Red Hot

By Bookstorm

Red Hot follows on from Fireworks and moves beyond instructions for cooking steak on the fire. Jan challenges us to try more meals cooked on the fire - pancakes, chicken mayo toasted sandwiches or brandy tiramisu! The recipes are new but the book has the same fantastic photos, clear and easy-to-follow recipes and Jan's characteristic touches of braai humour.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bookstorm
• Release date: Aug 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781928257974

Book preview

Cover Image for DocumentNational Braai Day logo

This book is dedicated to the millions of South Africans who celebrate National Braai Day on 24 September every year.

In National Braai Day, we South Africans have a realistic opportunity to entrench a national day of celebration for our country, within our lifetimes. I believe that having a national day of celebration can play a significant role in nation-building and social cohesion as the observance of our shared heritage can truly bind us together.

In Africa, a fire is the traditional place of gathering. I urge you to get together with your friends and family around a fire on 24 September every year to celebrate our heritage, share stories and pass on traditions. Please help me spread that word!

Red Hot by Jan BraaiBookstorm publishers

CONTENTS

SOME WARM-UP THOUGHTS

KEEP IN MIND…

A ‘tot’ means a shot glass and holds 25 ml

Safety issues

Thickening of sauces, stews and potjies

Adding salt to your meal

Tomatoes

Measuring the internal temperature of meat

Recommended internal temperature for meat types

Potjies

The man-oven

BEEF

T-bone steaks with chilli butter

The Braai Gatsby

Bolognese

Rump sosaties with home-made sweet chilli sauce

Beef burger with bacon and a cheese sauce

Beef trinchado potjie

Fillet with red wine sauce

Braised oxtail

Steak and stout pie

Shish kebabs

Braaied masala beef marrow bones

Chilli con carne

Steak with mustard and brandy butter

Beef Madras curry

Steak burger with coriander and peri-peri sauce

Beef brisket in a man-oven

Meatballs in tomato sauce

Steak sandwich with mustard, mayo and caramelised onions

Beef goulash

Bobotie

CHICKEN

Pot roast chicken

Basil pesto pasta, with braaied chicken and mushroom

Jamaican jerk chicken or pork

Jan Braai chicken pie

Creole chicken curry

Chicken, Camembert, fig and bacon burger

Chicken Thai green curry

Peri-peri chicken livers

Chicken mayo braaibroodjies

Tandoori chicken

Coq au vin (chicken in wine)

Satay sauce with chicken sosaties

Butter chicken curry

Home-made mayonnaise, with braaied chicken and potato wedges

Chicken biryani

LAMB

Lamb rogan josh

Lamb neck and green bean potjie (groenboontjie bredie)

Bunny chow

Shepherd’s pie

Lamb and tomato potjie (tomato bredie)

SEAFOOD

Snoek pâté

Fish cakes

Seafood potjie

Seared tuna with sesame seeds

Trout fillets with dill butter

Prawn Thai red curry

PORK

Pork chops with plum sauce

Schweinshaxe (braaied pork knuckles)

Pork spareribs with fennel and chilli

Curried pork neck chops

Asian-style pork belly

OSTRICH & VENISON

Ostrich fillet salad

Venison sosaties

Klein Karoo ostrich burger

Leg of venison in port

OTHER AWESOME STUFF

Stokbrood

Braaied butternut soup

Baby potatoes with garlic, butter and rosemary

Creamy garlic mushrooms (on toast)

Cheese fondue

Spanakopita

Umngqusho (stampmielies)

Tailor-made braai salt

Cannelloni

Coleslaw with vinegar

Coleslaw with carrot and mayo

Spicy potato soup with chorizo

Roosterkoek

Macaroni and cheese potjie

Sweet butternut and creamed spinach

Rösti

Couscous

Vodka pasta

Minestrone

Mieliepaptert

Mediterranean-style stuffed flatbread

Spanish omelette

Vegetable pockets

How to cook rice

DESSERTS

Brandy Tiramisu

Benchmark malva pudding in a potjie

Apple tart in a potjie

Sago pudding

Pancakes

Glühwein

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Jan Braai stands in a village with tribespeople

SOME WARM-UP THOUGHTS

I once met a man who was unimpressed that I braaied things like boerewors and sosaties. He believed it’s not a real braai unless you’re braaing a solid piece of meat, big enough not to fall through the holes of your grid. As you work through this book you’ll notice I don’t share that view. I feel quite strongly that everything tastes better when you braai it.

