The classics.
Zero shortcuts.

Ingredients

• 1 kg boerewors, in one coil
• 6 soft white rolls, buttered
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 4 ripe tomatoes, grated (or 1 tin chopped tomatoes)
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt, black pepper, and a little chilli if you like

Method

1. Start the smoor at the fire's flame stage: soften the onions in oil in a pan or flat potjie until golden, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes and sugar, season, and let it simmer lazily for 25–30 minutes until thick and jammy. Taste. Adjust. Taste again.
3. When the coals reach the 8-second mark, braai the wors whole — never cut, never pierced — for 12–15 minutes, turning once or twice with tongs.
4. Rest it a few minutes, cut into roll lengths, and serve in buttered rolls under a generous spoon of smoor.

Ingredients

• 12 slices white bread
• Soft butter
• Chutney
• 200 g mature cheddar, grated
• 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 onion, very thinly sliced
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Butter the outside of every slice — the side that touches the grid. This is the whole secret.
2. Inside: chutney on one slice, then cheese, tomato, onion. Season the tomato layer. Close.
3. Pack them snugly into a hinged grid (toeklap-rooster) so they can be flipped as one.
4. Toast over low coals, turning every minute or two, for 8–12 minutes. When they're deep golden and the cheese surrenders, they're done. Cut diagonally. Obviously.

Ingredients

• 8 lamb loin or rib tjops, cut thick
• Olive oil
• Coarse salt and black pepper
• 1 tbsp dried origanum
• 1 lemon

Method

1. Take the tjops out of the fridge 30–45 minutes before braaiing. Cold meat and hot coals don't negotiate well.
2. Rub lightly with oil, then season with salt, pepper and origanum just before they go on.
3. Braai over hot-medium coals, 3–4 minutes a side for pink. Stand them fat-edge down on the grid for a minute or two until the fat is golden and crisp.
4. Rest for 5 minutes, squeeze lemon over, and serve. Anyone who asks for well-done gets the tjop nearest the edge.

Ingredients

• 1 leg of lamb (2–2.5 kg), deboned and butterflied
• 250 ml plain yoghurt
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 sprigs rosemary, needles chopped
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and coarse black pepper

Method

1. Whisk the yoghurt, lemon, garlic, rosemary and oil into a marinade; season it properly.
2. Score the thickest parts of the lamb so it lies roughly flat, then coat it in the marinade — at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
3. Braai flat over medium coals, fat side down first, turning every 10 minutes or so: 35–45 minutes for blushing pink at the thick end (60–63 °C on a thermometer, if you own one — you should).
4. Rest 10 minutes under foil, then slice across the grain. The thin ends are well done, the thick middle is pink — every guest gets exactly what they argue for.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg chicken thighs, cut in chunks
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp mild curry powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 125 ml smooth apricot jam
• 60 ml vinegar
• Salt
• Dried apricots & onion wedges, for the skewers

Method

1. Soften the onion in oil. Add curry powder, turmeric and garlic and fry for a minute until fragrant.
2. Stir in the jam and vinegar, simmer for 2 minutes, season, and cool completely.
3. Marinate the chicken in it overnight in the fridge.
4. Thread onto skewers (soak wooden ones for 30 minutes first), alternating chicken, dried apricot and onion.
5. Braai over medium coals for 12–15 minutes, turning often and basting with the leftover marinade — stop basting a few minutes before the end so it cooks through.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg pork spare ribs
• 125 ml tomato sauce
• 60 ml soy sauce
• 60 ml honey or smooth apricot jam
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Black pepper

Method

1. First cook: wrap the ribs in foil with a splash of water and cook in a 160 °C oven (or kettle braai, indirect) for about 1½ hours, until tender but not falling apart.
2. Whisk everything else together into a basting sauce.
3. Finish over medium coals: 10–15 minutes, basting and turning every few minutes, building up sticky layers until glossy and charred at the edges.
4. Cut between the bones and serve with a stack of serviettes you will run out of anyway.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg lamb ribs (or pork loin ribs), in racks
• Water to cover, 2 bay leaves, 1 tbsp salt
• 3 tbsp brown vinegar
• 3 tbsp smooth apricot jam
• 2 tsp ground coriander, salt and black pepper

Method

1. Simmer the ribs gently in salted water with the bay leaves for 45–60 minutes — tender, but not falling apart. (Do this in the afternoon; the fire can wait.)
2. Pat the racks dry and dust both sides with the coriander, salt and pepper.
3. Warm the vinegar and jam together into a sticky baste.
4. Over hot-medium coals, braai 15–20 minutes, basting and turning often, until burnished, sticky and crisp at the edges. Cut between the bones and lose all your dignity.

