Breakfast Braai

Just before serving the braaibroodjies, insert one sunny side up egg.

Ingredients:

cheese (I prefer aged cheddar)

tomato

onion

chutney

salt & pepper

butter

eggs (baked sunny side up in a pan)

Method:

The braaibroodjie (braaied toasted sandwich) is arguably the highlight of any braaing

experience. Many South Africans braai meat simply as an excuse to also have braaibroodjies.

The traditional braaibroodjie is done by making a sandwich with cheese (I prefer aged

cheddar), tomato, onion, chutney, salt & pepper with butter on the outside. Braai this

sandwich in a closed grid over very mild coals until the outsides are golden brown and the

cheese is melted. If you’re having a breakfast braai then bake some eggs sunny side up in a

pan on the braai or stove, and when your braaibroodjies are finished gently pull them open

and insert one egg into each. You now have a breakfast braaibroodjie.

how to braai snoek

This is the ultimate snoek braai recipe and include various snoek braai tips and advice on

decisions at different stages of the snoek braai. A collection of knowledge from various

famed snoek braaiers result in this snoek braai recipe and description. Once you have

mastered what follows below it stands to reason that you will experiment and develop your

own special way of braaing snoek using this as a foundation.

Snoek should be braaied open. Oil the skin side and pat salt & pepper into the flesh side.

Ingredients

1 fresh snoek

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

150 ml apricot jam

100 ml butter or olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

4 chopped garlic cloves

25ml soy sauce (optional)

50 – 100 ml white wine (optional)

Dash of chilli sauce (optional)

This is how a snoek should look when it's ready.

Method

1. When you buy your snoek, ask for it to be cleaned and for the head and tail to be cut

off.

2. When starting the actual snoek braai process at home, wash the snoek under cold

running water.

3. Now the snoek needs to be dried. This can be done in one of three ways:

o By hanging it in a cool area with a draft blowing over it. Hanging up a snoek

is not always easy if you don’t live in a fisherman’s village on the Weast

Coast so an easy way of hanging the snoek to dry is by already putting it in the

grid that you will be braaing it in, and hanging the grid on a hook in a cool

place with a slight draft, for example under a tree;

o By salting the snoek with coarse sea salt that will absorb all the water;

o By blotting it with paper kitchen towels.

o Whichever of these methods you use, do make sure that flies cannot make a

pre-emptive strike and that your snoek has some defence system against aerial

attack by flies.

4. Using a small pot on the fire or on a stove, lightly fry the chopped garlic in the butter.

Then add the apricot jam and lemon juice. If you want to add some of the optional

ingredients, do so now. Heat and stir until everything is melted and mixed.

5. If you salted the snoek in step 3, you now have to shake off all the course sea salt.

Most of the big visible pieces need to be shaken off as a tooth can be broken on them.

Obviously some of the salt would have transferred onto the snoek so keep this in mind

when adding extra salt in one of the next steps. This “pre salting” of snoek with

coarse sea salt is loved by some and hated by others. You need to test whether it

works for you.

6. A snoek should be braaied “open”. Smear the skin side of the snoek with oil so that it

does not stick to the grid and now place in the grid, skin side down. There are two

ways:

o Straight onto the grid. Coals will need to be slightly gentler as the skin might

burn easier. More heat goes straight into the fish as it will not be deflected by

the foil. You definitely need to pay more attention and make sure you don’t

burn the fish. The skin side of the fish will end up slightly crisper.

o Foil on grid and fish on foil. Coals can be hotter as the foil protects the fish

from getting burned. Another advantage of doing it on foil is that you can fold

up the sides of the foil, which saves any basting and sauce that runs off the

fish. The fish will then partly “boil” in the sauce (a good thing). Fish braaied

on foil is also easier to lift completely onto a serving tray still on the foil.

