Ultimate Braaimaster inspired steak

To braai or not to braai? What a stupid question to ask most South African men.  Braai of cause.  South Africans' love for braai has led to a reality outdoor cooking (on coals) show called The Ultimate Braaimaster that airs on SABC 3.  Their motto is, Come rain or shine or wind or snow... we braai.  Enough said really.  Even though I haven't got the cooking skills to enter it myself the show is a source of inspiration for my own braais.  One of these inspirations came from Jacques and Nadia of team Good Better Braai who replaced cheese sauce with a melting Camembert in one of the latter rounds of the competition.  I just had to try it.  Medium t-bone, mushrooms fried in my little black pot over the coals and Camembert cheese wrapped in foil to melt before going onto the steak.  Served with oven fried potato wedges and fresh salad.  My mouth is watering all over again.  Think I should go and light a fire.  

Potjiekos 101

In South Africa a braai (and please note how I say braai and not barbecue as barbecue is a chips flavour) is as part of the nation's heritage as ice is part of the North Pole.  In my opinion a braai is also just a proper braai when you start with burning wood to create coals.  But that is a discussion for a whole other day.  Something that is very much part of the braai culture is potjiekos.  Potjiekos literally translates as "small pot food" and is a stew prepared outdoors and traditionally cooked in a round, three-legged cast iron pot.  

 

When the Dutch first came to the Cape they brought with them their ways of cooking food in heavy cast iron pots. These pots would hang from the kitchen hearth above the fire and was used to cook and heat water. The black people of South Africa also used cast iron pots to cook in, something they learned from Middle Eastern traders and later Portuguese colonists.

 

During the Great Trek in the 1800's the Voortrekkers hung their pots from their wagons and when they got to their over night stops they would put the pots straight onto the fire to cook or heat their food in. The beauty of cast iron pots is that they are able to retain heat well and only a few coals are needed to keep the food simmering for hours as the heat and steam doesn't escape from the lid. 

  

This post isn't about the origins about potjiekos though but rather to show you more about making a potjie and also what a potjiekos competition is.  The pictures were taken at a potjiekos competition I was part of a little while ago. A potjiekos competition is something like Ultimate Braaimaster or Master Chef where groups of people prepare meals in potjies to be judged. In this case its just not for television but rather done during festive weekends and often in plattelandse dorpies. Ok, not just little towns as you get to see it in the cities as well.



The most popular pot to use is the no 3 pot which makes enough for about 4 to 6 people to eat from. and what you make with it is only limited by your own imagination. Let me explain why. Well, you can make just about anything in the pot. I normally have a small pot on the side in which I make chicken livers while another favorite is making pot bread to eat with the potjiekos. The potjiekos itself range from meat potjies to vegetable, seafood to chicken and pasta to desserts.

 

The way to make your potjiekos is to start off with some oil in the bottom of your pot.  Remember how Shrek said that ogres have layers like onions? Well, potjiekos is also made up of layers.  You start off with your meat in the bottom of the pot, browning it on both side to seal in the flavour.  Cook the meat for a little while longer and then add the onions followed by the vegetables which get placed in the order it takes them to be cooked.  Start off with potato and carrots followed by pumpkin, mushroom, peas and tomatoes right at the top.  This is obviously just a suggestion as you add whatever tickles your fancy.  Some people add their sauce or wine straight after their meat.  I like to add mine after the veg.  A watery potjie is never good so don't add to much water.  Importantly, and this is the main difference between a potjie and a stew, don't stir until right at the end.

 

One of the best parts of being at a potjiekos competition is taking a walk around past the competitiors to see what they are preparing and to get some ideas for your own future creations.  The competition in question was at the Montagu Caravan Park in the Western Cape and there were probably about 20 entries with a huge veriety of pots and side dishes on offer.

 



The judges really had their jobs cut out for them moving from pot to pot tasting everything, taking notes and deliberating.  Even though there were some outstanding dishes there could only be one winner.  

The lamb shank pot close to where I was sitting smelled and looked outstanding but eventually it had to bend the knee to a couple of guys from the West Coast with their Abelone (yes they had a permit for it) pot and it's side dishes which included crayfish tails.  Yum yum yum...  South African cultural food at it's best.

