Category Archives: Braai Information

Braai4Heritage is about creating a common day of celebration in South Africa. All you need to do is light a fire and braai on 24 September every year. You can also call it the annual day of party in South Africa. The full mission statement can be found here. To get this message to every citizen in the country is a full time job. Tonight I am attending a dinner called the “27 Dinner” which is basically a get together for powerful, influential nerds. Nerd being used in the cool sense of the word. The organisers have allowed me the opportunity to give a short talk on Braai4Heritage and what the idea behind National Braai Day is. What I also want to ask these influential people, is to use their influence and help in mobilising 50 million people around braai fires on 24 September. Here is how everyone can help (whether you are a nerd or not):

• If you have friends, tell them about it, and organise a braai for all of them on 24 September.
• If you have a blog, write about it, and encourage your readers to braai on 24 September.
• If you are on Facebook, become a fan of our Facebook page, and invite all your Facebook friends to be fans as well (this is a really stupid and obvious, but amazingly effective way in which to help).
• If you are on Twitter, re-tweet my braaiday propaganda.
• If you are a journalist, write an article about braaiday, preferably on the front page.
• If you are a radio DJ, talk about braaiday on air with your listeners.
• If you are a TV presenter, just mention it. Somewhere in your program, with a call to action.

None of the above is rocket science, and none of the above will cost you a cent. You do not need to donate money, you do not need to go to lectures, you do not need to stand in queues. To help us is easy, and free. And to take part in braaiday is even easier. All you need to do is have fun on 24 September. Simple as that.

One of the guys that stood next to me on the top of Kilimanjaro, Justin Hollis, sent me the Afrikaans part of what follows below. The original text is entitled “Nataniël se braai etiket” (Nataniël’s braai etiquette). How Justin knows who Nataniël is remains a mystery. An even bigger mystery is how Justin, a thoroughbred English South African, understands one word of the original text. So for the benefit of Justin and all other non-Afrikaans speaking braaiers, I include English comments after each point. The original Afrikaans text includes a few swearwords; please ignore the Afrikaans parts if this will offend you.

Nataniël busy not braaing. Source of picture unknown.

Fokus Mense, Fokus! – Focus people, focus!