Ingredients

• 1 whole butterflied snoek (1.5–2 kg), fresh or properly thawed
• 125 ml smooth apricot jam
• 60 g butter
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Melt the jam, butter, lemon juice and garlic together at the side of the fire. Season the fish.
2. Lay the snoek skin-side down in a well-oiled fish grid. It braais skin-side down for nearly the whole time — the skin protects the delicate flesh.
3. Braai over medium coals for 20–25 minutes, basting generously every few minutes. Flip flesh-side down only for the last minute or two, for colour.
4. It's done when the thickest part flakes with a fork. Serve with roosterkoek and soetpatats.

Ingredients

• 500 g white bread flour
• 1 sachet (10 g) instant yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• ±300 ml lukewarm water
• 2 tbsp oil
• Butter, jam or cheese, to serve

Method

1. Mix the dry ingredients, add the water and oil, and knead for a good 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
2. Cover and prove somewhere warm until doubled — about an hour.
3. Knock down gently, divide into 8, shape into rough squares and rest another 15 minutes.
4. Braai on the cooler side of the grid over gentle coals, turning every few minutes, for 15–20 minutes. They're done when they sound hollow when tapped.
5. Break open, butter, and accept the compliments with humility you don't feel.

Ingredients

• 4 cups (1 litre) water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups maize meal
• A generous knob of butter
• For the sous: 2 tbsp oil, 2 onions (chopped), 6 ripe tomatoes (chopped), 1 tsp sugar, salt and pepper

Method

1. Bring the salted water to a rolling boil in a heavy pot at the side of the fire.
2. Rain in the maize meal while stirring with a wooden spoon until thick and smooth.
3. Turn the heat right down, cover, and let it steam for 30–40 minutes, stirring now and then. Stir in the butter at the end.
4. Meanwhile make the sous: soften the onions in oil, add tomatoes and sugar, season, and simmer to a rich, spoonable relish, 20–25 minutes.
5. Serve a heap of pap with a crater of sous, next to the wors. This is not negotiable either.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter or oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 250 ml tomato sauce
• 125 ml fruit chutney
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp brown vinegar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp mustard powder, pinch of chilli

Method

1. Soften the onion in butter at the edge of the fire; add the garlic for the last minute.
2. Stir in everything else with a splash of water.
3. Simmer lazily for 15–20 minutes until glossy and spoon-coating, stirring now and then.
4. Spoon over steak, burgers or wors. Refuses to explain its name; store a week in the fridge.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced, and 2 cloves garlic
• Salt, black pepper, a scrape of nutmeg
• 250 ml cream + 250 ml milk
• 1 sachet white onion soup (optional, classic)
• 150 g cheddar, grated

Method

1. Layer the potatoes, onion and garlic in a buttered foil dish or flat potjie, seasoning each layer.
2. Whisk the cream, milk and soup sachet together and pour it over. Seal with foil.
3. Bake 60–75 minutes in a kettle braai (or on a grid beside medium coals with coals on the lid) until a knife slides through without argument.
4. Uncover, top with the cheddar, and give it 15 minutes more until golden and bubbling. Guard it.

Ingredients

• 4 cups self-raising flour
• 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp salt
• 1 can (440 ml) lager, room temperature
• Butter — for the pot and melted for the top

Method

1. Stir the flour, sugar, salt and beer into a shaggy dough. Do not overwork it — this is a stir, not a workout.
2. Into a well-buttered flat potjie or heavy pot; brush the top with melted butter and put the lid on.
3. Bake beside gentle coals with a few coals on the lid, 45–60 minutes, turning the pot now and then.
4. It's done when it knocks hollow. Eat warm with butter, apricot jam, or next to the potjie.

Ingredients

• 1 cup maize meal
• 1 cup cake flour + 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp cold butter
• ±200 ml milk

Method

1. Whisk the maize meal, flour, baking powder and salt together; rub in the cold butter.
2. Stir in just enough milk for a soft, sticky dough.
3. Drop spoonfuls on top of a simmering potjie (or any stew at the fire), lid on.
4. Steam 20–25 minutes. The lid stays ON — a peeked-at dumpling is a flat dumpling, and the potjie's no-peeking law applies in full.

Ingredients

• 6 firm bananas, skin on
• 1 slab (150 g) milk or dark chocolate
• A handful of marshmallows (optional, for the youth)
• Foil — one square per banana

Method

1. Slit each banana through the skin along the inner curve — deep, but not through the far side.
2. Break the chocolate into squares and poke them into the slit, with a marshmallow or two if children are supervising.
3. Wrap each banana snugly in foil, slit side up.
4. Onto the dying coals for 8–10 minutes. The skins go black, the insides go molten. Open carefully and eat straight from the skin with a teaspoon.