A marginally healthier contemporary take on the Southern African peculiarity that is monkey gland sauce served here with a take on surf 'n turf . Bubble 'n squeak cakes in lieu of the usual potatoes and thin lean steak. But, the salad is still there...
Monkey see, monkey do
This dish of surf 'n turf with monkey gland sauce no way claims to be "the original". Au contraire, it rather celebrates the discrepancies in mythologies surrounding its—monkey gland sauce's—creation.
The dominant discourse—at least the one that managed to bag a space on Wikipedia—claims that it's a South African invention. According to the most widely circulated legend, French chefs at the restaurant in the posh original Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg would get very miffed with the nouveau riche clientele that enjoyed pouring chutney, tomato sauce (ketchup) or Worcestershire sauce over their French haute cuisine.
In a fit of Gallic pique, they decided to mix them all together with a healthy dose of French garlic and serve it up to the undiscerning diners. The only problem with their "revenge" was that this new invention—monkey gland sauce—was an instant hit and, ironically, became the thing on the menu for which South African cuisine became most noted in the 1930s. One imagines that even a classically trained snotty French chefs has some kind of inner culinary moral compass that could not allow even a "joke" to taste bad.
Ah, that it were that simple. One of my most memorable childhood experiences was observing my grandfather and his son—my Uncle Duck—get into a fierce debate with South Africans at some social gathering—it was some kind of Rotary Club event at the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo—where everyone was enjoying braaied steak with monkey gland sauce at an event for supporters and patrons. Forgive me, if I forget the details. I was of an age when I really didn't give a s**t.
No! According to them, monkey gland sauce had been invented at the famous Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe, at the time the sauce was invented, Southern Rhodesia. They were adamant about it. And over the years, I heard the same legend, from numerous people, most of whom never met either my grandfather or uncle.
Of course, part of the curiosity has always been the name, given that monkeys have never been involved—well, at least not unless you were very unlucky.
The Zimbabwean version of the tale is that it was cheeky chef humour, delighting in the reactions of guests in the restaurant at the hotel who would have taken in the ornate cage populated with vervet monkeys. It was located on the grounds of the Victoria Falls Hotel for the supposed entertainment of visitors in the burgeoning tourist industry that grew up around Victoria Falls during the frenzy of a promise of a Cape-to-Cairo railway. In addition to the spectacular falls, it was also near to the location of the Victoria Falls Bridge, a railway bridge that crosses the lower gorge. It's a spectacular engineering achievement that Cecil John Rhodes actively encouraged potential investors to come and see for themselves, apparent proof that his end-to-end African railway project actually had wheels on it.
The South African legend is a little more shrouded in mystery. Even many who remain vehement that it originated in the Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg step back from the theory it was named in honour of Russian-born French scientist Dr Serge Abrahamovitch Voronoff, whose medical experiments involved grafting monkey testicle tissue onto impotent men as a cure. Understandably, he gained some celebrity in his day. Whichever legend one prefers, one can't help thinking that chef humour is not limited by linguistics or culture.
Here's my monkey
This is my nod to the canon, in honour of my grandfather and uncle with little South African Indian Ocean—via Hawaii—nods that are about me rather than them. Not, it's not "authentic" at all. But, then again, are any of theses legends?
I wanted to create a version inspired by that memory of my grandfather and uncle but also maybe thinking a bit about the ingredients of the 1930s—when even bottles of tomato sauce had less rubbish in them than today. By the same token, I wanted it to feel lighter and more contemporary. So, no, none of that butter beloved of French chefs of the day. Nor, indeed the mega-steaks beloved of many SAFAs.
Think of it as a moveable feast, a mix 'n match. You can pick and choose the elements that might appeal to you and combine them with other options you'd prefer. By all accounts, trawling archives of menus from the 1930s to 1980s, the format of "monkey gland steak" remained largely unchanged: steak served with the distinctive sauce; potatoes of some kind and a salad. I've tried to use that basic framework with a little twist.
Meat 'n (no) potatoes
Or, in this case, less potatoes. My carb side dish here—the corn bubble 'n squeak cakes—keeps the carb offer fairly light in feel, with that specific corn flavour—mielies—I associate with a lot of Southern African cooking. But, there's nothing to stop you going for those more filling roasted or sautéd potatoes with which it was most often served in posh Southern African restaurants from the 1930s through until the 1990s.
My spin on the sauce is to take it back to the lessons of French classics—but with olive oil rather than butter. I've have intentionally opted not to sieve the sauce: I like the rustic feel, fibre benefits of the tomato skins and reduction of food waste by keeping them in. However, if you prefer a fancier version, once your sauce is cooked, take a handheld blender to it, then push it through a sieve.
I'm using "Japanese cut" steaks that I get from a local specialist Japanese shop in London. But, I'm pretty certain you can get similar ingredients in many places, whether going under the name rose veal escalope, halal thin beef sirloin or minute steaks—though with this last one, I suspect they could be too small to cope with the seafood filling. Basically, you need steak that is extremely thin and has practically no fat on it or in the meat. You can always trim the fat off the edges, but not out of the flesh i.e. not Wagyu.
I'm opting for bog standard large Atlantic prawns But, there's nothing to stop you from opting for a single crayfish tail or shredded white crab meat instead. The main principle is to ensure that the "surf" element it is pre-cooked and shelled before using in this recipe.
Similarly, if you can't get Lamb's lettuce where you are, you can readily make an alternative salad though my advice is to keep it simple; don't use too many ingredients and stick to a simple dressing.
Also, if you pre-prepare the monkey gland sauce and bubble 'n squeak cakes, this surf 'n turf is delicious cooked on the braai—that's a barbecue to the rest of the world...
