Food is time travel.

I think I have seen that line before. Aaah, it is in Reuben Riffel’s cookbook. And it is so true, food is able to take you to places and times you have never been to, or return you to places and past memories. I know that for someone near and dear to me, a braised lamb shank served with gnocchi will always evoke special memories. Just like having a braai with the portable braai boxes will for me.

Last week I went to Taiwan on business related activity and our hosts went all out to impress us. I must admit, I was a bit wary of what to eat there, as everyone seemed to have advice on what to eat and what not to eat. By the end of the trip, I was brave enough to even go and eat at some back door Korean barbeque, where the owner was really worried about the ‘shortage of cabbage’ and how this would affect his kimchi. I told him I could organize him cabbage from South Africa, we feed that stuff to cows down here.

Ok, so we land in Taiwan and our hosts insist on going out for dinner. After nineteen hours travelling and sleeping at airport benches I wasn’t really in the mood for anything adventurous, especially in Taiwan. Thanks to this, I chose a simple, safe dish for dinner. This dish actually changed my perception on Taiwanese cuisine, and by the end of the week there I had tried out everything from sea cucumber, to abalone, to shark fin soup (very little shark fin in that soup) and pineapple cake. The dish was beef braised in soy sauce. If something this simple can taste this good, then their food is with exploring was my deduction after that meal. When I came back, I tried making the dish, and I think I am not too far off from the one I had there. It has a beautiful dark brown colour, and the beef is soft after cooking slowly for nearly four hours.

I will blog about some of my experiences in Taiwan, like the visit to a restaurant called South Africa Fish House, and the weird things they serve there under the name of South African cuisine. For now, I would like to share with you the recipe.

Get a kilogram of beef steak and cut into cubes, roll this in flour and set aside. Heat some oil in a pot and brown the steak cubes. In the meantime, soak some dried shitake mushrooms in about two cups of warm water. Chop an onion, and two carrots. Remove the browned meat from the pan, and throw in the onions and carrots. Fry gently for about five minutes. Return the beef to the pot; add about two cups of chicken stock, a third of a cup of soy sauce, and a dash of fish sauce and two table spoons of hoisin sauce. Let this simmer for about two and a half hours. Check for seasoning, and then add the mushrooms (drain them first) and about two star anise. I added the star anise half way through the cooking as I didn’t want it to overpower the soy sauce. Cook over a low heat for another hour. Chop up four spring onions, add to the pot and cook for ten minutes.
Serve with rice and steamed beans.

It’s all about the first impression...

..and the memory it creates. This is true from everything, from your first encounter with a teacher at crèche, your first voting experience. The same holds true for the first dinner two people have as a couple. Unless you date a colleague you hit it off with at a company dinner, then someone has to make the initiative. Two choices exist, eat out or cook in. Fellas; unless she eats out once or twice a year, she is unlikely to remember your first dinner together. For her to remember it, you need to do something outrageous like book out the entire restaurant or have your card declined. Memories sustain relationships; first experiences have to be memorable.

Call me cheap, but I would opt for cooking at home as opposed to going out to a restaurant. Firstly, I find sitting in an unfamiliar surrounding with someone for the first time, wondering if she will really finish that 400g t-bone steak at the bottom of things I want to remember. And what should I cook, I hear you ask? The trick is to set a standard you can sustain. So, a dinner of seared scallops, wagyu beef stir fry and saffron rice pudding will not do; it will leave you broke and probably scare her away.

To create a good first impression, go for something simple, something she has probably had before, but make yours in a way that is different from stuff she has had before. Bolognese! Yes, that is the ultimate first ‘cooking to impress her’ meal. Who hasn’t had bolognese? From the varsity stuff to the stuff you get at all Italian eateries, we have all had bolognese in our lives. More often it is made the same way, beef mince, peppers, tomatoes, onions with spaghetti and dehydrated parmesan cheese. Here is a recipe that will definitely make a good impression. It is being continuously refined in my household, in the quest to see who makes it best. She seems to be winning, for now.

For best effects, start cooking when she comes over, and don’t cook in advance with the hope of rushing things to the next base. Cooking should be fun, and she should join or watch you. Instead of using mince, use sausages. Mince is dull; it is chopped steak, with no flavour. It is best to use two types of meat; I usually use three pork sausages and three lamb sausages. (always make sure there are leftovers for the following day).The meat in sausages has been ‘cured’ with spices and thus has extra flavour. Remove the meat from the sausage casings, and mix it together in a bowl. The thinking is that every spoonful should have pork and sausage flavour.

Fry the meat in oil, till it is brown. The pork makes the fried meat look lighter than the dull brown colour you get when you fry beef mince. Remove from the pot, and in the same pot fry the following: two finely chopped cloves of garlic, an onion, a grated carrots, a handful of chopped mushrooms and finely chopped celery (two sticks). Fry this for about five minutes on a medium heat and then return the meat. Check for salt and pepper (because you are using sausages, you will need less salt and pepper). Cook this for another five minutes. Add a cup of red wine and a can of finely chopped tomatoes. Alternatively use a pint of passata (pureed tomatoes). Simmer the mixture for forty minutes, on a low heat.

Tip: get a good wine, as you will also be drinking the wine while the sauce is cooking away. I recommend something like a pinot noir. You would have paid a fortune for a bottle of wine at the restaurant, so don’t try cutting costs.

Bolognese has always been served with either penne or linguini. Varsity was spaghetti or macaroni. Try something different, get some freshly made gnocchi and boil it for a few minutes before the sauce is done. Drain the gnocchi, and return to pot, toss the sauce in and spoon into bowls. Shave or grate some parmesan cheese over the pasta (this is the coup de grace) and bon appétit.

Ladies, what can beat this for a first impression?