• Food & Home Entertaining’s food editor ANNA MONTALI relished a delicious visit to L Telfair Golf & Spa Resort where she cooked Mauritian cuisine with the expertsANNA MONTALI What can I say about Mauritius that you don’t already know? This is one island that has been talked about more than any other holiday destination I’m aware of: lots of sunshine, long sandy beaches, hours of relaxation and, travelling from South Africa, you don’t have to fly for hours to experience paradise. I accepted a media invitation to Mauritius and this time it was quite different – we were going to cook.…

    Relaxing alongside the river at Summerfields River Lodge and Rose Spa, Jan Smuts’s former hunting lodge, offers heady romance and respite from the city madnessANNA TRAPIDOAs our six-seater,…

    Renowned French chef Marc Guebert is Johannesburg”s Mr Souffle. A magician with egg whites and a whisk, he estimates that in the last 30 years he has conjured…

    Serves 2A traditional French side dish originally cooked in Vichy mineral water with sugar and butter. Thinly slice 350g peeled carrots (you can also cut them into rounds…

    Gravy is made from the juices and bits and pieces that are left behind in the roasting pan after roasting meat and chicken. Once the roast is cooked, remove it from the roasting pan and pour the fat into a jug. Allow to cool until the fat solidifies. Take a little of the solidified fat and return it to the roasting tray. Add 15ml flour and stir over a low heat until the flour is cooked through and free of any lumps. Turn the heat up and slowly pour 250ml good-quality stock, wine or water into the mixture and stir…

    To achieve the correct results when boiling sugar, it’s essential to use a sugar thermometer. Check the accuracy of your thermometer by placing it in water that has just come to the boil. The boiling point of water should read 100°C, dropping by 1°C at the coast. Warm the bulb by dipping it into hot water before immersing it into the syrup. Hold the thermometer upright and read it at eye level. SUGAR STAGES • Thread 106°C – 112°C. Used for a poaching syrup • Soft ball 112°C – 118°C. Used for fondants and fudges • Hard ball 121°C –…

    • If your cake has risen unevenly, it could be due to the oven temperature being too high or because the flour wasn’t sufficiently blended into the mixture.…