1. Doen so bietjie moeite met jou aankoop van jou vleis. ‘n Braai is ‘n ernstige ding, benader dus jou aankope ook so. In die ou dae was jou slagter amper familie. Jy het hom immers meer gesien as jou dokter. Deesdae is dinge soveel makliker en onpersoonlik. Rakke het gesigte vervang met die gevolg dat die jonger geslag onbekend geraak het oor wat nou eintlik goeie vleis is. As ‘n ding goed verpak is dan lyk hy mos gaaf genoeg om te braai. Kak man! So, as jy nie vleis ken nie, vra jou slagter. Make an effort when you buy meat, braaing is serious business. If you don’t know your meat, ask your butcher. This is something that I have repeatedly said on this website. Buy meat from a butcher that you trust, and ask his advice.
2. Daar is nie ‘n ding soos ‘n te warm vuur nie. Dikker snitte vir braai! Dun steak is altyd taai en proe kak. There is not such thing as too hot coals. Here I could not agree more, especially when it comes to steak.
3. Steaks is medium-rare en miskien selfs medium. As jy van jou vleis ‘well-done’ hou, gebruik ‘n blowtorch en hou jou vleis van ‘n braaier af. Hardloop dan ook sommer in ‘n muur vas. Herhaaldelik! Rare is net vir persone wat die smaak van vleis opreg waardeer! Steaks should be served medium rare. We are now on 3 out of 3 in terms of me agreeing with Nataniël.
4. ‘n Steak sonder vet is nie ‘n steak nie. (Fillet het geen vet nie). Fillet is vir bejaarde mense met valstande. Tenderised steak hoort op die Kerkbasaar se steakrolls. Nie op ‘n vuur nie! Steak without some degree of fat is not steak. Technically this is not true, but the fact of the matter is, Rib-eye or Rump has a lot more taste that Fillet.
5. Wors moet nog kan buig as dit afgehaal word – dit moet nie breek nie. Wors word ook nie vol gate gesteek nie, kry vir jou iets anders om te steek. Boerewors should still be able to bend when you take it off. Here we need to clear up a general rule of thumb that goes “boerewors is ready when its breaks when you bend it”. It is, but it was also ready before it could break. Breaking boerewors should be seen as the upper limit. It means that you should take it off immediately, not that you should start thinking about taking it off.
6. As jy nie kan braai nie, moenie! Jy fok net jou gaste rond. If you cannot braai, don’t. With this I do not agree. If you cannot braai, learn how to. Its one of the real joys of life.
7. Vleis word van die rooster of die plaat af opgeskep – nie uit ‘n lou-oond uit nie. Meat should be served from the braai grid, not from the warming oven. Fellow braaiers, this is very important. That lamb gave his life so that you can enjoy your chops. Don’t put the chops in a bowl and steam them after they came of the braai. It insults the memory of the lamb, and it insults your guests.
8. Uitpass voor die ete is uit soos bok???! Dit is moerse ongeskik en ‘n aanduiding dat jy kak gewoontes het. Going to bed before eating is bad manners. This refers to evening braais. Going to bed before a breakfast braai is perfectly acceptable. I sleep before almost all my breakfast braais.
9. As jy self jou vleis wil braai want jy vertrou nie die braaier nie, of as jy net doodeenvoudig vol kak is, praat voor die tyd of shut up! If you want to braai your meat personally, speak up before the braai starts. Otherwise stay quiet. I don’t really agree with this. In general it is bad form to insist on braaing your own meat when you are at the braai of another man. And regarding talking on his hand, if he breaks enough rules, tell him.
10. As jy ‘n ander persoon die braaireg by jou huis gee dan swaai hy die septer. If you give another man the braai duties at your house, then he is in charge. Absolutely.
11. As jy met hout wil vuurmaak, koop ordentlike hout. Gebruik slegs as daar genoeg vuuraanstekers is want om die ding aan die gang te kry kos hitte. Baie hitte. Die rook van ’n sukkelende vuur is ‘n steurnis. ‘Smokey Robinson’ word nie hier geduld nie. As jy kan braai en nie ‘n ordentlike vuur kan maak nie, dan lieg jy. If you braai with wood, buy proper wood. I am not sure what he means here. What other types of braai does he think there is without wood? But the point remains, buy proper wood. Last minute emergency wood buying at a petrol station invariably means the wood is wet, will struggle to light, will make a lot of smoke, and will make rubbish coals. Order large quantities of wood to be delivered at your house, where it can age and be dry by the time you use it.
12. Komplimenteer die braaier as die vleis gaaf is. Indien nie, sê so! Hoe de fok anders moet hy leer? If the braaier did a good job, give credit where it’s due. If he was bad, tell him that as well. How else can he learn? I think that I’ve mentioned this earlier.
13. Een slaai by ‘n braai is meer as genoeg. One salad at a braai is enough. I have nothing to add.
14. Hou jou stompies uit ‘n braaivuur uit! Jou kak gewoontes hoort by jou huis! As jy die behoefte kry om agter die braaier te gaan pis, was tog net jou hande voor jy testers vir die gaste gee om aan te proe! Don’t throw your cigarette buts in the fire, and after going to the toilet, wash your hands. These are basic housekeeping issues and shows respect to the braaier and the other guests.
15. Met rugby steek jy die vuur tydens halftyd aan. With rugby, light the fire at half time. This depends when you want to braai. What I can tell you, from doing various experiments, is that a fire made with dry wood of any kind will on average take approximately 40 minutes to burn out.
16. Hoender eet jy met die hand. Tjops ook. Steak en wors, met ‘n mes en vurk. Chicken and chops should be eaten by hand. Steak and boerewors with a knife & fork. This is personal preference. When I eat chops by hand pieces of meat usually gets stuck between my teeth. This is fine when I am at home and have access to floss. Not fine when I am at a strange location and have to use a second hand sosatie skewer to remove it.
17. As jy jou pap saam met ‘n braai met melk en suiker eet, is jy wanaangepas en skreeu jy seker vir die Leeus. Vra almal by die braai om jou teen jou kop te klap, maar dit sal seker ook nie eers help nie. If you support the Lions rugby team, you are mentally deranged.
18. Politiek, die rentekoers en babapraatjies is uit om ‘n braaivleisvuur. Rugby, jag, 4×4 bakkies en die buurvrou se tan-lyne is die norm. Visvangstories word eers gepraat as almal gesuip is, want dan kan die wat nie visvang nie saam kak praat. Politics, finances and baby-talk is not welcome around the fire. Rugby, hunting and 4×4′s are. Clearly he wrote this before the current Tri-Nations. I would much rather talk about politics, finances and babies than about Springbok rugby. Yes, our rugby is that bad.
19. Vleis moet gereeld omgedraai word, nie halfpad aan die eenkant gaar gebrand word en dan omgedraai word nie. Draai kort-kort jou vleis. Sout word oorgegooi net voordat die vleis van die rooster afgehaal word. As dit jou idee is om die vleis uit te droog voor jy dit eet, gaan kry vir jou ‘n stuk volstruisbiltong om jou eetlus te demp! Meat should be turned often, and not burnt on one side before it is turned. Meat should only be salted shortly before it’s taken off the braai. I don’t completely agree on the turning part. For chicken or chops yes. For steak or boerewors, no. Regarding salt, this is high school science. If you add the salt before the meat is sealed, it will draw out some of the juices in the meat, which is exactly what you don’t want.
20. Vleisbraai is nie net ‘n geleentheid om te staan en drink nie. Fok weet hoekom nie, maar baie moeite word gedoen met die voorbereiding en die gaste wil graag ‘n lekker stukkie vleis geniet. Enjoying a drink is not the sole reason for braaing. Guests expect a decent braaied meal as well.
21. ……. en so terloops, almal wat 8-uur die aand wil eet, moet eerder by hulle eie huis fokken bly, daar is nie ‘n tyd om te eet vir ‘n braaivleis nie, eet as die fokken vleis gaar is! Lastly, braaing is not an exact science, if you want to eat at eight sharp, stay at home.

