There needed to be a challenge and it needed to be tough, tight and vrot with tension, as we say in the Karoo. There would be laughter, fun and maybe even a few tears. And it would start with a kitchen pantry just like they do it on MasterChef Australia.
The sun seems to bless the Karoo Food Festival every year, even if the clammy grip of early winter has kept us indoors for two weeks before the event. But there it was again, blue skies and warm air for three days in a row, the last gasp of the dying summer before the inevitable chill.
Today, many people look at you blank when you say that last word. Mace. It’s the outer casing of a whole nutmeg. Little curled pale brown strips of sweet spice. Once upon a time, it was used in almost everything cooked at
the old Cape. Today, it’s hard to find in supermarket spice aisles. In Cradock, my local supermarket hero, Nan Tam, ordered it for me, so I now have a good stock of it. See if you can find some – I’ll be using it in a number of recipes. Otherwise, most specialist spice stores may well have it or be able to get it for you.