SA going for gold at Culinary Olympics
JOHANNESBURG: So it is lobster, Springbok and sweetbreads and raspberry and coconut desserts that South African chefs will be serving at the Culinary Olympics in Germany in October.
This is the menu @CulinaryTeamSA will be serving to foodies, restaurateurs, international food critiques and ordinary diners at the prestigious international event.
Yesterday, the team of chefs, at their final practice, served 110 guests with the menu they have planned for the Olympic event, where one of the problems will be that they have to source all ingredients in Germany.
They explained the reasons for their choices.
Starters chef Dion Vengatass, who prepared the Cape lobster dish, said he got his recipes from his old Indian “aunties” who taught him how to cook.
“I would get out of bed and into the kitchen. I have used all portions of the crayfish – legs and tails and used a sweet and sour Cape Malay curry as flavouring,” he said.
His dish was poached lobster, a carrot stack and a Malay curry sauce.
For the mains, Henrico Grobbelaar, an engineer by profession, said Springbok loin is a natural South African dish.
He said he combined old and new ingredients with caramelised onion as well as a Savoy purple cabbage and cider purée, a fine spring onion and a potato stack with onion.
“We had to consider the German judges and the optimal vegetable options in the country,” he said.
The desserts, by Minette Smith, were a white chocolate and coconut mousse with a “hertzogish” tart base, raspberry mousse and rose gel.
At the Culinary Olympics, the team will have five-anda-half hours to prepare their three-course menus to serve for 110 people.
Prizes will go to those teams and individuals who demonstrate that techniques, taste and presentation used during preparation are superior to their colleagues.
The cooking Olympics is one of the five major international culinary competitions approved by the World Association of Chefs’ Societies. Over 50 000 visitors, mostly chefs and restaurateurs, are expected to watch the events and attend the related trade shows. South Africa first sent a team overseas to compete in the Culinary Olympics in 1980, bringing home five individual gold medals and winning fourth place overall in the hot kitchen competition.
In 2000, for the first time, the South African National Culinary Team, or Culinary Team South Africa as it is now known, comprised a wholly South African-born, and trained, team.
Throughout the culinary team’s history, renowned chefs have been a part of the team.In 2008, the team got a gold medal in the “hot kitchen” section – the first gold to be won by South Africa in 16 years.