Jackie Cameron goes Biblical

JACKIE CAMERON
Cooks At Home

Mick Goss
Summerhill Group CEOListen, I'm no gourmet critic, but I know good food and good wine. I earned my stripes in the viticulture world as a first year at Stellenbosch, and like horses and books, it's occupied my curiosity ever since.

I've always said you want to steer clear of creative women if you don't have deep pockets, because they're always looking for new things to do. But in my wife Cheryl, I think I got lucky. Firstly, I always ranked her in the "Top Ten" in the land, and while like me she's getting on now, I'd still rate her in the top ten in Mooi River! Besides, those who know her and know Summerhill and Hartford, will tell you she's extraordinarily gifted. In the creative sense, I mean.

Eleven years ago, she recreated Lynton Hall, and within a year of its opening, it made Conde Nast's Top 50 "Hot Hotels" of the world. Within three years, the man she sent from Hartford to head up the Lynton kitchen, Richard Carstens, had earned Eat Out's title as South Africa's leading chef.

The girl (literally) she recruited into Richard's place at Hartford House, was a nineteen-year-old stripling from St John's DSG in Pietermaritzburg. In ten years, Jackie Cameron has rocketed up the culinary ranks, taking just about every trophy there is to be taken. At 25, she became the youngest chef ever to make the Eat Out national "Top Ten", and these days, she's the pin-up girl in most worthwhile gourmet magazines.

It helps, of course, to be glamorous - she's the kind of blue-eyed blonde we all used to swoon over as youngsters, but glamour isn't part of the Cameron beat. Her feet are well and truly riveted to the soil that yields her vegetables, and she's about the best adjusted thirty-year old I know. What she is though, is obsessed, not only about cooking, but about work. If you're not of a matching passion as an aspiring chef, the Hartford kitchen's not for you.

That she's now one of cooking's most recognisable faces is a tribute to these things, and naturally, to an inborn talent of abiding proportions, nurtured by a doting grandmother from the time she first sat on a potty. Jackie Cameron has come an awful long way, to the point that Penguin Books finally managed to persuade her to put pen to paper in her first about-to-be-published "Jackie Cameron Cooks At Home".

This is the girl we know, the jeans-and-takkies type, sharing the secrets of her upbringing with a worshipping public who've been following her newspaper articles and the columns of this website, for years. I don't pretend to know how she ranks among the most-visited scribes on the internet, but I'm willing to bet the Alexa ratings will have her in the top five.

Besides being one of the continent's best chefs, she's as good a teacher. And she's doing what all good South Africans should be doing. Ten years ago, she recruited a handful of young "casuals" out of the Summerhill stables, and she taught them to wash dishes. And then to wash "veggies", to bake bread, and finally, to cook. Four years ago, one of these Zulu ladies, with just a Grade 7 education, represented South Africa at an international cooking expo in Zurich. Another followed a year later in Prague, while yet another cooked for the country in Shanghai last August; while a third generation member of the farm staff, made the January page of Unilever's "Twelve Inspiring Chefs". Inspiring, isn't it? It gets you up in the mornings.

"Jackie Cameron Cooks At Home" is not about the recipes that've made her famous, nor the cooking that has "foodies" from around the globe making the Hartford pilgrimage. It's about the path she's walked thus far; the tastes, the scents and the scenery that've shaped her life, and the people that've made her the woman she's become. For the home-cooker or the desperate housewife, it's the "must have" Bible of the modern culinary era.

Visit www.jackiecameron.co.za for more information.

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Happy Eater

Jackie Cameron's Chocolate Fudge
(Photo : Karen E. Photography)

"UMAMI"

Looking at the weather forecasts on the BBC, for the Brits, it's the season to be miserable:Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), or winter depression, affects almost 1 in 10 Britons. Fortunately for those who contract "SAD", there is an antidote in endorphin-releasing ingredients, and chefs and mixologists in the downcast corridors of Europe or the islands to the northwest, find salvation in putting smiles back onto their menus.

We're often taxed in these columns by some of our readers on the intellectual side, so we're going to turn this into a mini quiz. Nobody out there doesn't know the four tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter, but now there's a new one. We're not sure of its origins, but "umami" sounds very much like a piece from the unwritten pages of the Zulu oral dictionary. Chefs will tell you, it's the reason we sometimes crave grilled meats, noodles and sushi - because they're high in umami, the endorphin releasing agent. Foods that are lathered in umami provide the "tastiness" factor which makes us salivate and comforts us when we eat them.

