Sandra Antrobus invited me to use the kitchen at Lion House in Cradock’s Market Street as a perfect setting for photographing the wildspastei I made from this fynvleis, for which I tried to honour her teaching.
Sandra left us after a staunch battle with cancer that she was ultimately unable to defeat. I am republishing this recipe in her honour.
This pie was served at a Karoo Food Festival dinner at Sandra’s Victoria Manor Hotel in Cradock on Thursday night, April 24, 2025, as the main course of a menu of my recipes that also included biltong pâté, parmesan gem squash, and Pears Belle Hélène. I dedicated the dish to her memory.
Ingredients
2 kg venison meat, cubed (The venison meat can be in big pieces if you prefer, as the whole point is for it to cook until it disintegrates.)
500 g fatty mutton, in chunks
600 g pork spek, diced
2 Tbsp coriander seeds
12 cloves
Salt, fairly generously
Fine white pepper, generously
Cold water to cover the meat well
For the second cook:
2 large onions, chopped
3 Tbsp butter
200 g bacon, diced
500 ml robust dry red wine
100 ml red wine vinegar
4 to 6 Tbsp quince jelly, depending on how sweet you like it
2 Tbsp cornflour mixed with 4 Tbsp water
Salt and white pepper for adjusting seasoning after tasting, if needed
For the wildspastei:
1 recipe of my hot water pastry crust or bought frozen puff pastry
Fynvleis cooked a second time with bacon and wine etcetera, enough to fill the pie to the brim (freeze the rest for another pie on another day)
Butter for greasing
1 egg, beaten, as egg wash
Method
Add venison, spek and mutton to a big heavy pot on the stove, cover with water, add the coriander seeds and cloves, season with salt and white pepper, and bring to a boil. Cook, at a fairly rapid boil, until the meat is so soft it disintegrates.
Leave it to cool. With clean hands, go in and feel for bones, and remove them.
Second cook: cook the chopped onions in butter until softened. Add bacon and continue cooking while stirring. Add venison mix. Add red wine and vinegar, stir in quince jelly, stir well and simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Taste and adjust seasoning. If it is still watery, stir in cornflour mixed with water and cook gently while it thickens.
For a wildsvleispastei, cool the fynvleis. Grease a pie dish, roll out the pastry and line the dish. Prick holes in the bottom with a fork. Fill the pie generously with fynvleis. Brush egg wash around the pastry edges. Place a pastry lid on top and press down all round. Crimp the edges with a fork. Make a hole in the centre of the pie. Cut out pastry leaves and stick down with a dab of water underneath. Brush the top with egg wash. Bake in a preheated 200℃ oven for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden.
Serve with quince jelly on the side, mashed potato and simple vegetables. DM
Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023
Order Tony’s book, foodSTUFF, here.
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This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.
TGIFood
Fynvleis and wildspastei, the heart of the Karoo in a pie
This was my recipe of the Year in 2022, a traditional game pie (wildspastei) made with fynvleis. Karoo tradition, first in a pot, then in a pie. My dear friend Sandra Antrobus taught me how to make fynvleis, and she was always very precise about how to cook things. Especially this. It passed muster.
