Tips
The Wood - I’ve found 2 types of wood that have a medium burning time but have very long coal heat time. Kameeldooring (also known as camel thorn) and anything that comes from Namibia. Kameeldoring is more expensive than normal wood, but there is a reason for it – it is always dry and makes very good coals.
The Meat - The meat is entirely up to you. Chicken, sosaties, chops, wors, snoek, you name it, everything goes. Anything from your local supermarket or even better, the butcher will do the job. Don’t skimp on the meat because not even a braai will fix that “ou skaap vleis”.
Boerewors is known to burst open on the braai, resulting in the boerewors losing its tasty juices, and drying out! To prevent this, dip the boerewors in water right before cooking it. This will make the skin more elastic and prevent it from bursting open during the braai.
Using your potjie for the first time?
Fill the potjie with boiling water and wash it inside with dishwashing liquid. Don’t forget the lid. Dry the potjie and lid carefully with a clean cloth. Grease the potjie and lid with cooking oil. Heat up the potjie and lid over the hot coals, until the oil is sufficiently warm and starts to smoke a little. Now your potjie is ready to be used.
The Spices and Sauces - Braai salt is a must for the chicken. My favourite braai salt is the BBQ salt with garlic.
The Fire - Getting the coals at the right temperature is crucial. You don’t want burnt meat, but you also don’t want to run out of coals and have your chicken turn out “rare”. A rule of thumb for those beginners is once your wood has turn into glowing orange and red coals, and you can hold your hand over the coals for about 2-3 seconds, you can start the braai.
The Braai’ing of the meat - Always start with the chicken as it takes the longest. It really is the weirdest thing, but chicken wings and drumsticks take surprisingly long relative to their size. Next you can slap on the chops, sosaties or whatever you having to braai. You can put everything on at the same time if you have the space, but as I say, get that chicken on first.
Sprinkle the spices onto the chicken on both sides. Don’t be shy with the braai salt. If using normal pepper and salt, I wouldn’t put too much salt on the chicken. Marinate the chops a couple of hours beforehand if possible, otherwise keep coating the chops with your sauce while they on the braai.
Remember to also keep turning the meat. You want the chicken to be golden brown all the way round, and the chops to look slightly crispy and juicy. Chicken must be slightly moist (no juice) and your chops must be pink with no blood. Wors, which goes on last as it cooks the quickest, must not be pink inside, but brown.
Cook the steak on medium to high heat to seal in the juices.
Try brushing butter, or for the health conscience, olive oil on the steak before cooking, combine this with your prefered spices. I melt some butter in a bowl and add garlic salt, onion salt, and worchester sauce, I then brush this on before cooking and brush on again after flipping the steaks.
Use tongs or a spatula, do not pierce the meat while cooking.
Only flip the steaks one time, half the cooking time one side and half on the other. This will preserve those tasty juices. Let the steak rest a few minutes. If you do this with a good grade ribeye steak you will have a small puddle of juice on your plate and the steak will be so moist the juice will follow your knife as you cut it.
Braai’ing a Snoek - Fish is a very tricky thing to braai, especially snoek. But the very best way I have found to have a moist and tasty snoek is to braai it in a foil jacket.
Also just as important is the sauce you must cook the snoek with. Take some lemon, lots of garlic, lots of butter and some apricot jam and cook in a pot on the stove. Keep stirring the sauce until everything has melted. Keep to one side while you make the foil jacket.
Create the foil jacket by taking a very large piece of foil, and placing the snoek in the one half of the foil. Pour all the sauce over the fish. Now fold the foil over the snoek until the bottom and top end touch. (Foil comes in long pieces, so take the bottom and top end of the long piece and fold in half.). Then take the edges and fold over and over until you create a packet of sorts. It must be completely airtightbecause once you put it on the grid which is over your coals, the packet will blow up like a balloon and the snoek will cook in the steam that the juices create. This gives the snoek a moist texture, which is exactly what you want. No one likes a dry snoek.Once the packet has blown up, it should take between 15-20 minutes until the snoek is cooked through.
The Other Things - Let the women take care of the salads, breads and so forth. If you want to cook the garlic bread on the fire, that should take around 5 minutes. To see if its ready, take your tongs and press the bread from both sides. If it’s soft, its ready.