7. Grind salt and pepper onto the flesh side of the snoek and lightly pat it onto the meat.

8. Braai time: Whether you are using foil or whether the skin side went straight onto the

grid, a snoek should be braaied for about 15 minutes in total. This time can slightly

deviate depending on heat of coals, height of grid and size of snoek. The skin side of

the snoek will be down for about 80% of the total braai time. You can test whether the

snoek is ready by inserting a fork in the thickest part and slightly turning the fork. If

the flesh flakes, the snoek is ready.

o When braaing with foil I would braai 10 minutes skin side down, 3 minutes

flesh side down (and during this time remove the foil from the skin side) and

then a final 2 minutes skin side down to brown the skin.

o When braaing without foil I would go 12 minutes on skin side and then turn

and give 3 minutes on flesh side to brown flesh side. There is a far greater risk

of burning the snoek here, so you may also want to turn it more often. If you

do, then you need to baste it after each turn, so make sure you have enough

basting sauce by adding the white wine, or simply increasing all the

ingredients of the basting sauce.

9. Basting the snoek: The basting should happen during the time that the flesh side is up.

Use a brush or simply drip it onto the fish with a spoon. You can baste as often as you

wish until all the basting is used. Should you find that you would like to use more

basting, then increase the basting part of the recipe next time.

Additional snoek braai advice and tips

There is a constant risk that the fish will stick to the grid, so gently shake whichever

side of the grid is on top at any stage of the braai to loosen it from the meat.

Serve the snoek skin side down, flesh side up.

It can be dished using a spatula. Break rather than cut through the snoek (as you

would for example do with a pizza) as cutting through the snoek would also cut the

bones into smaller parts, which can get stuck in your throat. Normal uncut snoek fish

bones are quite large and you will easily spot them.

Snoek is best served with a side of soetpatats, which when translated into English is

sweet sweet-potatoes.

How to braai steak

How to braai the perfect steak.

The one thing that you really should be able to comfortably braai perfectly at your own house

is a steak. If you stick to a few basic guidelines and pay attention to what you are doing, this

is a skill that you will master in no time. Once you can comfortably braai a steak perfectly at

home, the knowledge, skill and experience can also serve as the foundation for doing it

anywhere else, in whatever strange braai conditions life might throw at you. Braaing the

perfect steak assumes that the actual steak that you are braaing is of a certain quality.

However good you braai it, a bad piece of meat is never going to turn out great.

1) The steak should be at room temperature by the time it goes onto the fire.

If is was/is in a fridge, take it out well in advance, and leave it in the shade or indoors.

(When you make the effort to buy great steaks, you are probably not going to freeze

them, but should the steaks that you want to braai be frozen, transfer them from the

freezer to the fridge at least a day in advance to allow them to thaw at a gentle pace).

Its already 100% protein, so cover it with a cloth to keep the flies and bugs away. If

there are dogs, place it well outside their reach.

2) You need copious amounts of extremely hot coals.

If, and this is preferable, you are making a real fire with real wood, make a big fire

from the outset. Do not make a medium sized fire and add more wood later. By the

time the second batch of wood has burned out, the coals of the first batch will be half

dead. Once the meat goes onto the fire, the process will be over quickly, so if you

want to stand around the fire and discuss life with your guests for a few hours before

you eat, make a medium sized fire by all means. But when you intent to braai, add lots

of wood, wait till its burned out, and braai.

If there was only wet wood available at the petrol station and you are using charcoal,

light quite a lot of it. For a small braai, consider half a bag. Its not uncommon for me

to use a whole bag of charcoal when braaing steaks for a dinner party.

If you are wondering whether you have enough heat, then the answer is probably no.

For these easy steps to a perfect steak to work, you need peace of mind that your coals

are extremely hot. This is important.

To braai the perfect steak you need lots of really hot coals.

3) The exact height of your grid is not important. Anything between 5 and 15 centimetres is

fine.

The important thing is that you when you braai steaks at your own house, you always

braai them on the same height, and that you know exactly what that height is.

When you are braaing at a new location, you should compare the height of the grid to

the height of the grid when braaing steaks at home, and adjust braaing time

accordingly.

