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| 7 - 13 May 2013 | thesouthafrican.com
Entertainment by BRETT PETZER
Nelson Mandela’s Living Legacy
1918-1928: The herdboy becomes a Thembu prince
ROLIHLAHLA (the name means ‘troublemaker’) Mandela was born into the Madiba clan in Mvezo in the then Transkei, on July 18, 1918. His father was Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela, principal counsellor to the Acting King of the Thembu people, Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Rolihlahla attended primary school in Qunu, where his teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the name “Christian” name Nelson, as per custom. A devotee of the god Qamata, Gadla was a polygamist, having four wives, four sons and nine daughters, who lived in different
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villages. Mandela later stated that his early life was dominated by “custom, ritual and taboo”, having tended herds as a cattle-boy, and he wrote in Long Walk To Freedom: “No one in my family had ever attended school”. Both his parents were illiterate, but being a devout Christian, his mother sent him to a local Methodist school when he was about seven. Nelson’s father’s death in 1927 from a respiratory complaint left the young man feeling “cut adrift”, but Mandela stated later that he had probably inherited his father’s “proud rebelliousness” and “stubborn sense of fairness”.
His mother then took Mandela to the “Great Place” palace at Mqhekezweni, where he was entrusted under the guardianship of Thembu regent, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Raised by Jongintaba and his wife alongside their son Justice and daughter Nomafu, Mandela felt that they treated him as their son, but would not see his mother for many years. After his father’s death in 1927, the young Rolihlahla became a ward of Jongintaba at the Great Place in Mqhekezweni. Hearing the elder’s stories of his ancestor’s valour during the wars of resistance against the British,
he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people. As Mandela attended church services every Sunday with his guardians, Christianity became a significant part of his life. He attended a Methodist mission school attached to the Thembu the palace, studying English, Xhosa, history and geography. He developed a love of African history, listening to the tales told by elderly visitors to the palace, and becoming influenced by the anti-imperialist rhetoric of Chief Joyi; he nevertheless considered the European colonialists as benefactors, not oppressors. Ingredients: 4 x 300g 35 day matured beef fillet “Pave” (1/2 Chateaubriand) 200g Salted butter 400g Sliced mushrooms (field/ button/ chestnut etc) 400ml Brown veal jus Salt and ground white pepper 100ml Cognac
Hollandse Biefstuk Hollandse Biefstuk, or ‘Dutch beef steak’, is a pan-fried beef fillet with a mushroom-brandybutter sauce
THIS recipe is a variation of one taught to me by the late Jan Warmerdam, who set up the first steakhouse in Cape Town, South Africa. Aptly named “The Cattleman”, it was the forerunner of what steakhouses were to become and the legendary Dutchman’s signature dish was a “Hollandse Biefstuk” (or Dutch beef steak): Basically a pan fried beef fillet with a mushroombrandy-butter sauce. Yields four.
Method: Heat the butter in a cast iron pan, until smoking. Season the fillet well with salt and pepper on one side. Carefully place fillet in the pan, seasoning the other side with salt and pepper. Wait approximately 1 minute, then lift the fillet out of the pan and return immediately (this is to prevent the fillet from burning/ sticking to the base of the hot pan). The fillet should be turned after approximately 2 minutes, allowing all sides to be evenly seared dark brown. A minute before ready, remove the fillet from the pan and reserve to one side. Add the sliced mushrooms and sauté quickly. Flambé with the Cognac and add the beef jus. Reduce till the required consistency. Return the fillet to the sauce, and allow heating through very quickly. Arrange the fillet on a plate (can slice and fan the fillet), with the mushrooms “crowning” the fillet and the pool of jus lapping at the edges. Serve with croquette potatoes or thick cut chips.