The Unsaid Rules Of The Braai - All guys have their way of doing things, and when its not your turn to braai, shut up and drink your beer. Offer to help, but if the braaier declines your offer, stay well away from his meat, unless he asks you to keep an eye on it while he pops inside to the toilet or to grab more spices and sauces. Also don’t offer your advice on how to braai, because you definitely won’t crack an invite the next time your mates decide to braai. Rather wait until its your turn to braai to show off your skills. Your mates will quickly thank your slick hands and meat handling which they will, in time, try out themselves. This is the only way that skills are transferred around the braai.
The Meat - The meat is entirely up to you. Chicken, sosaties, chops, wors, snoek, you name it, everything goes. Anything from your local supermarket or even better, the butcher will do the job. Don’t skimp on the meat because not even a braai will fix that “ou skaap vleis”.
Boerewors is known to burst open on the braai, resulting in the boerewors losing its tasty juices, and drying out! To prevent this, dip the boerewors in water right before cooking it. This will make the skin more elastic and prevent it from bursting open during the braai.
Using your potjie for the first time?
Fill the potjie with boiling water and wash it inside with dishwashing liquid. Don’t forget the lid. Dry the potjie and lid carefully with a clean cloth. Grease the potjie and lid with cooking oil. Heat up the potjie and lid over the hot coals, until the oil is sufficiently warm and starts to smoke a little. Now your potjie is ready to be used.
The Spices and Sauces - Braai salt is a must for the chicken. My favourite braai salt is the BBQ salt with garlic.
The Fire - Getting the coals at the right temperature is crucial. You don’t want burnt meat, but you also don’t want to run out of coals and have your chicken turn out “rare”. A rule of thumb for those beginners is once your wood has turn into glowing orange and red coals, and you can hold your hand over the coals for about 2-3 seconds, you can start the braai.
The Braai’ing of the meat - Always start with the chicken as it takes the longest. It really is the weirdest thing, but chicken wings and drumsticks take surprisingly long relative to their size. Next you can slap on the chops, sosaties or whatever you having to braai. You can put everything on at the same time if you have the space, but as I say, get that chicken on first.
Sprinkle the spices onto the chicken on both sides. Don’t be shy with the braai salt. If using normal pepper and salt, I wouldn’t put too much salt on the chicken. Marinate the chops a couple of hours beforehand if possible, otherwise keep coating the chops with your sauce while they on the braai.
Remember to also keep turning the meat. You want the chicken to be golden brown all the way round, and the chops to look slightly crispy and juicy. Chicken must be slightly moist (no juice) and your chops must be pink with no blood. Wors, which goes on last as it cooks the quickest, must not be pink inside, but brown.
Cook the steak on medium to high heat to seal in the juices.
Try brushing butter, or for the health conscience, olive oil on the steak before cooking, combine this with your prefered spices. I melt some butter in a bowl and add garlic salt, onion salt, and worchester sauce, I then brush this on before cooking and brush on again after flipping the steaks.
Use tongs or a spatula, do not pierce the meat while cooking.
Only flip the steaks one time, half the cooking time one side and half on the other. This will preserve those tasty juices. Let the steak rest a few minutes. If you do this with a good grade ribeye steak you will have a small puddle of juice on your plate and the steak will be so moist the juice will follow your knife as you cut it.
Braai’ing a Snoek - Fish is a very tricky thing to braai, especially snoek. But the very best way I have found to have a moist and tasty snoek is to braai it in a foil jacket.
Also just as important is the sauce you must cook the snoek with. Take some lemon, lots of garlic, lots of butter and some apricot jam and cook in a pot on the stove. Keep stirring the sauce until everything has melted. Keep to one side while you make the foil jacket.
Create the foil jacket by taking a very large piece of foil, and placing the snoek in the one half of the foil. Pour all the sauce over the fish. Now fold the foil over the snoek until the bottom and top end touch. (Foil comes in long pieces, so take the bottom and top end of the long piece and fold in half.). Then take the edges and fold over and over until you create a packet of sorts. It must be completely airtightbecause once you put it on the grid which is over your coals, the packet will blow up like a balloon and the snoek will cook in the steam that the juices create. This gives the snoek a moist texture, which is exactly what you want. No one likes a dry snoek.Once the packet has blown up, it should take between 15-20 minutes until the snoek is cooked through.