4) Steaks should be done medium rare.

If you really prefer your steaks rare and aren’t just saying it to try and sound rougher

than everybody else ordering medium rare, then you should not be ordering rare

steaks anyhow. There are two great dishes for you to try. Steak Tartar, and Beef

Carpaccio.

If you prefer your steaks medium, then start buying better quality steaks, learn how to

braai them better, and acquire the acquired taste of enjoying them medium rare.

If you prefer your steaks medium well or well done, then why exactly are you reading

this? You are surely quite capable of messing up meat all by yourself.

If one of your guests wants their steak medium, and you prepared enough extremely

hot coals to start with, then there will be quite enough heat to get her steak medium by

the time everybody else has been seated and served.

If one of your guests wants their steak medium well or well done, refuse.

5) Take the time when the steaks go onto the grid and take them off after about 7 minutes.

Steaks cut to a thickness of 2,5cm to 3cm, braaied on extremely hot coals and a 10cm

grid height take about 7 minutes in total to become medium rare.

After 2 minutes turn the steaks. After another 2 minutes, turn them again; now turn

after 1:30 more minutes, and then a final 1:30. They are now ready.

It’s perfectly acceptable to ask someone else to keep the time.

6) Use braai tongs, not a fork, to turn the meat. A fork will make holes in the meat, and you

might lose some juice.

7) After the first turn of the meat, you may start salting, spicing or basting the meat.

Adding salt before this might cause the salt to draw out some of the moisture in the

meat. This is a high school science concept known as osmoses.

Rubbing salt or spice into the meat shortly before the braai will not draw out any

significant amount of moisture and is thus fine. There is a risk that some ingredients

in the spice will burn on the extremely hot coals though.

Adding salt before the braai does not make the meat tough. Buying bad quality meat

makes the meat tough.

8) If you are using a closed grid (toeklaprooster) then all the steaks will obviously be turned

at the same time. If you are turning the steaks one by one then turn them in the order that they

went onto the grill and also remove them from the grid in that order.

9) Meat needs to “rest” a bit after the braai, before you eat it.

This gives the juices in the meat the opportunity to settle down, and not all run out

when you cut the meat.

What you need to watch out for when resting meat is that it does not end up cold by

the time you eat it. There are two easy ways to counter this problem. Heat the bowl

that you are placing the meat into when taking them from the fire; and heat the plates

you will be eating the steaks from.

By the time that everybody have been seated and served, the meat has rested enough.

Do not put the steaks in an aluminium braai bowl with lots of other meat and into an

oven where they will steam cook for another hour whilst some fool is braaing his

frozen chicken. Your steaks will be ruined by the time you eat them.

After having followed the above steps you need to make an honest assenement of whether the

steaks were perfect. If they were not, you need to repeat the above steps, making slight

adjustments until you have fine tuned your technique to perfection. The most obvious

mistakes to make:

If the steaks are burnt black on the outside, there is a very good chance that its not the

meat, but the marinade or spices that are burnt. The easiest way to get rid of this

problem is by using a different, or even better, no marinade in future.

If the steaks are done medium or well, then they were probably cut to thin. Use steaks

that are thicker in future, or, braai the same steaks but for a shorter time.

If the steaks look great when you slice it and look at it from the side, but are quite

tough to chew, then they probably come form a badly raised animal, or they were not

aged properly, or both. Buy your steaks at a different place in future.

If the steaks are underdone, then your fire was not warm enough. Repeat the process,

and really go all out with that fire next time. You will be surprised how much heat a

piece of un-marinated meat can withstand for 7 minutes without getting burned.

Once you can perfectly braai steaks at your own house, it’s easy to do it anywhere else as

well. If there are less than ideal coals, try to set the grid very low. If the steaks are cut

exceptionally thick, braai them longer and vice versa when they are cut especially thin. If the

grid only has one setting and that is very high, allow a little extra braaing time.

