'?) When you want to know what Tony Bourdain has left out, this is the book you want. Anthony's 'Les Halles' is also a classic, yes, but with shortcuts. Stocks and demi, particularly. If you want to do a Sous Vide riff; as we all do; Le Guide is the Source (Holy Grail). (Print this in big letters and press - stick to your kitchen wall!) Me, I found the english translation of Ma Cuisine to be too different to the French original to trust. Ja, I read French good. And I do NOT like editors telling me stuff tha author didnae put in there.

The half litre is good for foams, and cream. The big one is good for fast pressure marinating. It hold more, though the neck on both sizes is the same.

I use a "Made in China" machine, about 800USD. I buy whole dry-cured hams locally; kinda Jamon Joburg instead of Jamon Serrano. From Fama Spanish style Chourizo too. Nice stuff. Sometimes, I am left with half a ham, which dries out in the fridge. So I bag it with 1 cup cheap KWV brandy. Put it in therefrigerator. Keeps it soft and nice for a month at least. When you come to slice it you don't lose that first quarter inch or so. It doesn't actually taste of brandy.

Braam Kruger ( http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/pendock/2008/06/08/braam-kruger-fondly-remembered/) had the most cookbooks I ever saw. Laid along the floor about 40 ft. I have less than two and a half thousand. and I'm finding a big gap. We have all these books from restaurant chefs. Somehow they get toned down for us. The assumption is we don't have professional cooking tools. Is it the Editor or the Chef, who is assuming? Many Italian homes have meat slicers. Some hunters have vacuum pack machines. In places where the electricity is unreliable people have Anvil gas stoves. At home! But, friends, there persists this image of us; we live in little poky apartmants with a weak hotplate and a low power Microwave. Who makes this assumption that I don't have a Wok? That I don't have a 90litre (95Quart US) pot? That I am not interested in cooking for 80 of my daughter's friends at her 21st party? who is keeping secrets?