Cameron Munro is not only the owner and chef of one of the most popular restaurants in the Mother City, he and his partner, Justin Rhodes, reimagined the local food scene.
In 2006, they opened Neighbourgoods Market at The Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, giving designers and producers great access to market and indirectly educating consumers on quality, local produce and the provenance of the goods.
Superette became an extension of the Saturday market, serving daily diners delicious, feel-good fare made from market ingredients. With all-day breakfasts, Superette is also the perfect place to kick-start a weekend, no matter what time you surface. Much like craft beer and artisanal gin, pork — whether pulled or the prevalent belly — has certainly been a scene-grabber.
Yet, despite its versatility, natural succulence and flavour, few chefs seem to perfect its preparation. As Cameron demonstrates with his pulled pork bun, "when it’s cooked long and slow, it just becomes something else that’s really beautiful and delicious."
Earliest memories of food? It's connected to growing up in Zimbabwe and to my uncle and aunt. My aunt's father was a second generation (I think) Italian, who came to Zimbabwe back in the day and they had a pig farm. It's the one thing I remember quite clearly, but regret being so young at the time and not really appreciating the experience as much as I would now. I remember running around, playing in the mud, having a great time. I have memories of beautiful sausages and stuff hanging in the kitchen. They were all made on the premises. It came from the happy pigs on the farm and there were beautiful Parma ham legs hanging and a whole process of creating beautiful cured meats.
When did your love affair with food start? When I moved to America. I'd always appreciated food, but not in the way that I did after working in restaurants in New York and Connecticut. I was studying business management and fell into food during a study break. I landed up working at a Relais & Chateaux hotel in upstate Connecticut, which had a Michelin-star restaurant. I started as a busboy, then became a waiter. That super-fine dining was my first experience being exposed to that level of service, where you stand on the line with the chef and see dishes coming out and have to learn serving etiquette. I enjoyed it, but I was in a very small town and, at that age, all I wanted was the big city. New York City was an hour's drive away and I was spending as much time as possible there. After meeting Justin, my partner, I decided to move and join him in New York, without a job. So I printed out a CV, walked around the city and probably handed out about 80 CVs until I eventually found a job at a cool little cafe style restaurant in Soho. What I loved about it were the chefs of Mexican and Ecuadorian origin, so I learnt a lot of the lingo and some of the styles of cooking. The plethora of restaurants in New York is amazing. Your options are endless. Being exposed to a lot of new cuisines and types of food for the first time got me excited.
You also saw a gap in the market, so to speak? Justin came back with me to Cape Town and we weren't sure what to do, other than finish my studies, and then we decided to create a platform for young artists — the early days of WHATIFTHEWORLD gallery. That incubated space grew into us starting Neighbourgoods, because we realised there was a big gap in the market for also creating a platform for young foodies and producers starting out in their kitchens, baking brownies or carrot cakes or drying sausage. We started with a mixed crowd of vendors. The first markets were vegetable stands next to a meat stand next to a vintage clothing stand, so the curation wasn't quite in our heads and we learnt a lot as it grew. In the early days of Woodstock, there wasn't much around. The market was only on weekends, so we decided we wanted to find a cute corner-store space where we could use the produce from the market and translate that into a plate in a restaurant setting. That's when the idea of Superette came up in about 2008.
What have you made for us? The pulled pork bun. It's one of my favourite meats and I love cooking with it, because there are so many things you can do with pork.
What's your secret? Long and slow cooking and lots of liquid. I definitely like to salt the skin before cooking to draw that moisture out and get extra crackling going. Incorporating lots of fruit and sweetness into the cooking process adds a nice level of flavour.
COOKED IN SOUTH AFRICA
Cameron Munro at Superette
On his love affair with food, growing up in Zimbabwe and the secret to perfectly prepared pork
Image: Naashon Zalk
Cameron Munro is not only the owner and chef of one of the most popular restaurants in the Mother City, he and his partner, Justin Rhodes, reimagined the local food scene.
In 2006, they opened Neighbourgoods Market at The Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, giving designers and producers great access to market and indirectly educating consumers on quality, local produce and the provenance of the goods.
Superette became an extension of the Saturday market, serving daily diners delicious, feel-good fare made from market ingredients. With all-day breakfasts, Superette is also the perfect place to kick-start a weekend, no matter what time you surface. Much like craft beer and artisanal gin, pork — whether pulled or the prevalent belly — has certainly been a scene-grabber.
Yet, despite its versatility, natural succulence and flavour, few chefs seem to perfect its preparation. As Cameron demonstrates with his pulled pork bun, "when it’s cooked long and slow, it just becomes something else that’s really beautiful and delicious."