THIS IS MY SECOND BOOK

Yes, there is another book out there called Jan Braai – Fireworks. That was my first book and this is my second one so don’t get confused. This book should be read as an extension of the first. Obviously you will be able to read, enjoy and prepare meals from this book without ever reading Fireworks but if you want to be properly educated in the art of braaing, read both. See Fireworks as the first half and Red Hot as the second half of a greater encyclopaedia on this fine and ancient art. The only recipe that is duplicated from Fireworks is that of Roosterkoek (page 160). This is because there are so many recipes in this book that should or could be served with fresh roosterkoek, I thought it would make life easier for you if we just included it in this book again for easy reference. At the time of writing this book you’re holding, Jan Braai – Fireworks had already been reprinted a few times and, naturally, the publisher has committed to continue printing it as long as the public continues to buy it. It goes without saying that if you do not enjoy this book, I strongly advise you not to buy Fireworks as the same person wrote it in a very similar style.

WARNING: THIS BOOK REQUIRES THE USE OF COMMON SENSE

I want to apologise in advance to those surprised or disappointed by this, but you’ll have to use your common sense and sound judgement when working your way through this book. Some of the statements I make are written like fact when they are clearly opinion. Most recipes are actually a matter of opinion. When I say, for example, that you need to add four cloves of garlic, that is not really a fact. If you like garlic, add more. If you don’t like garlic, add less. Braai recipes are a bit like ash, neither black nor white but rather various shades of grey. If a recipe calls for red wine and you only have white wine available, use it. If it calls for rump steak and you prefer sirloin, use that. If it says serves four and you are six people, then it will probably feed you just fine, in slightly smaller portions and with some extra bread or rice. Similarly, if I say it feeds eight but you have the front row of the local rugby club over for dinner, clearly no matter how much meat you braai, it will serve three. On the following pages are some more specific examples of instances at the braai when I expect you to use your common sense.

Jan Braai

Measuring equipment

KEEP IN MIND …

A ‘TOT’ MEANS A SHOT GLASS AND HOLDS 25 ML

I strongly believe in making life simpler rather than more complicated, for example the measuring system in my recipes: a cup (250 ml), a tot glass (25 ml) and a teaspoon (5 ml). Calibrate them by using water to check that five teaspoons go into a tot and that ten tots go into a cup. When the measuring cup, tot glass or measuring teaspoon is full but flat as it is when you fill it with liquid, it contains the given volume. If a recipe calls for half a cup just fill the cup or glass halfway. A tot glass is that same glass they serve shots from in pubs and in South Africa that is 25 ml. I think that even if you are braaing somewhere without them, you’ll still be able to guess to a fair degree of accuracy how big a cup, a tot and a teaspoon are.

SAFETY ISSUES

Braaing is a fun activity and you can have a cavalier approach to adding things like garlic and chilli; but stick to some basic health rules:

• Wash your hands well before you start preparing and handling the food.

• Keep meat that is marinating in a fridge. Use non-reactive bowls for marinating meat. These can be glass, plastic or stainless steel and should have lids. We call them ‘marinating bowls’ in the recipes.

• Don’t use marinade with raw meat juices in it as a sauce – either boil it first or paint it onto the meat before the last 5 minutes of braaing time so it has a chance to cook too. In the same vein, do not put braaied meat into the same container that held your raw meat before the braai.

