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South African Brandy Tasting Dinner and the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs

31/1/2014

The Sword and Ribbons

Peter pouring the 150 glasses of brandy!

The final evening of Francois’ stay and finale of the two weeks was a special dinner with accompanying Brandies which had been supplied courtesy of the South African Brandy Guild.
Our guests included local caterers accommodation providers and Michel Dancoisne – Martineau, Consul Honoraire de France who resides here.

Michel is the custodian of the Napoleonic sites on the island. Michel had a number of guests with him from France (including a reporter from Le Figaro Newspaper) so it was going to be an interesting evening with a South African talking through Brandies to a partially French audience

Ready for our guests

Michielle

Hazel and Patsy

Sampling the Brandy

Mandy and Julia and the Brandy!

Four Brandies were partnered with the dinner, each one increasing in age and quality.

In all we served over 150 glasses of brandy! The overall feedback was very positive with many guests never having had food paired with brandy before. The students rose to the occasion with assistance on the menu which was:

Trio of local fish three ways

St Helena Pork with Moroccan Spices and local beans

Rooibos Pannacotta with Coffee Praline

Francois, Gillian, Paul and Sally Hickling, Michel Martineau, Larry and Lynn Thomas

Also on the cards that evening was the initiation of 2onmain into the Chaîne Des Rôtisseurs and the inauguration of 5 Saint Helenians and myself into the Chaîne!

The Chaîne des Rôtisseurs is an international gastronomic society dedicated to bringing together professional and non-professional members from around the world who appreciate wine, cuisine and fine dining. Members of a local Bailliage are part of a worldwide organisation with more than 25,000 members in over 80 countries.

In order to be accepted as an establishment we had to achieve a certain score against a 300 point criteria.

I am thrilled to say that 2onMain achieved 286 against a possible 300 points with the scores dropping for location of the toilets (basement) and other physical features of the building!

There was a sword and dagger involved in the ceremony which could have been interesting if we had left it later on in the evening when the 150 glasses of Brandy had been imbibed!

Francois giving feedback to the 2onmain team

The beautiful brass plaque we will be proud to show off!

The new St Helena members of the Chaine des Rotisseurs

Peter Gillian and Francois

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Guest Chef Francois Ferriera

30/1/2014

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January brought with it some pretty wet weather for this time of year although nothing to compare with the UK’s deluge and especially the flooding happening around my home area of the Somerset Levels.

The rain here is dependent on the southerly trade winds which push the moist air off the sea onto the high ground which creates a fine misty rain very similar to the type which prevails in Scotland. The air temperature at this time of year here however runs between 18 and 24 centigrade which is pretty pleasant.

We invited a guest chef from South Africa to visit the island as part of the Hospitality Upskilling project.

Francois Ferriera has two culinary academies in South Africa and is the National President of the National Balliage d’Afrique du Sud de Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, one of the oldest international Gourmand Societies in the world. He has also written cookery books and appears regularly on South African TV.

Francois last visited St Helena in 1999 and was very keen to reacquaint himself with the island.

The programme included a variety of demonstration evenings covering, fast food, party catering, Spices and Masalas, Olive Oil, local produce and fish cookery.
He also spent the two weeks working with our students, offering valuable feedback and training.

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South African Brandy Tasting Dinner and the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs

Guest Chef Francois Ferriera

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