The Other Things - Let the women take care of the salads, breads and so forth. If you want to cook the garlic bread on the fire, that should take around 5 minutes. To see if its ready, take your tongs and press the bread from both sides. If it’s soft, its ready.
The Unsaid Rules Of The Braai - All guys have their way of doing things, and when its not your turn to braai, shut up and drink your beer. Offer to help, but if the braaier declines your offer, stay well away from his meat, unless he asks you to keep an eye on it while he pops inside to the toilet or to grab more spices and sauces. Also don’t offer your advice on how to braai, because you definitely won’t crack an invite the next time your mates decide to braai. Rather wait until its your turn to braai to show off your skills. Your mates will quickly thank your slick hands and meat handling which they will, in time, try out themselves. This is the only way that skills are transferred around the braai.
Cooking Times
The cooking times for steak obviously vary depending on thickness and how well you like it done. Just don’t cut the steak open during cooking to see if it’s done, as this allows the juices to escape. And that could make the steak tough.
Use this as a guideline:
1.5cm-thick steak:
Rare – 1-1 1/2 minutes each side
Medium - 2-3 minutes each side
Well done - 3-4 minutes each side
2-3cm-thick steak
:Rare – 2-3 minutes each side
Medium - 4-5 minutes each side
Well done - 5-6 minutes each side
And to check if it’s done, just press the back of the tongs into the steak and:
Rare – soft
Medium - slightly firmer and springy
Well done - very firm with no spring
To take your perfectly cooked steak to the next level, the perfect marinade can help.
Marinades for steak contain 1-2 tablespoons of acidic liquids, like vinegar, wine or citrus based juices in each cup of marinade.
Don’t use any more than that as it can dry out your steak.
Use this as a guideline:
1.5cm-thick steak:
Rare – 1-1 1/2 minutes each side
Medium - 2-3 minutes each side
Well done - 3-4 minutes each side
2-3cm-thick steak
:Rare – 2-3 minutes each side
Medium - 4-5 minutes each side
Well done - 5-6 minutes each side
And to check if it’s done, just press the back of the tongs into the steak and:
Rare – soft
Medium - slightly firmer and springy
Well done - very firm with no spring
To take your perfectly cooked steak to the next level, the perfect marinade can help.
Marinades for steak contain 1-2 tablespoons of acidic liquids, like vinegar, wine or citrus based juices in each cup of marinade.
Don’t use any more than that as it can dry out your steak.
Best Way To Marinade Meat
One of the easiest ways you’ll every come across to help enhance both the flavour and the tenderness of your meat is to marinate.
No matter the actual taste of the marinade itself, the key to creating the ultimate meaty dish is to bear the following guidelines in mind:
Extra Tips
Marinades which contains wine, alcohol or salt can denature the food i.e. chemically cook the meat.
For that reason you should never marinade your meat for more than 4 hours.
Citrus juices on the other hand should only be used for 2 hours or less, as after 2 hours your meat will taste too acidic.
No matter the actual taste of the marinade itself, the key to creating the ultimate meaty dish is to bear the following guidelines in mind:
- If you are dealing with Aberdeen Angus sirloins or rib eye, it is important that before you marinate that you trim/cut the meat.
- Depending on the type of marinade you have chosen to use, certain ingredients will reduce the amount of time your fillet steaks can be marinated for. For instance, if your marinade contains wine, lemon juice, vinegar, salt or alcohol, these will alter your marinade time (see below for more information).
- Using a non-reactive, sealed container combine your meat and marinade together. NOTE: When you pick a container make sure you don’t opt for aluminium, cast iron or any type of metal as this will affect the flavour of the marinade and the meat. If possible, use a plastic re-sealable bag as this will enable you to ensure all surfaces of the meat are covered in the marinade.
- Immediately put into the fridge and marinate for the required time. As mentioned before this will depend on the type of meat, marinade and its ingredients.
- When ready remove from the fridge and cook. Remember: even though the meat is covered in the marinade it is still raw meat so make sure to wash your hands after handling.
Extra Tips
Marinades which contains wine, alcohol or salt can denature the food i.e. chemically cook the meat.
For that reason you should never marinade your meat for more than 4 hours.
Citrus juices on the other hand should only be used for 2 hours or less, as after 2 hours your meat will taste too acidic.