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Made in Normandy since 1830 · Official South African store
Beurre blanc, properly

Beurre blanc, properly

by | Aug 9, 2026 | Recipes

The copper table

Two hundred grams of butter held in suspension by nothing but reduced wine and your attention.

Serves 4Hands on 5 minutesTotal 20 minutes

Why this pan

Beurre blanc is an emulsion with no insurance policy — no egg, no starch. Too hot and it splits, too cool and it never comes together. The whole recipe lives in a twenty-degree band.

A splayed sauteuse gives you a wide surface for the reduction and sloping sides for a whisk to reach. In copper the temperature is something you control rather than something you discover afterwards.

M’Cook Splayed Sauté PanThe panM’Cook Splayed Sauté PanR3 990.00 – R4 850.00Price range: R3 990.00 through R4 850.00 Inc VAT

Ingredients

  • 3 shallots, very finely chopped
  • 100 ml dry white wine
  • 50 ml white wine vinegar
  • 200 g cold unsalted butter, in 2 cm dice
  • Salt, white pepper
  • A squeeze of lemon

Method

  1. Simmer shallots, wine and vinegar until roughly 2 tablespoons of syrupy liquid remain.
  2. Drop the heat as low as it goes. The pan should be warm, never sizzling.
  3. Whisk in the butter two or three cubes at a time, waiting for each to disappear before adding more.
  4. Keep the pan moving on and off the heat. If it steams, lift it off.
  5. Season, add lemon, and strain if you want it smooth. Serve within the half hour.

The step most people rush

The temperature between cubes. Most split sauces happen because the pan was left on the flame while you reached for more butter. Lift it off between additions — a copper pan holds enough heat to carry on melting without any flame at all.

Cooked in M’Cook Splayed Sauté Pan. Made by Mauviel1830 in Normandy.

Cape gooseberry jam

Cape gooseberry jam

by | Aug 9, 2026 | Recipes

The baker’s bench

A wide unlined copper pan, high heat, and a set you can see coming. No pectin, no thermometer.

Serves About 4 jarsHands on 20 minutesTotal 50 minutes

Why this pan

A jam pan is wide and shallow so water leaves quickly, and unlined so nothing sits between the flame and the sugar. Fruit acid on bare copper is the traditional method, and the pan is used for nothing else.

The set arrives in a minute or two. In a tall stockpot you overshoot it while waiting for the middle to catch up, and the jam goes stiff and dull.

M’Passion Copper Jam Pan, Brass HandlesThe panM’Passion Copper Jam Pan, Brass HandlesR5 670.00 – R6 190.00Price range: R5 670.00 through R6 190.00 Inc VAT

Ingredients

  • 1 kg Cape gooseberries (physalis), husked and rinsed
  • 800 g white sugar
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • A split vanilla pod, optional

Method

  1. Put a saucer in the freezer. That is the set test and you will want it soon.
  2. Halve the larger berries. Combine fruit, sugar and lemon juice in the pan and leave for an hour until syrupy.
  3. Set over a medium flame and stir until the sugar has dissolved completely. Do not let it boil before that.
  4. Raise to a hard rolling boil. Skim the foam once, early.
  5. After about 15 minutes, start testing: a teaspoon on the cold saucer, back in the freezer for a minute, then push it with a finger. When it wrinkles, it is done.
  6. Rest 10 minutes off the heat so the fruit suspends, then jar into hot sterilised jars and seal.

The step most people rush

Dissolving the sugar before it boils. Any crystals still on the bottom when it reaches a boil will seed the whole batch and give you a grainy jam. It takes an extra three minutes and it is the difference.

Cooked in M’Passion Copper Jam Pan, Brass Handles. Made by Mauviel1830 in Normandy.

Tarte Tatin

Tarte Tatin

by | Aug 9, 2026 | Recipes

The baker’s bench

Caramel made in the mould, apples on top, pastry over, and the whole thing turned out in front of people.

Serves 6Hands on 25 minutesTotal 1 hour 15 minutes

Why this pan

A Tatin mould goes on the hob to make the caramel and into the oven to bake the pastry, and it has to survive the temperature swing without warping or catching. That is a small list of pans.

Copper gives you the caramel window — the thirty seconds between amber and burnt — with enough warning to act. In a thin pan the sugar goes from pale to black while you are reaching for the apples.

