There are a lot of cooking videos on YouTube. Like everything else on the internet, they are not all good, but the best of the genre will teach you basic cooking skills, help you expand your culinary knowledge, and be entertaining to boot.
A recent fascination is wine shows. Not only do they improve our knowledge of the beverage, but they expose us to new blends and brands, some that we wouldn’t have paid attention attention to before.
One of the most famous ones is The Wine Show, co-hosted by British actor, Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey) and Matthew Rhys (The Americans) and featuring wine experts. It’s become one of the most popular shows about wine and food and currently has three seasons.
Thapelo Mokoena, co-owns a wine brand, Nero, and last year started a YouTube series that seeks to educate about wine.
The show was all about Mokoena’s journey as a winemaker through his dark grape brand Nero but also broaden the conversation by including other winemakers and brands, so consumers are fully immersed in the rich story of local and international wines.
Mokoena said that the world of wine can come across as very daunting for most people, and working with the Bosman Family Vineyards to produce Nero grape has taught him so much about the industry, as well as the process of winemaking and this inspired the idea to create a platform that educates and shares some of the knowledge he has gained along the way.
And now there’s a new local wine show that will also amp up your cooking knowledge and food skills but aren't sure where to begin, check out I’ll Bring The Wine.
I’ll Bring The Wine is a five-part YouTube series that puts the focus on traditional South African food.
Hosted by well-known chef, food writer and raconteur, Karen Dudley, each episode profiles a celebrated local chef, a traditional South African dish (in a way you’ve never imagined), with the ideal Nederburg wine to pair it with.
In the show, Dudley rolls up her sleeves and engages with each of five chefs on their home turf. And, as any worthwhile guest would, she brings the wine every time.
She says “I’ll Bring The Wine” has been the “time to step outside of categories and definitions and celebrate everything we have here in South Africa”.
“Delicious food always wins. If it’s delicious food and delicious wine, it’s going to win. We have to open ourselves to what is right here in front of us, on our doorsteps. Feel it, enjoy it, and incorporate it into our lives – preserving, not wasting, using what we have, and tasting the provenance of our vineyards,” says Dudley.
In the first episode, chef Mmabatho Molefe succeeds in giving classic Nguni cuisine a dramatic contemporary makeover (think chicken feet terrine with onion caviar). In another episode, chef Jackie Cameron, who runs a cookery school in KwaZulu-Natal, finds the balance by cooking a tongue slowly, over a day-and-a-half. Other chefs include Pashi Reddy of “My Kitchen Rules” fame and Dr. Tapiwa Guzha, a Zimbabwean molecular biologist, who uses traditional ingredients like blackjack, sorghum, millet, edible clay, hibiscus, and baobab. The fifth chef is Annatjie Reynolds, hailed as the Karoo Venison Queen. Famous for breaking down an impala carcass in just three minutes, Reynolds loves nothing more than to share her know-how.
Global marketing spokesperson Jackie Olivier says the show is designed to encourage viewers to taste, learn and discover traditional South African dishes expressed in an original and modern way.
Olivier says it’s an adventure in flavour, culture, and travel which is meant to heighten curiosity and ignite an appetite for new stories, dishes and wines.
To watch the show, you can subscribe and follow the journey of discovery on Nederburg’s YouTube channel. Be sure to linger longer with each episode release, starting on November 22 and concluding on December 20.