The Ark in Joubertina

Most people travelling between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town either barrel down the Garden Route's N2 in eight hours or explore the area over a period of several days.  Sadly very few people travel through the Langkloof along this beautiful section of Route 62, better known for the part running through the Klein Karoo.  The Langkloof isn't a popular tourist destination, not because of a lack of beauty but rather because of its direct competition on the other side of the mountains.  This means that the tourism infrastructure isn't that well developed, but what is there is well worth a visit.  Farm accommodation on working farms, mountain trails, adventure outings and most importantly, good old farming hospitality.

 The biggest town in the Langkloof is Joubertina.  The town was founded in 1907 and named after W A Joubert who was minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in Uniondale between 1878 and 1893.  At one stage the twon was a dry town meaning no alcohol was alloed to be sold in the town.  This meant that the hotel with its pub and off sales was built outside the town boundaries.  My grandparents lived in Joubertina for most of their lives and my mom grew up and went to school there.  We still have family on my mom's side who live in the Langkloof who we don't get to visit nearly enough.

 

On the road through the town visitors will find The Ark.  Its a place to stretch your legs, fill your tummy, get something cold to drink and get some information and direction to your next destination.

Travelling through the Langkloof back from Oudtshoorn early January, we stopped at The Ark for lunch.  I had a Langkloof Burger with beef patty, bacon, egg, cheese, onions and... wait for it... home made hand cut chips.  Probably the best burger I had during the whole 16 day holiday.  So next time you have to travel between the Western and Eastern Cape, why not change your regular route and take in some sights in the Langkloof?

Cherries in bacon and steak stuffed with mussels

For the last couple of years we've been away from home on a camping trip over Christmas and every year tried to make something special for Christmas lunch.  This year we were camping in Montagu in the Western Cape and decided to go out for Christmas lunch, but alas, by the time we were looking the few places open that day were fully booked already.  "Whatever!" *imagine me saying that with my finger waving in the air* We decided rather to spoil ourselves with a lekker Christmas lunch made over the coals at the campsite.  It so much better than sitting in a stuffy restaurant and works out cheaper anyway.  Plus I can do what most South Africans do well. Braai!

 

As a starter we decided on good ol' cherries and dates wrapped in bacon.  Usually I only do cherries, but we bought dates at the Montagu Dried Fruit shop the previous day so I wrapped a few of those as well.  I prefer to use streaky bacon as they are narrow and wrap around the cherries very nicely.  They also have enough fat on them to grill nice and crispy.  Seeing that bacon is getting more and more expensive I stretched my bacon use by cutting them in half and was able to make twice as many as I would have using a whole strip per cherry. 

 

Rather than standing there and turning them individually... one by one... and taking a chance of them burning, I throw the wrapped cherries (and dates) into my sandwich grid which makes it a lot easier to braai them.

 

Personally I could make a whole meal of cherries wrapped in bacon, but good thing that wasn't the plan cause Drama Princess tucked into them with such ferocity that I probably would have been left hungry afterwards.

The main which I was preparing while the wrapped cherries were braai'ing away was fillet steak stuffed with smoked mussels, cheese and garlic.  Yes you read right, fillet stuffed with smoked mussels, cheese and garlic.  It was Christmas Day after all so why not pull out all the stops?  Making it was straight forward.  Take the tube of fillet, cut it in pieces and then cut open.  The filling was quite easy.  I took a tin of smoked mussels and mixed it in a bowl with grated cheese and crushed garlic. Lots of crushed garlic.  Stuff the fillet with the filling and stitch is closed with toothpicks.

At the same time as the cherries were on the coals I started with my cheese and mushroom sauce for the steak.  The fresh mushrooms were cut into slices and fried in my little black pot over the coals.  To this I added a packet of Ina Paarman's cheese sauce and some grated cheese.  At this stage the sauce was just waiting for the steak to come off the coals.

There it is, the final product. Served on a plastic camping plate (so no chirps about the design now) with carrot salad and baked potato. Nom Nom Nom!!!

 

That is about the best I can do on a fire though. Wish I knew more about food so that I could enter season two of the Ultimate Braai Master.  I learned so much from watching the first series and every week I was inspired to try something different the following weekend.  Perhaps if I keep working on it I would be ready for season 3.

Fruit vendor

Beautiful and fresh fruit and vegetables.  Every housewife and mother's dream.

I just wonder if they would be willing to buy it from a makeshift structure in the middle of New Brighton in Port Elizabeth and not from a supermarket?  The housewives and mothers from the township do but I'm very curious how many suburban ladies would.

