Try this three-course fireside feast with SA’s braai maestro Jan Braai
He’s put the bountiful South African braai on the global stage and recently released yet another bestseller in the making — a sumptuous braai book showing how to elevate the humble “braaibroodjie” to something rather special.
Jan Scannell – better known as ”Jan Braai” – was the mastermind behind the 2005 National Braai Day initiative, which continues to see thousands of South Africans enthusiastically lighting fires every Heritage Day.
Though 2020 was a trying year for many, Jan says he is grateful to have had a largely productive 12 months of brilliant braaing, writing and filming.
Q&A with Jan Braai
The South African caught up with Jan around the braai fire to find out how 2020 had treated him and what he has at the end of his braai tongs for the coming year.
It was tough for many, but did 2020 have some highlights for you?
I have huge sympathy for all those who were physically or financially affected by COVID-19, and those who lost loved ones. For me, however, 2020 was a pretty interesting year. We started travelling in January for the filming of the Jan Braai vir Erfenis television show and had a wonderful time in the Transkei area.
In February, we spent a memorable two weeks in Zimbabawe travelling along the Zambezi river upstream of Victoria Falls to Lake Kariba. In March, we toured Argentina, but that was cut short at the end to make it home for lockdown! But it was pretty special as well.
April and May I spent at home training on my indoor bicycle and rower, braaing two or three times a day and drinking a lot of wine. The rest of the year was spent getting to grips with the current version of life.
Where are you spending the summer holidays?
I like to travel, both for work and pleasure. Currently international travel is not practical, so that means more time at home around the braai fire, more time on my bicycle and more time in the sea. I live in Cape Town so my typical cycle is on my road bike, a Trek Madone, to Chapman’s Peak.
I cannot claim to be a surfer as I don’t surf that well, but I like to be in the sea. I have a new Minimal — a board for people like me, which makes it a bit easier — and I intend getting more acquainted with this board over summer. It’s from South African brand RYD and has a very light core, so it’s easy to carry, but it’s finished to look like a wooden board from the 1970. So, even if I am not so good at surfing, it looks really cool in photos!
When I am at home there’s no difference between summer holidays or the rest of the year. I spend my private time with friends and family.
How can we adapt our braais to be more COVID-friendly?
Braai is probably the most COVID-friendly activity you can do. It’s private, can be done in small groups and outside, plus you have almost complete control over health and sanitation. Since the start of the first lockdown in March 2019, there has been a huge surge in people braaing in South Africa.
Who would have thought a year ago it’s possible for South Africans to braai more than we already do? Well it’s possible.
With more people working from home you can now light at fire after your last Zoom call or e-mail at the end of the day. No sitting in traffic for an hour — straight to lighting the fire. There are real COVID transmission uncertainties around gathering in large groups in public places, so braaing at home is a perfect way of socialising in small groups and, of course, preparing great food!
What was your most memorable summer holiday and did it involve braaing?
My most memorable summer holiday was the last one, as it’s the one I can remember best. In November I did a week-long road trip up the West Coast, where every day started with coffee and rusks, some or other sea activity, lunch in a West Coast town restaurant with fish and white wine, a lazy afternoon and braais in the evenings.
Places like Saldanha, Trekoskraal, Paternoster, Elandsbaai, Lambertsbaai, Dorningbaai and Strandfontein… But seriously, South Africa, is the best country in the world and I have had a lifetime of wonderful summers here.
Any projects you are excited about for 2021?
On a personal level I am as nervous as everyone else to see how COVID-19 plays out. I hope we can all be safe and healthy, and that people are financially OK, recovering, coping and making plans.
Professionally, I am always most excited about National Braai Day on 24 September. It’s the day I most look forward to, when all South Africans are united around fires, and this will be the 17th year that we celebrate National Braai Day in South Africa.
In the buildup to that, we will host the National Braai Tour, a week-long road-trip where members of the public join us for seven days of braai, camp and party. Both the Jan Braai Cycle Tour and Jan Braai Marathon were sold out in 2020, and were postponed by a year, so hopefully we can get those events done in 2021.
Are you developing any products and what’s happening with ‘Jan Braai vir Erfenis’?
We launched three new lines of Jan Braai Boerewors recently — chorizo, spicy Italian (salsiccia) and peachwors (like my original boerewors but with 20% of the meat replaced with preserved and dried peaches). These are available at Food Lover’s Market stores and sales are growing as people get exposed to the products.
In February, we’re starting to travel along the South African coast to film the 11th season of Jan Braai vir Erfenis and I am as excited about that as I was for season one a decade ago. Most of all, I am excited to braai with everyone I like to braai with that I did not get to braai with in 2020!
Jan Braai’s three-course fire-side menu
All three recipes below are from Jan’s latest book, Braaibroodjies and Burgers, which was released in October 2020.
Recipe 1: Spanakopita braaibroodjie
The word spanakopita can literally be translated as “spinach pie” and is, of course, a very famous and popular Greek dish, Jan says.
“The ingredients below are pretty regulation for a spanakopita, apart from swapping phyllo or pie pastry in the pie variation for sliced bread in my braaibroodjie take.”