A few weeks ago an email with various titles but the same content about the “Official Braai Contract” or “Braai Rules” was doing the rounds. It had the same general theme as a video that was recorded at my flat a few years ago by Neels van Jaarsveld and Francois van Coke. This email then also featured on SA Blog of the year, 2Oceansvibe, and a week later, the video also featured there.

On Thursday this week, the Portfolio Travel Blog published this article about Braai4Heritage, after an interview with me. What is more, the “Braai rules” mentioned above, were also posted in the Travel Blog last year. But that in itself is not so funny. What is really funny, is the response that one guy wrote to the Travel Blog regarding those rules, inserting his own comments into the original text. Here it is:

BRAAI RULES – THE REAL RULES

When a man volunteers to do the BRAAI the following chain of events are put into motion:

1. The woman buys the food with the MAN’S money.
2. The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert – what the hell are vegetables and dessert doing at a braai?
3. The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill – beer in hand. -Nonsense. It’s well known that the Braaimaster always prepares his own meat.
4. The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman – Fires are dangerous and can hurt you.
5. Here comes the important part: THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL and expertly monitors the transfer of energy from the combustive fuel to the meat.
6. More routine…. The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery nags about the length of time it is taking to deliver perfection.
7. The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great.. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat – another untruth.  The Braai #2 gets the beer for the Braaimaster
8. Important again: THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.  Braai #2
9. More routine… The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.  – RUBBISH!
10. After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes. – Finally, the woman justifies her existence!
11. And most important of all: Everyone   PRAISES   the   MAN   and   THANKS   HIM    for his cooking efforts. While there may be hundreds of little Indians dying on the battlefield, it can only be the CHIEF who gets the praise – it is the way it is.

Yesterday I received an email from a lady saying that her new company produces “Braai Kits”. In the same way that my friends in property receive a lot of invitations to strip clubs and my friends in banking receive a lot of free branded pens, you can imagine that over the past few years I’ve received quite a few “Braai Kits” from various organisations. “Braai Kits” usually comprise a combination of tongs, forks, knives, fire lighters, lighters, matches, grids, portable braais and cooler boxes. However something in the email made me suspect that this time it will be different. I replied and requested a photo of the braai kit. The photo is a bit grainy, but here it is:

The braai kit does not include the braaier on the photo

This then, the braai kit. The outside box is made from slats of pine wood. Experienced braaiers will know that pine wood does not make good coals, but is highly flammable. Inside this box there are two fire lighters, and the rest of the space is taken up by 2,5kg of charcoal. You set this whole thing alight and 40 minutes later you have a heap of coals. When I just said 40 minutes, I sucked that from my thumb. But from experience I can make pretty good guesses at how long it will take various materials to produce coals fit for a braai from the time that you set it alight. With 2,5kg of charcoal, these coals with have significantly more punch than the coals of the disposable braai.

At the end of the day, I am outspoken about real men making real fires with real wood and I don’t think that this “braai kit” will change that. But it does seem very convenient. Like take away pizza. I can see where this product might fit into the ‘braaing at a picnic spot’ market. Or for girls, just starting out, busy making the transition from salad maker to braaier.