Tsisha Nyama

What do you do when you're taking a foreign journalist around and he wants to have something local for lunch? Well, I phoned a colleague at work and suggested that we take him for liver and stew in the township.  He then suggested that we do something else and take the journalist for a traditional ikasi tsisha njama (township braai or barbeque).  Sisha Njama is a Zulu phrase and literally means "burn the meat" while in Xhosa it is spelled Tsisha Njama.  I am a proud Afrikaner and just like the Xhosas, Zulus and other black groups in South Africa a braai is very much part of my cultural and traditions.  The only problem was that I have never been for a proper township braai which meant that this experience was as new to me as for the journalist.

A township tsisha nyama is normally linked to a butchery and to be able to use the braai facility you have to buy your meat from the butchery.  Lifa and Mafa in Zwide, Port Elizabeth has a butchery on par with anything I've seen in the suburbs and we stocked up on enough lamb chops, chicken and boerewors (sausage) for six... just in case we were very hungry.  The meat is spiced and wrapped in brown paper ready for you to throw onto the coals.  Now if I can just find out what their secret spice is cause damn it tasted good.

 

The next step is to head around the building to the back where the fires burn all day long making coals for hungry patrons to braai on.  Most guys braai their own meat although you can also ask the guys who work there to do it for you in return for a tip.  Coals are scooped into the braai's and all you have to do is put on the meat and start "burning the meat".  I did turn one or two heads who weren't quite used to seeing a white guy there, but that was just momentory amazement.  The fact that the locals where just surprised and didn't make an issue of it shows how far our rainbow nation has come.

Is it just me or can I smell the meat... hear it sizzling... see it turn brown... taste it... even though its only a picture.  My mouth is watering right now.

 

Once the meat is done it gets placed back into the brown paper (and in our case into a chicken box) and it is ready to eat.  There are no plates (you eat it out of the box), no cutlery (you eat with your fingers) and no napkins (you just tear off a piece of the brown paper and wipe your fingers on that).  Nothing fancy, just pure indulgence. 

Township lunch - Beef stew and liver

"Are you joining us for lunch of liver and stew in the township ?"  That was the question one of my colleagues asked me the other day.  Now I can be a bit of a picky eater and there are a couple of things I won't touch.  So I thought about it... for about two seconds... and agreed.  And to be very honest, I haven't been sorry I did.  There we were, a Xhosa, two Afrikaners and a Coloured, four South Africans from vastly different backgrounds, heading into the heart of Zwide.  As we walked in one of the locals said, "Just what I like to see.  The rainbow nation getting together to eat in the township."

Before we left the office we phoned ahead to check if they had everything and heard that they were sold out of roosterkoek already.  Good thing we phoned.  A quick stop in New Brighton meant that we came prepared with our own (with prior permission of cause).  The eatery, and I call it that because its nothing like a restaurant as you would know it, doesn't even have a sign outside and I would have passed right by if I was looking for it on my own.  We made ourselves comfortable and Mr X, being the township expert in the group having grown up there, suggested that we start out with beef stew.

I hate to sound like Oom Oubaas, one of South Africa's most beloved television soapy characters, but I can't help it cause its true.  "We chewed our lips off."  The roosterkoek was used to wipe our plates clean after we had eaten every little morsel.  My mouth's watering again.  That was our starter done and time to order our main meal.

Lamb liver and fried onions - two plates between the four of us - washed down with Coca-Cola.  Yummy, yum yum.  The Damselfly doesn't eat liver, so I very rarely get to eat it at home.  This means I really tucked in and by the end of it I was so stuffed I couldn't look at another piece of food.  Most whites would probably never have the opportunity to try a township meal like this but I would really recommend that they get a black friend to take them for the experience.  Since this I've also had the chance to go for a traditional Shisa nyama (township braai or barbeque), but more about that in another post. 