M’Passion Tatin MouldThe panM’Passion Tatin MouldR3 660.00 – R5 070.00Price range: R3 660.00 through R5 070.00 Inc VAT

Ingredients

  • 8 firm apples, peeled, halved, cored
  • 150 g caster sugar
  • 80 g butter, diced
  • 1 roll all-butter puff pastry
  • A pinch of salt

Method

  1. Peel and halve the apples an hour ahead and leave them uncovered to dry out slightly.
  2. Scatter the sugar evenly in the mould and set over a medium flame. Do not stir. Let it melt and go amber, tilting the pan to even it out.
  3. Off the heat, stir in the butter and salt. It will hiss and seize; keep stirring until smooth.
  4. Pack the apple halves in tightly, cut side up, curved side down. They shrink, so tighter than looks sensible.
  5. Return to a low flame for 15 minutes to start the apples cooking in the caramel.
  6. Lay the pastry over, tuck the edges down inside the mould, and cut two small vents.
  7. Bake at 190°C for 30 to 35 minutes until the pastry is deep gold. Rest 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate in one confident movement.

The step most people rush

The ten-minute rest before turning it out. Straight from the oven the caramel is liquid and runs everywhere; left too long it glues itself to the mould. Ten minutes is the window.

Cooked in M’Passion Tatin Mould. Made by Mauviel1830 in Normandy.

Oxtail, done in copper

Oxtail, done in copper

by | Aug 9, 2026 | Recipes

The copper table

Four hours at a temperature that never quite reaches a simmer. The pan is doing the thinking.

Serves 4Hands on 30 minutesTotal 4 hours

Why this pan

A long braise is a test of stability, not of power. You want the liquid trembling for hours, and a heavy pan with a lid holds that state far more easily than a thin one, which swings between a boil and nothing.

A copper cocotte also browns properly before the liquid goes in, which a cast-iron pot does slowly and a thin pot does badly. One pan, both jobs, and it goes to the table.

M’150 B Cocotte with LidThe panM’150 B Cocotte with LidR7 010.00 – R15 640.00Price range: R7 010.00 through R15 640.00 Inc VAT

Ingredients

  • 1.5 kg oxtail, cut into sections
  • 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, all diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 400 ml red wine
  • 500 ml beef stock
  • 2 bay leaves, a sprig of thyme
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • Flour, salt, pepper, oil

Method

  1. Dry the oxtail thoroughly and dust lightly with seasoned flour.
  2. Brown in batches over a medium-high flame until dark on all sides. Do not crowd the pan. Set aside.
  3. Lower the heat. Soften the vegetables in the fat for 10 minutes, then stir in the tomato paste and cook 2 minutes more.
  4. Add the wine, scrape the bottom clean, and reduce by half.
  5. Return the oxtail, add stock to come two-thirds up, and the herbs. Bring to the barest simmer.
  6. Lid on, lowest flame or a 150°C oven, 3 to 3.5 hours until the meat slides off the bone.
  7. Rest overnight if you can. Lift the set fat off the next day and reheat gently.

The step most people rush

Browning in batches. Crowding the pan drops the temperature and the meat releases water instead of colouring — you get grey oxtail and a pale braise. Three batches, not one.

Cooked in M’150 B Cocotte with Lid. Made by Mauviel1830 in Normandy.

Steak au poivre, Cape brandy

Steak au poivre, Cape brandy

by | Aug 9, 2026 | Recipes

The copper table

The sauce is the dish. Everything before it exists to leave something on the bottom of the pan.

Serves 2Hands on 15 minutesTotal 25 minutes

Why this pan

A frying pan for two steaks has to do two contradictory things: get hot enough to crust the meat, then drop fast enough to reduce a sauce without splitting it. Thin steel does the first and fails the second — you turn the heat down and the pan carries on boiling the cream.

Two millimetres of copper answers the hob almost immediately. That is why this recipe is written for copper and why it is difficult in anything else.

M’200 B Frying PanThe panM’200 B Frying PanR7 530.00 – R11 860.00Price range: R7 530.00 through R11 860.00 Inc VAT

Ingredients

  • 2 sirloin steaks, 250 g each, 3 cm thick, at room temperature
  • 2 tbsp black peppercorns, cracked coarsely
  • 30 g butter, 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 2 shallots, finely chopped
  • 60 ml brandy
  • 150 ml cream
  • Salt

Method

  1. Take the steaks out an hour ahead. A cold steak steams.
  2. Crack the peppercorns coarsely — under a pan, not in a grinder. Press into both sides. Salt just before cooking.
  3. Heat the pan over a high flame until a drop of water skitters. Add oil, then the steaks. Do not move them for 3 minutes.
  4. Turn, add the butter, and baste for 2 to 3 minutes for medium rare. Rest on a warm plate.
  5. Drop the heat to low. Soften the shallots in the fat for 2 minutes.
  6. Off the heat, add the brandy. Return to the flame and let it reduce to almost nothing.
  7. Add the cream, scrape the fond up, and simmer 2 to 3 minutes until it coats a spoon. Add any resting juices. Salt.

The step most people rush

The three minutes without touching the steak. Every time you lift it to look, you break the contact that is building the crust and drop the surface temperature of the pan. Set it down and leave it.

Cooked in M’200 B Frying Pan. Made by Mauviel1830 in Normandy.