Earlier today a journalist asked me for my top 10 braai tips. Considering that I did not have such a list of tips, I sucked them out of my thumb. Here they are:

1. Nothing beats a real wood fire.
2. Gas is Afrikaans for a guest at your braai, not something you braai with.
3. Braaing is the only fat-negative way of cooking food. Even when you steam it, the fat in the food stays behind. When you braai, the fat drips out.
4. Never braai with indigenous wood. Alien vegetation like Rooikrantz and Blackwattle drink lots of ground water and besides, it’s good burning Australian rubbish.
5. Braaing is a direct form of energy use, from the coals, to your meat. With conventional electricity there is a lot spillage between the power plant, power lines, electricity box, wires, stove and pan. If you love the earth, braai.
6. Have enough ice at your braai. To put in Klipdrift & Coke, to keep Castles cold, and to treat burn wounds with.
7. Smoke flies to pretty people, so send them to the kitchen to go and make salad.
8. Animals eat grass, leaves and vegetables all their lives and convert it to meat. Eating meat is like eating vitamin pills.
9. A cow must only be killed once. Do not braai you steak until the flavour is dead.
10. A braaibroodjie is your chance in life to have you bread buttered on both sides.

During the past few days South Africa’s most famous brandy drinker Neels van Jaarsveld and myself were filmed doing various scientific tests on braais. Duvan Durand, the man behind the Jack Parow music video “Cooler as ekke”, directs the show. By and large the test that drew the most attention when mentioned on Twitter, was when we tested whether throwing cigarette buts on the coals influences the taste of the meat on the braai.

We started by visiting the science department at the University of Stellenbosch, to establish whether there was any health risk in conducting the test. Then we lit three identical fires, in three identical braais. When the coals were ready, we threw about 20 cigarette buts on the one fire, four packs of cigarettes (that’s 80 cigarettes) on the second fire and left the coals of the third braai unpolluted. Immediately after that, we braaied deboned, skinless, un-marinated chicken breasts on all three fires. When they were done, a blind tasting test was conducted on three individuals, and a sighted tasting test on another three. To my dismay, the results were not as conclusive as I had hoped for. For details of exactly what happened you will have to wait for the show. I did then ask the crew to do two blind tests on me. Both times I could correctly identify the three differing types of chicken. So I do have my reservations about the abilities of our tasting panel.

Please, use the comment section, and give me thoughts and advice on how we can improve this test, to ensure a more conclusive result. The show should be on air & internet by early August.

An email with the topic “The Official Braai Contract” is currently doing the rounds. Essentially it points out the way a stereo typical braai would transpire in an ideal world. The tale in this email is based on a video that actor Neels van Jaarsveld (met Eish), Fokofpolisiekar lead Francois van Coke, and myself shot a few years ago at National Braai Headquarters (my flat). Here is that video, entitled, “No Women, No Braai”:

This is the contents of the email currently in circulation:

1. The woman buys the food.
2. The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables and makes desert.
3. The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill – beer in hand.
4. The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.
5. THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.
6. The woman goes inside to organise the plates and cutlery.
7. The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. he thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat.
8. THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.
9. The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.
10. After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.
11. Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.
12. The man asks the woman how she enjoyed ‘ her night off ‘, and, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there’s just no pleasing some women.

Once a month you have the chance to win a whole lamb. Dead or alive. The mechanics of the competition is done through my Twitter feed, and if you follow me on Twitter, none of this will be news to you. The lamb is always given away on the 24th of the month, paying homage to the fact that on 24 September we will all Braai4Heritage. This past month, the winner was the person who could find a braai on Google Street View first. And here it is.

Unfortunately some people don’t take you seriously when you don’t have business cards. I tend to not take those people seriously. However, I aim to please, and so, I started the process of having business cards printed. When presented with the samples, I was not impressed, and remarked that “this would be good kindling”. And that made me think. Would it not be great if one could start a fire with my business cards? Behold:

Finally! Business Cards with a purpose.

Boerewors should be braaied medium. You want it at the point of maximum moisture without any of the meat still being pink. Unlike steak, you will need to turn it a few (3-5) times to achieve perfection.  Not enough turning can result in burning or bursting the skin. When braaing boerewors in a closed grid, turning is no problem. The problem with turning arises when braaing a proper lengthy piece of boerewors on an open grid. Its difficult to turn, and you end up with half burnt, half raw, broken boerewors. A lot of juice gets lost, pieces of mince fall into the fire, and it does not look pretty. This is what you do:

How to braai boerewors. If you have never seen this, your life just changed.

