Matches made in culinary heaven
AUCKLAND PARK - The University of Johannesburg, Bunting Road Campus was the site of a food and wine experience to tempt all taste buds.
The School of Tourism and Hospitality at the University of Johannesburg teamed up with Blaauwklippen Vineyards to deliver a food and wine experience to remember.
Sharón Ryan, marketing coordinator of the school, explained that students assist in preparing the food under the guidance of the school’s qualified full-time chefs. It is not part of a particular project or exercise for the students but the school rotates their students between theory and practical components, called operations, in certain subjects. Their time spent training in the banqueting kitchen is marked each semester.
Executive sous chef, Thlolo Nyatlo and his team, pair each course with the appropriate wine. Nyatlo explained that it is a several-day process to pair the wine with food. “The wine is usually delivered a month or two in advance, then we taste the wine and come up with flavours that would go well with [it]. Then we start constructing the dishes with those flavours and different textures in mind. The whole process takes three to four days,”
On the evening of the event, held on 25 November, brand manager, Fanie Fourie, spoke about each wine that was being served with each course. The wine talk focused on the Zinfandel wine because of the fact that, except for California, most vineyards no longer carry it.
Fourie explained that the grapes that make the wine are aggressive growers and the vines normally produce large grapes, which easily burst and cause infection on the vine. Zinfandel wine is financially straining and labour intensive to produce, which leaves Blaauwklippen one of the only vineyards in South Africa to produce it.
The four-course menu featured four different wines, two of which were Zinfandel. The evening started with a tomato and basil mousse with dehydrated tomato and balsamic gel and was paired with a Rosé. The second course introduced guests to a white Zinfandel (2012), a white wine paired with vanilla prawns and mussels steamed in a Zinfandel and coriander espuma (foam). The third course was a variety of beef cuts paired was with a red Zinfandel (2011).
The night finished off with a ‘study of black forest’ dessert which was paired with Before and After, a blend of wine and brandy which was a mishap in the wine cellar, which has become a hit on the shelves.
All the featured wine was on sale during the evening.
