In vino Meerlust
Sir: Surely Jennifer Paterson in her receipt for Fillet a la Meerlust (Food, 27 March) has forgotten the essential eponymous ingredient, a generous splash (up to 1/3 cup) of an excellent Meerlust claret from the Cape Province — I personally recom- mend their Merlot — the balance of the bottle to be consumed with the singed beef steeped in its viniferous marinade. The receipt works quite well in the Lebanon with the internationally known wines of Château Musar, not to mention the lesser known but to my taste quite comparable vintages of Ksara and Kefraya. A fillet here sets you back £15 or less, so one can indeed splurge. It is even cheaper and better in Cairo where I recently spent a four-year stint, but one must look for a decent imported wine to complement the meat and that can set you back far more than the fillet itself. The locally produced red, known as Omar Khayyam, is good only for flushing your toilet when the water fails, as it often does.
Robert Brenton Betts
Visiting Associate Professor, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
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