The endorphin release makes them compelling, which explains the often-heard maxim "I need my sushi fix". Miso paste, soy sauce and seaweed (note the Japanese connection) are also rich in this little jewel of the culinary world, while it's also found in non-Japanese foods like parmesan cheese, fish sauce, very ripe tomatoes and ceps. Though chilli releases other things which, depending on your tolerance levels, makes it either memorable or forgettable, umami is addictive nonetheless, even in things like burgers. And if chili is not for you, try a rich Jackie Cameron chocolate brownie, and you can feel the happiness engulfing you pretty much as soon as you take your first bite.

Of course, umami is not restricted to food. A famous pick-me-up is the invigorating sweet potato daiquiri, which contains grated ginger stem and Thai red chilli. It's rich and sweet, while the low-GI influences of the potato and coconut milk quells the hunger for sugar cravings. What about an energising vodka, beetroot and goija berry cocktail, earthy and smooth? Or a rum and chocolate and freshly-squeezed carrot juice cocktail? Sip it, and you'll taste the chocolate instantly, followed by the vanilla spices and carrot. It not only warms, it's a passionate drink.

As we pen this note, it's the 17^th April and its 31 degrees in Mooi River. Why should we be worried about the Brits or the Europeans anyway, who could just as easily be here at Hartford in the most blissful climate in the world? Because we care.

For more information please visit :
www.hartford.co.za

The industry we're in...

Jackie Cameron enjoys a pint with Justin Bonello and team
(Photo : Cooked)

"Chefs may not earn buckets of cash but
we know how to enjoy ourselves."

Everyone thinks the industry in which they work is unusual or unique. I know mine is and I am reminded of this almost every day. Going into 2013 there has been a lot on my mind.

Hot on all foodies' tongues is trends for this year. Yes, there is culinary fashion, however, I'm not a follower of fashion and prefer to cook from the heart; highlighting flavours and ingredients that feel right and have a story connected to me and/or my team. Most of my new dishes are inspired by a new technique I have learnt, or by the introduction to new ingredients that usually find me through the kitchen door. The variety of produce available in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands makes this an extremely exciting yet timeconsuming undertaking.

Suppliers play a major role in this industry; if flavour is 'king' then I believe the development of relationships is 'queen'. Taking the time to meet me, chat to me and explain the product is the basis of all the relationships I have with my suppliers. When I have been buying a product for several years and another supplier offers the same product, more reasonably priced and seemingly as delicious, the only thing that keeps me buying from the original supplier is the relationship we have developed.

Relationships and friendships - most businesses are built on these two factors. Twitter and Facebook as well as all the other digital media have made it so much easier to communicate. There's a certain camaraderie linking like-minded communities - a bond that unites us. I think the empathy we feel because of long working hours and continuously missing out on important occasions marries us.

I was recently struck by the realisation that when there are chefs or hospitality people at a gathering, the party generally turns into a 'thrash'! We're like chameleons; so focused as the temperature in the kitchen rises yet you'll find a real party animal under the chef's hat. Our 'off' time being the few hours between dinner and breakfast are well spent and celebrated to capacity. The long hours we work make us appreciate our time off. It's frustrating to witness others squandering this valuable time. Chefs may not earn buckets of cash but we know how to enjoy ourselves. Savouring fine wine and sampling the country's finest produce, usually in picturesque locations, help rejuvenate, stimulate and invigorate tired minds and weary bodies. Not many industries offer relaxation in doing what you do day in and day out.

I was speaking to a professional the other day; he said he was always in awe over the sincere warmth people in the hospitality trade exuded. I said it came with the industry. He understood this practice towards paying guests, ensuring they had memorable experiences worth repeating and would therefore return. However, he never thought an outsider entering the industry as an observer would receive the same concern, interest and care. It was at this point that I realised how generous we all are. We like to share what we consider the good things in life - and we like to receive input too. No matter where I am, I appreciate charming hospitality when I dine out. The effort is always appreciated.

New Year's resolutions - have you kept to yours? I have mine ready for when I am less busy: I will go for a daily run, eat three meals a day, see my friends on a weekly basis, cook at home, attend more family functions, and I will try put everything ahead of my first love - food. I wish all you like-minded friends a happy and productive year filled with rewarding work and enthusiasm for this ever-changing, ever-evolving industry.