Coil the wors on a flat surface. Take two skewers (metal or wood). Push the two skewers all the way through the boerewors, at a 90-degree angle to each other. The boerewors can now easily be turned with a pair of tongs. Consult the photo above if the instructions are unclear. Loss of juice is minimal as the holes created by the skewers are mostly blocked by the skewers. The minimal juice that escapes is negligible compared to what you will lose if the wors breaks when you turn it with no support. Now you know how to braai boerewors.

“So how many people braaied on National Braai Day last year?” is a question that I frequently get asked by people. To know the answer to that question, I would need the help of the three companies who together have access to more than 100% of South Africans every day. Vodacom, MTN and CellC. Sadly, none of the three have agreed to help me count it yet, so I don’t have the answer. Another question that I cannot answer is how many braais there was in South Africa in the past year. So I want to answer a more simple question: How many South Africans did not braai once in the past year?

A typical Not-a-Braai. Do you know anyone who attended one of these every day in the last year?

For what follows below, I assume that “having a braai” includes being present at a location where food is braaied and eating some of that food. Unofficially, the official population of South Africa sits at 46,000,000. According to Statistics South Africa, 46% of South Africans are rural and the rest urban. I have travelled rural South Africa extensively and can say with 100% certainty that every rural person in South Africa definitely had a braai in the past year. From your sheep farmer in the Karoo to your Xhosa in Transkei, they all light fires and cook their food on it. Some do it on a daily basis, others only on special occasions. That leaves us with the urban lot. Here it gets trickier. We can safely assume that inhabitants of townships all had a braai. If you doubt this, drive though a township on a Saturday afternoon and look at the Chisa Nyama spots for yourself. Those in the suburbs we can also safely assume all had a braai, its part of Suburb life. It’s the ones living in flats that pose the problem. But they are the ones that make a special effort on weekends to have a braai. That leaves us with Bergies. Do they ever braai? Possibly not. So what we need to do is get the Bergies braaing. And once that happens, we can confidently say that all South Africans braai at least once a year.

The one thing all South Africans have in common is our love of braai. Lighting a fire and cooking some meat on the resultant coals. Whether you like cricket, soccer or rugby, having a braai before, during or after the game is part if the package. With rugby moving to Soweto this weekend, some braaiers will be in foreign territory. In townships like Soweto, as in many other places in South Arica, braai and braaing is also known as Chisa Nyama. To read all about exactly what Chisa Nyama is, click here. Below is a list of Chisa Nyama (Braai) spots in Soweto.

Typical portion of meat at a Chisa Nyama.

You buy your meat at the Chisa Nyama. Fires, coals, grids and braaiers are supplied. At many a Chisa Nyama you are allowed to bring your own drinks, but supporting the local entrepreneurs is an even better idea.

Hansie used to be the cricket captain that gave us the biggest shock. Until 24 hours ago. This morning I woke up to the news that the current South African cricket captain Graeme Smith used a disposable grill to try and braai last night. We’ve all seen them in the supermarket. But who will ever use one? Graeme apparently. On tour in the West Indies and desperate for a braai.

The disposable grill. Perfect for Salmon, useless for anything else.

I never knew what to call these things, as it’s clearly not a braai. So if boxing can give them the George Forman Grill, then cricket can give us the Graeme Smith Grill. Before criticising Graeme, I thought it would be wise to test one of these things, to see whether it’s any good. I went to a local supermarket this morning, got one for about R20, and decided to use it for making lunch. The instructions on the packaging are pretty easy and straightforward, and it took just one match to light it, no firelighters required. After 25 minutes, it was clear that the coals were, if not ready, certainly not going to get any better, so I decided to braai. After my recent success with Salmon, this was fortunately my choice of lunch. The Salmon needed 5 minutes, on medium coals, and that’s exactly what the coals had on offer. The thickest part of the fish was pretty much raw Sashimi, but the Salmon was fresh, so no harm done. What I can now tell you about the Graeme Smith Grill:

You can definitely not braai Chicken or Pork on it. You can braai a thin cut steak on it, but you would need to time it well. The coals do not have enough power to seal the meat on the outside so braaing a real steak is not a good idea. One pack of thin boerewors would work. A pack of thick boerewors could be risky, might not fit onto the grill, and will maybe not cook through. A big fish like a Snoek of Yellowtail would crush this thing and go for swim in the sea.

