The original way of cooking at the Cape in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is today called ‘slow food’. The development of the Slow Food Movement is a rebellion against modern fast food and promotes, among other things, respect for nature, food, the farmer who produces the food, and the protection of cultural traditions.

Ingredients

2 onions, sliced

2 Tbsp (30 ml) olive oil

300 g belly bacon or smoked kassler chops, diced

2 kg deboned kudu neck, cut into chunks (bones reserved for stock), or use any other kind of venison

Cake flour, for dusting

1 tsp (5 ml) ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground cloves

¼ cup (60 ml) chopped fresh parsley

1 Tbsp (15 ml) brown sugar

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

½ cup (125 ml) quince jelly or grape jam

3 cups (750 ml) good–quality dry red wine

16 baby carrots

1 pkt (250 g) dried pears

Venison stock

1 cup (250 ml) buttermilk

1 tsp (5 ml) freshly ground black pepper

Method

Heat a cast-iron three-legged pot cover open flames. Sauté the onions in oil and add the bacon. Sauté for another 3 minutes and remove from the pot. Set aside.

Dust the neck lightly with flour and brown in the pot. Add the cinnamon, cloves, parsley, sugar and lemon zest and cook for 5 minutes.

Return the onions and bacon to the pot. Add the lemon juice, quince jelly or grape jam, and red jam, and red wine and reduce by three-quarters.

Add the carrots and pears and just enough stock to cover everything.

Cover with the lid and do not open for 3 – 4 hours. Adjust the coals under the pot from time to time in order for the pot to keep simmering.

Remove the lid and add the buttermilk once the sauce has thickened. Do not overstir. Check seasoning and serve with rice or mieliepap (maize porridge).

Enjoy with the 2016 La Motte Cabernet Sauvignon