WHAT YOU NEED
(makes 6)
- 12 bread slices
- Butter or olive oil
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves (crushed and chopped)
- 400g baby spinach (or normal spinach, finely sliced)
- 200g feta (crumbled)
- 240g Cheddar (sliced or grated)
- Salt and pepper
WHAT TO DO
Heat a tot of oil or butter in your pan and fry the onion and garlic until soft. Add spinach and fry for a few minutes untilwilted and half the size, and any excess water released has cooked off.
Remove from heat, add feta and mix well. Season.
Build the braaibroodjies: Spread butter or olive oil on one side of each slice of bread (these sides will be outward-facing in the assembled braaibroodjie). Pack half of these slices buttered-side down and layer with the spinach mixture and cheese. Close braaibroodjies with remaining bread slices, buttered sides facing upwards.
“Braaibroodjies is draaibroodjies”: Braaibroodjies should be turned often and braaied in a closed, hinged grid. You want medium-paced, gentle heat and the grid should be relatively high. Your aim is for the cheese to be melted and all other fillings to be completely heated by the time the outsides are golden brown.
TIP: Slightly opening and closing your hinged grid a few times after each of the first few turns of the braai process helps the braaibroodjies not to get stuck to the grid.
Once done, slice each braaibroodjie in half. “Generally, I believe that the correct way to slice braaibroodjies is diagonally and the correct time to serve is immediately,” Jan says.
A NOTE ON THE SPINACH: Jan uses baby spinach and has specified 400g in the recipe as baby spinach is commonly sold in such pack sizes in South Africa, but the idea is not to whip out a kitchen scale and measure this precisely, he says.
“Same goes for my suggested quantities of feta and Cheddar – it’s how supermarkets often sell it, at the time of writing, and consequently, how I suggest you use it. One pack and the whole pack – whatever ballpark figure that pack size might be.”
Recipe 2: Fillet and bone marrow burger
“When you’re feeling flush and want to go full throttle on the opulent life, the logical patty for your hamburger should be a medallion of fillet steak. It’s lean, very tender, round (generally in the shape of a patty) and should be braaied over very hot coals to medium-rare perfection.
“And because of the largesse of the burger at hand, the most obvious topping to adjust the juiciness and flavour is braaied beef bone marrow. The rest of the supporting actors in this play chose themselves.”
WHAT YOU NEED
(makes 4)
- 800g fillet steak
- 4 hamburger rolls
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 4 marrow bone portions (a portion being a lengthwise-halved bone of around 10cm)
- 2 tots mayonnaise
- 1 punnet rocket leaves
- 2 tomatoes (sliced)
- 1 lemon
- Spring onions (chopped)
- 1 tot Dijon mustard
WHAT TO DO
Light a big fire with your favourite braai wood. Cut the steak into four equal pieces and place it on a cutting board, lying sideways. Give each a solid whack or three with a meat mallet or similarly suitable item so that each fillet portion is now thinner and has a bigger diameter.
Drizzle the meat with olive oil and move around so all surfaces are coated with oil. Season well.
Braai the steaks over very hot coals for 8 to 10 minutes. Make sure you braai the fillets on all sides. A fillet medallion has four to six sides and all of them need to face the coals at some time.
While you braai the steak, braai the marrow bones too. Season and braai with the open marrow side facing the coals first until golden brown. Now turn them over, bone side facing the coals, and continue to braai until the marrow starts to bubble or easily comes loose from the bone when encouraged to do so by a spoon or fork.
Remove the steak from the fire and let the meat rest. Oil the insides of the cut rolls and toast on the grid, taking care not to burn them.
Assemble the burger: Roll, mayonnaise, tomato slices, rocket leaves, fillet steak; then scrape the marrow from the bones onto each steak and spread it all over; put lemon juice on the marrow, then spring onions, mustard on the inside of the top roll, and close it up.
Recipe 3: Marshmallow and chocolate braaibroodjie
Braaiing marshmallows on skewers over some gentle heat is nothing new and is always a winner. Having championed the chocolate braaibroodjie as a dessert of connoisseurs for a few years now, Jan says it logically follows that the Marshmallow and Chocolate Braaibroodjie “not only works, but works very well”.
“It’s a relatively easy braaibroodjie to braai because both marshmallow and chocolate are quite happy to melt quickly, so you’re quite likely to have the insides melted by the time the outsides are golden brown.
“And the bonus: constructing them is very straightforward as well when the crowd is baying for something sweet after a great meal.”
WHAT YOU NEED
(makes 6)
- 12 bread slices
- Butter
- 1 packet (150g) marshmallows
- 2 slabs (100g each) chocolate of your choice
WHAT TO DO
Cut marshmallows in half and roughly chop the chocolate.
Build the braaibroodjies: Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread (these sides will be outward-facing in the assembled braaibroodjie). Pack half these slices buttered-side down and layer with marshmallow and chocolate. Close the braaibroodjies with the remaining slices, buttered sides facing upwards.
Remember Jan’s “braaibroodjies is draaibroodjies” mantra — see the spanakopita braaibroodjie recipe further up for the best approach. Your aim is for the chocolate to be melted, and the marshmallows puffed and melted by the time the outsides are golden brown.
Once done, slice each braaibroodjie diagonally in half and serve immediately.
‘Braaibroodjies & Burgers’ is published by Human & Rousseau in Afrikaans and Book Storm in English. The recommended price is R370.
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