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“We all have family members who are the keepers of certain food traditions. That includes the TASTE team. Everyone has a festive celebration dish named for the person routinely asked to bring it to the table. These are unfussy dishes without fancy ingredients and techniques, made so many times by the same practiced hands (often without a recipe) that they approach perfection. These are dishes that don't just satisfy your hunger, they have found their way into your heart. These recipes have the power to conjure precious memories and pay tribute to those who may have passed but passed them down.
For us, one of these was Aunty Terry's trifle – the classic 70s sponge cake with canned peaches, custard and an extraordinary amount of whipped cream, topped with glacé cherries and chopped walnuts. Terry, my mother's sister, passed away this year, and so this story has a special resonance. But the dish I chose to share was the traditional accompaniment to what I still call Aunty Bev's gammon – a pineapple-and-ginger glazed bonein ham. This is my mother's “slaphakskeentjies” (directly translated as “small, weak heels”). Pickling onions cooked until soft and served in a sweet, creamy mustard-spiked sauce, these were, and still are, a Christmas-only side and are designed to be eaten with the gammon served cold (and frankly, juicier) as part of a buffet.
The funny thing about all these TASTE family sides is how they are