The first recipe for bobotie is said to have been in a Dutch cookery book of 1609 and to have been taken to South Africa later in the century by Dutch traders stopping off at Cape Town on their way to and from Indonesia. No further details of the book are ever given, so who knows whether it is true, but it scarcely matters because, wherever its name first appeared, bobotie soon became quintessentially South African.
Indeed, if any single dish can be considered to be the country’s national dish it is bobotie, an epitome of the Cape Malay style which emerged out of the Dutch East India Company’’s transportation of slaves from Indonesia and Malaysia to the Cape. Its emergence coincides with the first Cape wines, although I am not suggesting any link between the two and least of all that anyone was pairing them at the table in the 17th century.
It has also been suggested that bobotie is a variation of an ancient Roman dish, patina ex lacte, described in Apicius IV (or De Re Coquinaria), which consisted of layers of cooked meat and pine nuts flavoured with pepper, celery seeds, and asafoetida, cooked then topped with egg and milk and cooked again until set.
The origin of the name itself is debated. One view is that it comes from bobotok, an Indonesian dish, but it’s one of very different ingredients. The other view is that it derives from the Malayan word boemboe which refers to a blend of curry spices. Either way, in keeping with South African cuisine’s focus on meat—as evidenced by the ubiquity of the braai (barbecuing)—bobotie is a meat dish. Based on minced beef or lamb (originally a mix of mutton and pork) and baked in the oven, it’s often described as the Cape’s answer to moussaka or shepherd’s pie. In fact, it’s more complex and assertive in its flavourings.
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There are infinite variations, but the fundamentals are minced meat cooked with curry spices, milk-soaked bread, onions, garlic, dried fruit (sultanas, raisins, or sometimes apricots), almonds, chutney, vinegar or lemon juice, lemon leaves (which can be replaced, if necessary, by kaffir lime or bay leaves), and a beaten-egg and milk topping which is added half-way through baking, or sometimes at the outset.
The spices can be a proprietary curry mix or a masala mix supplemented by turmeric, cumin, coriander, cloves, allspice, and pepper (I do the latter). Other ingredients quite often included are sugar or apricot jam, grated apple, Worcester sauce, and occasionally tomato puree and ginger root. Some recipes also stir a beaten egg into the meat mixture.
The result is a hearty dish—Stanley Tucci would probably put it more colorfully. More importantly from the wine pairing point of view, it’s full of flavor and contrast, with spicy, sweet, tangy, and umami notes—all to a greater or lesser degree depending on taste and the individual recipe, of course.
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The best wines to pair with bobotie
It probably doesn’t need saying that this is not an occasion for delicate wines, but nor is it one for simply picking any wine built on powerful lines. The wine needs to be at one with the spices, including some heat, the sweetness of the dried fruit (and, if used sugar/jam), the tang of acidity, the mild richness of the topping, and the umami, meaty foundation.
Pleasingly, there’s a “when in Rome” match and it’s Pinotage, which is not a wine I reach for all that often, although I appreciate the immeasurably improved quality and the expansion of styles to include everything from light and refined to the traditional, dark, muscular, and spicy. The Pinotage wines that work best are those occupying the middle ground with spicy fruit, some acidity. and well-managed tannins modulated by French oak. Lighter styles are swamped by bobotie, while spices, sweetness, and acidity only serve to emphasize big tannins, high alcohol, and heavy oak. I like the pairing with Kanonkop Kadette Pinotage, but, if you do want to go bigger, there’s Spier 21 Gables Pinotage, where graphite freshness and black-pepper spice balance the rich dark fruit and velvety tannins.
If Pinotage isn’t for you, Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignons and Bordeaux blends, with their classic cassis fruit, cigar-box spiciness, and sweet tannins, can also be good. A wine such as Rustenberg John X Merriman works well, whether young (2021) or a mature vintage (I had a 2004 still in its prime). And there are equally suitable Cabernets and Cabernet blends from elsewhere: notably Chile and Bolgheri.
Other red varieties to keep in mind are Carmenère from Chile, southern hemisphere Cabernet Franc, and Sangiovese from southern Tuscany, particularly Montecucco. In the case of Carmenère and Cabernet Franc, the spicy green inflection (often reminiscent of fresh bay leaf) tunes in with the spice and light acid note of the dish, although you don’t want it to be a forceful green current. Journey’s End V5 Cabernet Franc from Stellenbosch has the balance right.
Grenache-based southern Rhône-style blends can also be very successful, provided they have natural acidity. One such is Yangarra Estate Vineyard Noir, a blend from this biodynamic, upland McLaren Vale property that includes Carignan, Cinsault, and Counoise. The fragrant, floral red fruit, silky elegance and brightness of the 2021 vintage pairs seamlessly with bobotie.
Red wines are by no means the only possibility. Orange wines with an aromatic grape variety such as Muscat/Zibibbo or Kisi in the mix are often a good fit. Among rosés, two southern French appellations stand out: Grenache-based Tavel and, with its Mourvèdre component, Bandol.
When it comes to white wines, there isn’t an immediately obvious front-runner. Off-dry Riesling is recommended quite often, but I haven’t been convinced. The most notable success for me has been oak-fermented Semillon with some bottle age, five years in the case of Vergelegen Reserve Semillon 2020 and 15 years in the case of Tim Adams Clare Valley Semillon 2010. The combination of lime-zest zing and the richness and texture of lemon-curd and olive-oil seems to address all elements of bobotie.
