Image: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain
Cape Cookery
- Year
- 1949
- Era
- 20th century
- Origin
- South Africa · Africa
- Language
- English
- Category
- Africa
Cape Cookery, compiled by C. Louis Leipoldt and first published in 1949, is a concise English-language treatment of the distinctive culinary heritage of the Cape. Drawing on Cape Malay traditions shaped by Indonesian, Indian, and Dutch influences brought through centuries of trade and settlement, the work records dishes, spicing, and methods that define the region's table, and stands as an early authoritative account by a noted Afrikaans poet and gastronome.
Cooking from this book
Bobotie
Signature dishFew dishes evoke the Cape table as vividly as bobotie, the spiced minced meat bake crowned with a savoury egg custard and scented with curry, turmeric, dried fruit and bay or lemon leaves. Leipoldt, a passionate champion of Cape cookery and its layered Malay heritage, regarded such dishes as the soul of the region's kitchen. Sweet, gently spiced and unmistakably Cape, bobotie embodies the cultural crossings that shaped this remarkable culinary tradition.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