Leg of lamb potjie

I was recently (at the time of writing a few minutes ago) asked for a leg of lamb (skaapboud)

potjie recipe on Twitter. That medium allowing only 140 characters, I thought it better to

answer the question here. I’ve done a few leg of lamb potjies in my life, but never from a

recipe. Leg of lamb is such a great meat to start with that you need to stick to the basics of

potjie making and the result will be awesome.

This potjie might or might not have contained a leg of lamb at the time of taking the photo.

Ingredients

1 Leg of lamb (on the bone, I assume, but off the bone also fine and will be ready

sooner).

2 chopped or sliced onions

3 cloves of chopped garlic

1 stick of chopped celery

1 kg of chopped tomatoes

about 5 peeled & cut potatoes

about 5 peeled & cut carrots

Whichever other interesting vegetables are on hand. This could be green beans, baby

marrow, mushrooms, peppers, sweet potato, etc. Anything really.

Dried fruit

Olive oil or butter

Salt & pepper

Method

1. Place the pot on the fire and heat the olive oil or butter.

2. Add the onions, garlic & celery and fry for 2 minutes.

3. Add the leg of lamb, and brown on all sides. If the pot is too warm and the meat is

burning, add a few tots of wine. (At the time of writing it was 28 December, I assume

there is some leftover wine in your fridge).

4. Grind salt & pepper onto all sides of the meat.

5. When the meat is brown, add all the tomatoes.

6. Put the lid onto the pot, and gently simmer for 1 hour.

7. Open the lid, smell the pot, pat yourself on the back.

8. The piece of meat should lie roughly in the middle of the pot.

9. Pack all the potato pieces and then all the carrot pieces around the meat.

10. Now all other vegetables that have to be eaten cooked (for e.g. sweet potato &

pumpkin) as well as the dried fruit. Grind salt & pepper onto the top layer of what you

see.

11. Do not stir the pot, but gently ensure there is enough liquid in the bottom, and that it’s

not burning. If unsure, add a bit more wine.

12. Replace lid and simmer for another hour or 2.

13. Now add all the vegetables that one can eat uncooked (e.g. mushrooms, baby

marrows, peppers).

14. Replace lid and simmer for another half hour.

15. Remove pot from fire and prepare to serve with rice or, and I prefer this, fresh bread.

16. You will still need to slice the meat. Either in the pot, or on a cutting board on the

side.

Other comments

Do not stir the pot at any time. This will break the vegetables and make you look like

an amateur.

At the end of the process, just before serving, you should have minimal free flowing

liquid in the pot and a nice thick sauce surrounding the bottom vegetables. We are not

making soup. Using chopped tomatoes instead of water at the start will greatly aid

you in this goal at the end.

Sweet Chilli Lamb Chops

This was submitted by avid braaier from Durban, Amith Gosai. If you have a special recipe

worthy of being on this website, please submit it at the bottom of the recipes page. But follow

the example set by Amith, and type clearly and coherently, so that the recipe can be

understood and executed by other people. We are not necessarily looking for poetry, but for

clear instructions. If you have additional advice, give it. If you have a camera that takes

decent photos, take a picture of the dish, and email it to me.

Sweet Chilli Lambs Chops, photo courtesy of Amith Gosai.

Ingredients

Any cut Lamb chops (4)

3 green chillis

1 clove garlic

fresh ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp turmeric powder

1tsp lemon juice

1tsp Worcester Sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp bbq sauce (any variety)

Method

1. Mince the chilli’s, garlic & ginger then mix together in a big mixing bowl.

2. Add the salt, turmeric powder, brown sugar & black pepper.

3. Mix well and add the oil to form a paste.

4. Add the bbq sauce, lemon juice & Worcester Sauce.

5. When you have your marinade, rub it onto each chop making sure you coat them well.

Allow to marinate in the fridge for an hour after which its ready to go on the hot braai.

Additional Advice

If you find it dry, you can make a quick basting sauce for it while on the grill. melt butter,

peri peri sauce & honey. mix well & pour over the chops as they’re getting braaied.