Kalk Bay Harbour

Compared to big city harbours the fishing harbour at Kalk Bay really has something special to it and when visiting you won't get stopped by security at the gate, except if the parking lot is full.  Kalk Bay Harbour is primarily a fishing harbour so that is what you will see.  Fishing boats leaving pre-dawn and returning in the afternoons with their catch, fishing boats off loading and fishing boats moored at quayside.  The majority of the boats in the harbour are painted in bright colours which means that they are very popular with anybody wearing a camera over the shoulder. 
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But the harbour isn't just about the fishing boats.  Its also about people.  The locals gather on the breakwater to wet their lines or just sit and discuss things while visitors look on hoping to see somebody catch something.  Its amazing how easy strangers can start a conversation and it is no different here with most of the visitors ending up chatting to the locals asking about the (potential) catch.
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The harbour also has a vibrant fish market where you can by your fish fresh off the boats with snoek being a favorite.  The local "tannies" will also clean your fish for a fee and I stood there in amazement watching them scrape and cut away.
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We ended our visit to the harbour with fish and chips at Kalkies.  Who wants to sit in a fancy seafood place if there is a traditional fish and chips shop right there on the harbour with great views over the surrounding area?  Plus four of us ate for the price one would pay in the fancy restaurant.  Suddenly I feel like fish and chips tonight.

Fish on the Rocks

Everybody loves fish and chips and every city or town has a good fish and chips shop on a corner somewhere.  But good isn't always best and for the best fish and chips around one has to head past the harbour at Hout Bay and down to Fish on the Rocks.  Africa's favorite (as they put it) fish and chips shop was started by the Brodericks 23 years ago and has become a very popular stop for both locals as well as national and international visitors.

The choice between hake, snoek, yellowtail, calamari and prawns make it quite difficult to decide what to order and my choice the day of our visit was deep fried snoek.  I can just taste that snoek again along with the smell of vinegar on the chips. Mmmmmmmmmm......

The best way to experience your meal at Fish on the Rocks is actually down on the rocks next to the restaurant overlooking the bay and mountains beyond.  Ours was a windy day but the Damselfly still wanted to go and sit on the rocks.  Even if it was just with a ice cream.

Bain Street Grill - Port Elizabeth

Over the last couple of years the area around Stanley Street in Richmond Hill has developed into a hub of restaurants, side walk eateries and deli's and has become one of the best places to go for a meal in Port Elizabeth.  One of the restaurants I have heard a lot about but hadn't had a chance to visit is the Bain Street Grill (32 Bain Street, Richmond Hill) just around the corner from Stanley Street.  But this was about to change when I made a booking to visit it with a bunch of visiting journalists.  My first surprise of the evening came as soon as we walked in the front door.  The Bain Street Grill is a small cosy restaurant (for some reason I was expecting a big "Spur" like place) with only about 9 or 10 tables which means that there are far less noise and much better service.  On the night we were there there was one waitress handling the orders for all the tables (and doing a very good job) while a second made sure drinks were delivered and topped up without anybody going thirsty. 

My second surprise came when we weren't handed menu's but rather was told that everything on offer is up on the walls.  This meant that there was a lot more discussion between everybody on what to have rather than the usual hiding behind the menu and peeking around it wondering what the others are having.  Another thing I liked about the restaurant was the open plan kitchen in which you could see the chef preparing the food and, even though he was probably busy as hell, he looked as cool as a cucumber. 

My big surprise was the food.  Priced lower than it's competition, the food was excellent and the portions generous.  No fancy garnishes and things (In Afrikaans we would say "fieterjasies"), just plain good food.  I thought that the vegetable kebab was a brilliant touch so in between the calories, cholesterol and carbs you do get something healthy in as well.  Although there were a lot of stuff on the menu that looked good I was recommended the Ribs beforehand and I wasn't disappointed. F-I-N-G-E-R  L-I-C-K-I-N-G good and "fall off the bone" soft.

One of the ladies had fish, Cajun Kingklip if I remember correctly.  My first thought was why order fish as a grill restaurant is often associated with meat, but according to her she would order it again any day. She also opted for the healthier option and had it with veg.

I'm not a prawn man myself but I have to admit that the Surf and Turf option of steak and prawns looked divine.  Other than big smiles and thumbs up I didn't get a comment on this dish though cause the ones having it had their mouths full all the time.  All in all I have to say that we had a stunning evening of good food and good company in an excellent and recommendable restaurant and I am honestly looking forward to my next visit to Bain Street Grill. 

We visited Bain Street Grill on a recommendation and not on invitation and paid for the bill

Kuzuko Lodge dinner

Today's post is a follow-up on yesterday's one featuring Kuzuko Lodge.  After returning from our evening game drive we just had enough time to put our things down and change before dinner time up in the restaurant.

The Damselfly contemplating what to have for dinner

Dinner was a la carte and my choice was a starter of Butternut Soup followed by Smoked Salmon and salad.  My main meal was steak and vegetables and dessert consisted of White Chocolate and Berry Mousse.