Earliest memories of food? It's connected to growing up in Zimbabwe and to my uncle and aunt. My aunt's father was a second generation (I think) Italian, who came to Zimbabwe back in the day and they had a pig farm. It's the one thing I remember quite clearly, but regret being so young at the time and not really appreciating the experience as much as I would now. I remember running around, playing in the mud, having a great time. I have memories of beautiful sausages and stuff hanging in the kitchen. They were all made on the premises. It came from the happy pigs on the farm and there were beautiful Parma ham legs hanging and a whole process of creating beautiful cured meats.
When did your love affair with food start? When I moved to America. I'd always appreciated food, but not in the way that I did after working in restaurants in New York and Connecticut. I was studying business management and fell into food during a study break. I landed up working at a Relais & Chateaux hotel in upstate Connecticut, which had a Michelin-star restaurant. I started as a busboy, then became a waiter. That super-fine dining was my first experience being exposed to that level of service, where you stand on the line with the chef and see dishes coming out and have to learn serving etiquette. I enjoyed it, but I was in a very small town and, at that age, all I wanted was the big city. New York City was an hour's drive away and I was spending as much time as possible there. After meeting Justin, my partner, I decided to move and join him in New York, without a job. So I printed out a CV, walked around the city and probably handed out about 80 CVs until I eventually found a job at a cool little cafe style restaurant in Soho. What I loved about it were the chefs of Mexican and Ecuadorian origin, so I learnt a lot of the lingo and some of the styles of cooking. The plethora of restaurants in New York is amazing. Your options are endless. Being exposed to a lot of new cuisines and types of food for the first time got me excited.
You also saw a gap in the market, so to speak? Justin came back with me to Cape Town and we weren't sure what to do, other than finish my studies, and then we decided to create a platform for young artists — the early days of WHATIFTHEWORLD gallery. That incubated space grew into us starting Neighbourgoods, because we realised there was a big gap in the market for also creating a platform for young foodies and producers starting out in their kitchens, baking brownies or carrot cakes or drying sausage. We started with a mixed crowd of vendors. The first markets were vegetable stands next to a meat stand next to a vintage clothing stand, so the curation wasn't quite in our heads and we learnt a lot as it grew. In the early days of Woodstock, there wasn't much around. The market was only on weekends, so we decided we wanted to find a cute corner-store space where we could use the produce from the market and translate that into a plate in a restaurant setting. That's when the idea of Superette came up in about 2008.
What have you made for us? The pulled pork bun. It's one of my favourite meats and I love cooking with it, because there are so many things you can do with pork.
What's your secret? Long and slow cooking and lots of liquid. I definitely like to salt the skin before cooking to draw that moisture out and get extra crackling going. Incorporating lots of fruit and sweetness into the cooking process adds a nice level of flavour.
Image: Naashon Zalk
PULLED PORK BUN
Serves 5
INGREDIENTS:
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 sprig thyme
2 bay leaves
500ml good-quality cider
1l fresh chicken stock
1 Granny Smith apple
1.2kg unscored pieces boneless pork belly
2 tbsp sunflower oil
Serving:
300g rocket
3 tbsp wholegrain mustard
10 thin slices sourdough bread
METHOD:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Place all ingredients except pork and oil in a flameproof pan or casserole dish that will fit pork snugly. Season, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and slide pork into pan or casserole dish. The pork should be submerged — if it isn’t, top up with water. Cover the dish with a lid or tight tent of foil and place in the oven for three hours, undisturbed. When pork is cooked, leave to cool slightly in the stock.
Line a flat baking tray with cling film. Carefully lift pork onto the tray and make sure you get rid of any bits of vegetables or herbs. Cover pork with another sheet of cling film and cover with a flat tray or dish. Weigh pork down with another dish or cans and refrigerate overnight. Strain juices into a jug, cover and chill.
Unwrap pork and place on a board. Trim uneven edges to a neat sheet of meat. Cut into five equal pieces and set aside until ready to cook.
Heat oil in a large frying pan until hot, then reduce heat. Add pork skin-side down — be careful, as it has a tendency to spit. Sizzle for five minutes until skin is crisp. Flip over and cook for three to four minutes until browned. Add a few slices of apple and cook until lightly browned in pork belly juices.
To serve, smear bread with some wholegrain mustard and dress with rocket. Place two pork belly slices on top and finish with apple slices.
This is an extract from ‘Cooked in South Africa', an initiative of Wish Upon A Star, a non-profit fund-raising charity (Reg. No 2013/038478/08). Cooked in South Africa is about memories and journeys around food and will be on sale in leading bookstores from mid-November with all profits from the sales going to children living with disability. Photographs courtesy of Naashon Zalk and Cooked in South Africa.