To preserve an abundance

PHOTOS: Dawie Verwey | PRODUCTION: Abigail Donnelly

Smoke, salt, sugar, vinegar and fat have been used for centuries to preserve the nutritional value, texture and flavour of food. Combine these age-old techniques with contemporary and traditional ingredients to create modern dishes made to last.

Pine-smoked ‘thousand-year-old eggs’

125ml treacle sugar

250ml sushi rice

250ml black tea leaves

a handful of pine needles

4-8 free-range eggs

Line a wok or large pan with foil. Sprinkle over the sugar, rice, tea leaves and pine needles. Nestle the eggs on top and cover. Smoke the eggs over a medium heat for 20 minutes. Peel them and cut off the tops. Place them in egg cups, top each one with a piece of anchovy and drizzle over a little squid ink. Decorate the egg cups with a pine-needle wreath. Serve with melba toast.

SERVES 4-8

Quince and violet preserve

4 quinces, halved

250ml verjuice

250ml honey

250ml rock sugar

24 violets

Preheat the oven to 150°C. Place the quinces in a large oven-proof dish. Pour over the verjuice and honey. Add the sugar. Cover with foil and roast for 3 hours. Place 2 quince halves in a clean jar, top with a few violets and seal. Repeat with the remaining halves. Allow your guests to each open their own jar. Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche.

SERVES 4

Pickled green vine tomatoes

1 litre Chinese black vinegar

62,5ml garum or fish sauce

15ml allspice

15ml cloves

1kg baby green tomatoes on the vine

4 long cinnamon sticks

Place the vinegar, garum or fish sauce, allspice and cloves in a pan. Simmer for 10 minutes. Wrap the tomato vines around the cinnamon sticks. Place in the pickling mixture and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour the liquid into 4 slim bottles. Carefully place the tomatoes inside and seal. Leave to infuse for 1 week. Serve with bread and butter.

MAKES 4 BOTTLES

Quail confit

200g salt

2 star anise, ground

4 quails duck fat or olive oil

Mix the salt and star anise together and rub the mixture over the quails. Place the quails on a baking rack with a drip tray underneath and refrigerate for 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 120°C. Rub off the salt. Place the quails in an oven-proof dish with a tight-fitting lid. Add enough duck fat or olive oil to cover the quails completely. Cover and place in the oven. Cook for 1 hour. Let the quails cool down, place them in individual bottles and cover with the fat or oil. Store in the fridge for up to 3 months. Serve with gherkins and salad leaves tossed in a lemon vinaigrette.

SERVES 4

Crayfish baked in seaweed and salt paste

4 crayfish, cleaned

a handful of wet seaweed

1kg sea salt

4 egg whites, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Drape each crayfish with seaweed. Mix the salt and egg white together and pack each crayfish with salt. Bake for 15 minutes. Crack open the salt crust. Serve with shredded green pawpaw tossed in soya sauce, fish sauce, lime juice and chopped ginger.

SERVES 4