In the recipe book Karoo Food, Gordon Wright focusses on slow food done simply using Karoo ingredients. He makes mention of hogget which are sheep that are aged between lamb and mutton.
Chapters are divided into:
- Karoo lamb and mutton
- Beef and pork
- Venison
- Chicken, poultry and wild fowl
- Charcuterie and curing
- From water and earth
- Smoking and braaiing
- Desserts
Recipes that caught my eye:
- Crispy, roasted lamb belly (p10)
- Karoo lamb sausages (p11)
- Slow-roasted lamb shanks (p16)
- Beef rib rub (p27)
- Grilled skirt steak with green sauce (p33)
- Karoo pork bangers (p36)
- Eisbein (p38)
- Susan’s blueberry and sage wors (p44)
- Good old-fashioned droëwors (p50)
- The best biltong recipe (p54)
- Tuscan-style venison fillet (p57)
- Honey hot wings (p74)
- Simple meat terrine (p93)
- Drunken prawns (p103)
- Sweet and spicy brisket (p137)
- Lemon curd pudding (p145)
- Rose’s crustless milk tart (p150)
What I made:
I made the crustless milk tart which kept amazingly well. My daughter-in-law warned me that I might need to leave it in the oven longer than what was indicated in the recipe book. It was not quite cooked after 50 minutes and probably the extra 15 minutes was a bit too long. Carli tells me mine was firmer than the one her grandmother makes. But, it was really delicious and worth making again. The most frustrating thing about this recipe was that the one dry ingredient was in grams and the rest in mls.
Karoo Food
Dave mentioned that he thought it was strange to have seafood recipes in a book from the Karoo. This semi-desert region of South Africa is not at all coastal. Having lived at both the sea and in-land, I can tell you that nothing compares to fresh seafood. So, if they can get it in the Karoo then I don’t think it is out-of-place. I enjoyed the introduction before each chapter and recipe in Karoo Food. However, I found the infrequent page numbers quite frustrating, as well as recipes having mls for dry ingredients and not having consistent measurements.
Publishing information:
Format Paperback
Published May 2018
Penguin Random House South Africa sent me this recipe book to review.
Inspiration published on Lavender and Lime August 22:
-
- 2016 – Pistachio Honey Cake
- 2014 – Black Cherry And Thyme Jam
- 2013 – 5 Ounces
- 2012 – Herb Crusted Pork Belly
The milk tart sounds delicious! Like the sound of the book too.
I have to make another milk tart soon 🙂
With the summer coming to an end here in the UK I am already thinking about comfort food – looks like a nice book to have. What a shame that the measurements weren’t consistent!
I love comfort food all year round Miriam 🙂
The Karoo is a region entirely unfamiliar to me, so I enjoyed your post very much. I looked it up, and it seems to be mainly a farming region. If you’ve ever been there, it would be interesting if you would write about what it’s like.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Hi Mae,
We travel through the area at least once a year and have visited several times. I shall write more about it for sure. There are a few reviews of places we have been to so I will link those in.
Hey Tandy
Thanks for the review on my book. Glad you enjoyed it and the recipes.
A note on the g vs mls issue on the dry ingredients.
It was a call my publisher made, despite my reasoning to the contrary.
I will defo take it up with them for my next book, as you rightly said, it is confusing and frustrating.
I do trust, however, that you did not allow it to ruin your experience as I take great pride in bringing great food ideas to peoples homes and sharing my love of cooking with the world.
ALL the Karoo best,
Gordon Wright
Hi Gordon
Thanks for taking the time out to read the review, and leave me a comment. I found the same issue when creating recipes for a well known brand which led me to write a blog post about writing recipes. I personally prefer to weigh dry ingredients so that there is no confusion. I look forward to your next book.
Tandy