Recipes for good spirit
BROADACRES - As the Douglasdale Community Police Forum's What's Cooking Potjie Competition draws near, the community is polishing their recipes.
Chef Arnold Stuurman of Montecasino’s Palazzo Hotel and his Palazzo chef team are prepping their wild boar potjie recipe, which promises a secret serving of polenta on the side.
Stuurman said the team was made up of the Palazzo’s executive sous chef Brendan Pretorius, Food and Beverage Manager Ainsley Williams and Assistant Food and Beverage Manager Gerryt Bosman – who Stuurman called ‘The Potjie King’.
The team has never cooked a wild boar potjie before and encouraged the community to also think out-of-the-box for their recipes. ‘Patience’ is his key to cooking potjies.
Stuurman is backed by his work experience in Cape Town, London, Chicago, Egypt and Sun City’s Palace of the Lost City.
Meanwhile in Broadacres Superspar butchery, Andre Phillip Nel is excited to lend his cooking talents to a potjie. Assisted by the son of one of the Spar’s managers, Nel will cook a lamb shank potjie, cooked like a basic stew, with stuffed herb mozzarella dumplings.
Nel is no amateur when it comes to cooking. From a young age he would help his mother in the kitchen and he officially started in the chef industry in 2008. He has prepared meals at a private game reserve, boutique hotels and he has been head chef at a golf course. He has eaten and cooked his way through Australia and explored the chef industry for years.
His tip for cooking potjies is to manage the time and temperature. “Have enough wood to keep your coals nice and hot, keep an eye on your fire, and don’t overcook your meat. It’s nice if it falls off the bone but it mustn’t become soup,” said Nel.
More than 20 teams will pit their recipes against the Palazzo Hotel and Broadacres Superspar’s chef team recipes at the competition which will be held in the parking area of Broadacres Lifestyle Centre on 31 August. Douglasdale Community Police Forum chairperson Jean Berdou welcomes the community to enjoy the entertainment, interact with Douglasdale police and help communities in need by purchasing a potjie meal for them.
Details: Anne de Witt, acdew@iafrica.com