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This recipe serves 2 diners. You can easily scale it up for larger groups. Please note that the images are indicative. Since most elements of this dish don't keep well, I've scaled down quantities in cooking.
Shopping list
for the monkey gland sauce
Approx. 400g, very ripe fresh cherry tomatoes (or small plum tomatoes)
½ a red onion, chopped (or brown onion)
3 cloves of garlic, finely grated
3 tbspns Worcestershire sauce
2 shots of Kaapse brandewijn (or brandy)
1 tspn dark soy sauce
A dash of olive oil
2tbspns balsamic vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
2tspns brown sugar
3tbspns chutney; ideally Mrs Bols' original chutney
Salt and pepper to taste
for the surf 'n turf
2 very thin small beef steaks per diner
Approx. 150g Atlantic prawns, cooked and shelled
A small clutch of fresh chives
2 tspns finely cubed smoked garlic (or fresh garlic)
Salt and pepper
A little olive oil (or unsalted butter) for cooking
for the bubble 'n squeak cakes
½ a red onion, chopped (using what's not used in the sauce)
1 vegetable stock cube, diluted in approx. 500ml water
1 swede (or turnip), roughly cubed
1 potato, peeled, roughly cubed
¼ small cabbage, finely chopped into cubes
Approx. 200g fresh baby sweetcorn
1 tspn baking powder
1 tbspn virgin olive oil
1 egg, whisked
Approx. 4 tbspns cornflour
Approx. 1 cup golden breadcrumbs (or panko breadcrumbs)
enough sunflower oil to shallow fry
for the salad
Lamb's lettuce (veltsla), washed and drained
½ a cucumber, sliced or cut into small batons
classic vinaigrette dressing
Cooking Method
the monkey gland sauce
Make the sauce first. You can do this days before and store in the fridge or freeze it. First roughly chop the tomatoes—skin on— in a food processor
Add the oil to a small saucepan—ideally a proper small sauce pan—on a medium heat. Add the onions and, as soon as they begin to sizzle, the garlic. Sauté on a low-to-medium heat until the onions soften. Pour in the Cape brandy and cook off
Add the chopped tomatoes and their juices and stir in. Cook down for at least 5 to 6mins at a healthy simmer, stirring occasionally. If they become too dry, add water, a little at a time. NB: you want to make sure the tomatoes are properly cooked before the next stages. If that takes a little longer, so be it. Simply add a little water if needed so that they do not stick
Add the Worcestershire sauce, the soy sauce and balsamic vinegar and stir in. The sauce is likely to turn darker. Reduce for another 5 to 6mins
Add the brown sugar and stir in. At this point the sauce will begin to reduce more rapidly
Add the chutney and stir in. By now the sauce should be quite thick.
Remove from the heat, stir, and allow to settle before taking to table. Or, once cooled, you can store in the fridge for up to 3 days and re-heat before serving
the bubble 'n squeak cakes
Add the swede, potato and cabbage to a pot with a lid. Pour in the diluted vegetable stock, season with salt and bring to the boil. Cover and reduce the heat. Simmer until all ingredients are properly cooked. Drain and mash roughly
Once cooled, add the mash to a mixing bowl. Add the chopped raw onion and baby sweetcorn. Knead gently. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in 1 tbspn of virgin olive and baking powder and mix in using clean fingers. Allow to rest while you prepare the "frying stations". Once these are set up— a dish with the cornflour, another with the whisked egg, and a third with the breadcrumbs—heat the oil on a medium-high heat
Work all of the ingredient mix into small "cakes". In sequence, coat each one in cornflour (to absorb excess moisture); dip into the the egg and finally coat in breadcrumbs. Then shallow fry them in the oil for a few minutes on each side; until lightly golden brown. NB: they may swell when frying, but will shrink back in size once removed from the oil
Drain on kitchen towel then place on a non-stick baking tray and finish browning in the oven. Keep warm until serving
the surf 'n turf
Season the prawns and add the chopped chives. On a clean, flat surface, lay out the steaks and season only with salt and pepper
Add an appropriate quantity of the prawns to the central section of each steak. Fold the edges of the steaks in, as if making a wrap. Secure with thin wooden skewers
Heat the oil (or butter if you must) in a non-stick pan on a moderately high heat. Wait until it's hot, then add the steak "wraps", adding the smoked garlic almost immediately. Try to keep the garlic on the meat to prevent it burning in the pan, though this is almost inevitable as you move things about
Using the skewers as "handles" cook the steaks on all sides—there will be roughly three "sides"—for barely a few minutes, depending on how well done you like your meat. But, remember, that if that is very rare, you might want to heat the prawns in the microwave for about 50sec before making your steak "wraps" to prevent them from being cold upon serving
Plate with the bubble 'n squeak cakes and take to table, serving with the salad and heated monkey gland sauce
Alternatives
Much as I would love to say that I have a vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian option for this one, I really can't. It is what it is. However, the monkey gland sauce is delicious, an excellent accompaniment to oven roasted vegetables—leave out the Worcestershire sauce for veggie and vegan dishes—or grilled seafood or fish.
Pairings
This one is a relatively new concoction, so I don't have a broad frame of reference. The sauce is a fairly "deep" flavour. And yet there are also those prawns in there, so one doesn't want overkill.
I probably would have gone for a lighter red. But, I just happened to have a bottle of Chivite
Las Fincas Rosado knocking about, a gift from a friend. Admittedly I was suspicious—it was a lot lighter than in colour than most of the Navarra rós wines that I know. But, it was a great match. So I reckon "butch rosé" will work well. But the bottom line is that this one needs Karel's expert input...
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