However, what this device is absolutely perfect for is lightly seared Salmon, or Tuna. My big problem with braaing fish, is that is leaves the taste of fish on your grill, and hints of that taste on your chops the next day is not ideal. No such problems here. This thing is disposable. The holes in the flimsy little grid on the top are finely spaced, perfect for the delicate texture of fish. And lastly, as we men like making big fires, our coals are usually too hot for fish, and this is definitely not a risk on this little heater.

The funny disposable grill in the supermarket then. Perfect for medium rare fish. Useless for all else. Leaving us with the lingering problem of what to call it. The “Graeme Smith Grill” would be an insult to Graeme, so please don’t call it that.

Weber is a brand that produces Kettle Barbeques. There are other manufacturers like Cadac, and Bush Baby that also produce them. I don’t have a problem with any of these companies. I like using their products from time to time, and I love eating the food that is prepared in them. I have a problem with calling it a braai.

Staring at the coals. Something a Kettle Barbeque does not allow for.

Yesterday my friend Tank Lanning wrote to me on Twitter: “Checkers have Eisbein on special for R 29 per kg. Bought a few and going to do them on the weber tonight. Any tips?” All of this was good news. Checkers have a special on Eisbein, Tank is cooking himself some nice food, and Tank is asking my advice.

I replied “First cook them a bit in salted water, makes them softer.” This I know because a few years ago when camping in Namibia, we did that. Eisbein* is German, and Namibia is a bit German. So we decided to braai Eisbein whilst there. At the time I read that advice somewhere, and it worked well. I will replicate that recipe one of these days, and write about it on this website. But that is not the point today.

A few hours later, Tank told me the following: “My oath but it was good.” This did not surprise me. What’s not to like? A good piece of meat, made even better by the taste of flames, coals and smoke. However, Tank also said: “Thanks Jan. I know you are anti Weber, but it’s sensational for cooking an Eisbein.” I agree with Tank. Kettle Barbeques are sensational for cooking (certain meals). But then call it that. Cooking, in a very manly way. The essence of a braai is lighting a fire, and gathering around that fire. Not lighting briquettes, putting a lid on proceedings, and waiting in the living room for the food to get ready.

So this is what I propose South Africans do henceforth: When you are using a Kettle Barbeque, say “I cooked this meal in my man-oven”.

*If you are really technical, the meal that we were discussing is called Schweinehaxe. That is pork knuckle with a crackling on the outside. Eisbein in the true sense of the word is pork knuckle, boiled in water, and served as is.

What is Chisa Nyama? What is Chesa Nyama? What is Shisa Nyama? What is Shisanyama? They are all the same thing. They are Zulu terms for braaing. The first word in all of them: Chisa, Chesa, Shisa are different ways of spelling the same thing, and its literal meaning is “burn”. The second word in the phrase, “Nyama” means “meat”. So the literal defenition of “Chisa Nyama” is “Burn Meat”. But it does not refer to burnt meat. “Chisa Nyama” means “braai”. As is the case with the word “braai”, Chisa Nyama is used as a verb and as a noun.

Braai area of Mzoli's, the famous Chisa Nyama in Gugulethu, Cape Town

• The action of braaing can be described as Chisa Nyama.
• To attend a braai, can also be to attend a Chisa Nyama.
• A braai restaurant (like Mzolis) in a township (like Gugulethu) is known as a Chisa Nyama.
• To eat braaied meat, can be desribed as eating Chisa Nyama.

If you can help us to expand the above definition and explanation of Chisa Nyama and Shina Nyama, please do so by leaving a comment.

This from News24:

A police officer was shot and killed at a rugby braai in Danville, Pretoria on Saturday following an argument. Inspector Marius van Dyk, 48, was celebrating the Blue Bulls’ win at a house on Ledger Street in the evening, police spokesperson Captain Tessa Jansen said on Sunday. ”The inspector was sitting with his girlfriend when they started arguing. A group of people who were also at the braai got involved.” The girlfriend’s brother fired a warning shot into the air while trying to calm the situation. When he saw the gun, the officer tried to grab it. ”He was then shot in the chest and died instantly.” The woman’s brother was arrested for murder. Another man was believed to have been injured in the head during the shooting, but disappeared. ”We looked for him, but it wasn’t clear whether he left with the ambulance or went to the hospital on his own.