Extract from Chef! Issue 34

The Winery of Good Hope : Radford Dale

"Modern winemaking and traditional values combine to create some of the finest and rarest gems of the Cape of Good Hope"

Michelle Dutton
Assitant General ManagerAt Hartford House we are all about relationships, and our wine list showcases this more so than ever before with Jackie Cameron's personal involvement from last year.

Hartford House has a long-standing relationship with Mia Martensson, sales manager at "The Winery of Good Hope" and one of only a few trained sommeliers in South Africa. Jackie Cameron, Zandile Mchunu (assistant chef at Hartford House) and Mia travelled to Shanghai together in 2010, representing South Africa at "The World Trade Expo" for the food and wine week. What a blast they all had and it's amazing how travel can make life long friends. Here's to "The Winery of Good Hope" flagship brand, Radford Dale...

Radford Dale Wines

In the Radford Dale range, modern winemaking and traditional values combine to create some of the finest and rarest gems of the Cape of Good Hope. Radford Dale wines, are grown, matured and blended on the The Winery of Good Hope property, one of the bigger wine farms in the region of Stellenbosch and also home to Land of Hope, Vinum Africa and the Winery of Good Hope labels.

The Radford Dale was founded in 1998, covering the sub regions of the Helderberg, Elgin and Swartland. They pride themselves in using traditional, natural viticulture and wine making methods at their cellar on the Helderberg Mountain.

Where it all began...

As seen so often at Hartford House, some of the most indepth conversations take place over a bottle of fine wine, and we're sure it wasn't that different for 'drinking buddies' Ben Radford and Alex Dale, who merged minds to play their part in the extensive growth in South African wines.

"Our conviction is that South African wines should reflect the individuality of our own Terroirs and not be driven by the globalistion and flavour standardisation of a points and medal mentality. The latter is making a mockery of individuality, while causing wines from countries all over the globe to taste more and more alike," says Alex Dale.

Alex was born into a family of wine merchants, importers and distributors in Great Britain. Escaping in his mid-teens to read French literature at Dijon University, he became positively overwhelmed whilst studying (or drinking, as might be more accurately remarked) by the culture and tradition of the great wines of Burgundy. Literature became history, and wines a way of life. Sealed 11 years later by a highly successful career in marketing wines for some of the most revered names in Burgundy (not least Domaine Jacques Prieur and the Drouhin family), Alex sought new horizons and a real challenge.

With his experience in numerous cellars in Burgundy, Alex was lured to South Africa by his friends during the late 1980's, and added a South Africa Harvest to his list. Over the next 6 years Alex visited South Africa on numerous occasions and discovered the potential and beauty of the Cape, brinning him to the conclusion that a new wine frontier had to emerge, once democracy was realized.

During his travels and various harvests through the Rhone Valley, Alex become friends with Edouard Labeye, who was making some fabulous and innovative wines. Remembering that the Rhone valley offers very similar climatic conditions to those we enjoy in the Cape, Alex approached Edouard in the late 1980's and asked him to join him in South Africa during his next harvest. Between Alex and Edouard the mix of the time tested traditional methods with the more progressive 'New World' approach and a decade later has set on South Africa and this hugely impacted on the production of the Radford Dale Wines, from the vineyard to the bottle.

It was with this motivation, dedication, and complete passion for wines that has resulted in Radford Dale wines.

"The philosophy driving Radford Dale is to produce reference South African wines with as little pretense and compromise imaginable. These wines are made to be faithfully site-driven, natural and balanced. Quality dictates everything that Radford Dale stands for."

Alex's efforts paid off when in 2008, the South African wine bible, The John Platter Guide, proclaimed the flagship Radford Dale Gravity, to be one of the only seven red wines in the country to achieve a 5 star status, labelling it "Superlative, a Cape Classic".

At Hartford we serve the following two Radford Dale wines:

Radford Dale Viognier 2009

Distinctly Viognier on the nose, with striking apricot, white petals and peaches, a full palate and a fresh finish. The flinty fresh and "leesy" characteristics mingle with dried fruit aromas and a lush texture, producing a lovely fresh wine, with a complex aromatic diversity.

Radford Dale Black Rock Red Blend 2009

A Shiraz lead blend with Carignan, Grenache, Mourvedre and Viognier. On the nose you find an intricate aroma of herbs, wild bush and spice. On the palate there is a wonderful array of flavours such as lavender, spices, and blueberries. There is a distinctive minerality and a flavour packed, complex finish.

For more information, please visit :

thewineryofgoodhope.com/radford-dale