THICKENING OF SAUCES, STEWS AND POTJIES

In a perfect world you’d never need to use a thickener. You would always have enough time and the ideal heat control to cook meat and vegetables till they are done, with just enough liquid to ensure that nothing burns. The liquid would be reduced just right, forming thick rich gravy in your potjie at the exact time the meat is tender yet before it’s overcooked. In real life it doesn’t work like that though. In this book you will come across many recipes for meals prepared in potjies that contain liquid or sauce. Sometimes you’ll need to add more liquid (like water) than indicated in the recipe as, for whatever reason (usually a hotter fire or a less tight fitting lid), your meal is simply drier and closer to burning than it should be. In other cases you’ll end up with a sauce that is too runny or a bit too watery. Try one of the following ways to get the consistency of sauce thicker and more like gravy in a potjie (be it a traditional potjie or a curry):

1. Sprinkle some flour over the meat at the beginning of the recipe, then fry it in oil/butter before you add the liquid – which in this book is usually water, wine or stock.

2. Add some raw diced or grated potato at the beginning of the recipe – a starchy vegetable that will help to thicken the sauce as it cooks away.

3. Reduce the liquid until it is the required consistency. This means you simply continue to cook the meal uncovered until enough water has evaporated and you are happy with the consistency. Remember that this will also concentrate the flavours so first reduce then add salt afterwards.

4. Stir in some cornflour mixed with a little water at the end of the cooking process, and let the sauce bubble a while until it has thickened. This is a very easy option that works almost instantly. The technique is mentioned a few times in this book but please, even when cornflour is one of the ingredients of a recipe, and mixing it in is one of the steps, don’t do it if you’re already happy with the consistency of the sauce. Then just ignore that ingredient and step. The cornflour will not add anything to the taste of the meal; it will simply thicken the sauce, so only use when necessary.

Remember that most meals thicken a bit on standing so you want to rather finish cooking it when it’s still a little runny, not when it’s already a little dry.

ADDING SALT TO YOUR MEAL

It’s a very good idea to follow my suggestion in many of the recipes and ‘add salt to taste’. This means you take a spoon, taste the meal, and add a little extra salt if you feel it needs more salt. When in doubt as to how much salt, rather add less than more. You can just place some salt on the table when you serve the meal, and everyone can make the final adjustment to the salt level in their food themselves. Once you’ve added too much salt, it is a very difficult process to reverse. It’s like trying to get toothpaste back into the tube.

These days, we are very fortunate with the ever-increasing variety and quality of salt available in South Africa, with local producers putting some quality products on the market. The cost of one packet of high quality salt is completely negligible compared to the cost of all the meat you will eat with that salt. In my opinion, using cheap salt is completely silly. At the braai fire you can use salt in a grinder, and at the table I like to serve salt flakes, both for taste and texture.

TOMATOES

One of the single biggest challenges our country faces foodwise is the lack of great tomatoes. Too many tomatoes sold in South Africa are not red enough but rather ‘light pink with a touch of green’, do not taste enough like tomato but more like water. So, when using tomatoes in potjies, you’ll need to add some canned tomatoes or tomato paste.

In this book I specify cans of tomatoes as ‘whole cherry’, ‘whole peeled’, and ‘chopped’. I prefer them in that order but you can use any of those options in any of the recipes irrespective of the one I specify in the recipe. The difference in result will be negligible.

MEASURING THE INTERNAL TEMPERATURE OF MEAT

In many of the recipes in this book I suggest braaing times but they can and will fluctuate due to factors such as: meat thickness, size of the fire, type of wood used, length of time you waited to start braaing after the fire was burnt out, wind speed and direction, and the height of the grid.

The length of time you braai the meat for is vitally important though, as the juiciness of the meat depends mainly on the final internal temperature of your meat. This means that the more ‘done’ you braai your meat, the drier it will be. Essentially you need to braai meat to exactly the point at which it is ready to be eaten and no more. To measure the