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You are here: Home / Events / Braai the Beloved Country / Braai, the Beloved Country: the 2011 roundup

Braai, the Beloved Country: the 2011 roundup

by Jeanne Horak on September 29, 2011 9 Comments in Braai the Beloved Country

BraaiTheBelovedCountry2011 © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

Aaah, the South African braai.  That thing of legends that strikes fear into the hearts of English neighbours but brings South African neighbours together.  The cross-cultural, non- language-biased, age-neutral activity that all South Africans indulge in with an equal fervour.  Because, let’s be honest – who can resist the smell of food cooking over an open fire carried on the breeze of a warm summer’s day?   In fact, we love it so much, we even created a day to celebrate them.  You see, 24 September every year is Heritage Day, the day when we celebrate South Africa’s rich cultural heritage and diversity.  But as interesting as what makes us diverse, is what makes us the same:  we all love a good braai.  So a couple of years ago, we also started celebrating a cheeky unofficial holiday on 24 September:  National Braai Day.  This year, we even have a braai anthem (WARNING:  this video contains images that may produce extreme homesickness in South African expats!)

 

 

Even though Braai Day falls in deepest darkest Autumn over here in the Northern hemisphere, it falls in Spring in the South – so in fact if you are lucky, it is the brief window when BOTH hemispheres actually have the weather to braai.  And when I invited my darling readers to submit their favourite braai recipe for Braai, the Beloved Country (my annual event and a pun on the title of a very famous South African book by Alan Paton), they did so with enthusiasm.  Let’s se what’s on the grill today…

My lovely friend Barbara from Winos and Foodies joined us from Down Under to make dsomething I have meant to make for the longest time… but still have not:  Beer butt chicken.  Call me juvenile, but I can’t look at the pic without giggling 😉  Still, all that beautifully crispy skin is no laughing matter!

 

BraaiWinosAndFoodies

 

My DARLING blogMamma Colleen from Browniegirl came up trumps with not only one but TWO recipes – citrussy baked sweet potatoes AND baked smoked rainbow trout fillets! I can just imagine how well the sweet potatoes went with the salty smoked fish…

 

BraaiColleen

Closer to home here in England, the lovely Michele of 5am Foodie shares with us a fishy tale of the HUGE salmon caught by her not-very-huge son.  You need to read the post to see just how big it was!  She turns some of it into these indulgent smoked salmon burgers – who said you need red meat at a braai??

Braai5amfoodie

 

Over in Dubai, Edwina of the beautiful blog My Mezzaluna treats us to some gorgeous smoky photos and her recipe for a rosemary rub for lamb chops.  As she says:  “You cannot be South African and not love a good braai!”

 

Braaimymezzaluna

 

Staying in Dubai for the next one, my friend Sally of My Custard Pie leaves behind all the carnivorous dishes we’ve had so far and does breakfast (or dessert!) on the braai.  Her clever combo of grilled gingerbread with grilled pears gets my vote for the most indulgent braai breakfast ever!

 

BraaiCustardPie

Heading to the home of the braai now as we visit Rachel (aka Blondie) of Can Cook, Won’t Cook.  Despite telling us in the post title that she’s “all braaied out”, she still comes up trumps with both pork sausage in mustard and bacon; and a salad of balsamic-roasted rosa tomato salad with spring onions.  Doesn’t sound all braaied out to me at all 😉

 

BraaiRachelFinal

Across the Atlantic, my lovely poetry-loving friend Erin of The Endive Chronicles came skidding in the door just in time for the extended deadline with her amazing-sounding Spicy apricot pork ribs.  The ribs were sooooo good that they were devoured before they could be photographed – but at least we get a pic of the sauce 😉

BraaiEndiveChronicles

 

Back in South Africa, my dear friend Kit of Food and Family fired up the braai and decided to push the boat out a little with ostrich fillet.  She makes the most of a relatively expensive cut by creating Ostrich fillet and butternut kebabs – it’s a great flavour combination and well worth a try (especially since ostrich is increasingly available in other countries – we even have ostrich farms here in the UK!)

 

BraaiKit

 

Closer to Cooksister HQ, right here in London, Abraham and Susan Chacko of Chacko’s Kitchen share some tips for cooking vegetables on the barbecue for vegetarian guests, as well as showcasing an amazing-sounding recipe for barbecue chicken with Indian spices. My mouth was watering at the very thought of all those flavours!

BraaiCHacko

 

And an honourary mention must surely also go to  Her Royal Highness the Pesto Princess herself Contessa Candice, who did not braai this time but posted her vegetarian braaier’s oath on her Facebook page. Beyond the call of duty! 😉

 

BraaiCandice

And last but by no means least… there was ME, the CookSister, and my easy peasy recipe for whole seabass on the barbecue, written as part of my Corfu holiday impressions post.

 

CorfuSeabassCollage

So there you have it – the braaing done and dusted for another year (well, no, not really – we are actually braaing again TONIGHT as London is having a mini-heatwave!)  A huge thank you to all who took part in this celebration of grilling and till next time – MAY THE BRAAI BE WITH YOU! (Click here if you want to se the 2010 braai recipe roundup.)

 

P2PTuscanyBadge On another note, one of the things that has been keeping me and the other ladies of the Plate to Page workshop team (Meeta, Ilva and Jamie) busy over the summer has been the construction of our shiny new Plate to Page website!  The good news is that the site is now up and running – do go and take a look and have  abrowse around!  We have also been hard at work sourcing sponsorship for the event and the all-important goodie bags – it’s always a long road building a sponsor relationship and in these economic times it is often difficult to persuade any company to make a marketing outlay.  But it is wonderful to see that a number of international companies have been happy to put their faith in our abilities as instructors and creators of this workshop, sponsoring food and kitchen items for our participants.   We are eternally grateful to them:  THANK YOU to ZWILLING J.A. HENCKELS, Sunchowder’s Emporia, Taste of Home, Gourmelli,Smaromi Spices, OXO and most recently, South African superstars Peppadew.  You rock our world.  (read more about each sponsor here on the Tuscany sponsor page on our website.

Although the workshop has been fully booked for some months, earlier this week we also surprised the people on our HUGE waiting list by offering them 2 final places for the Tuscan workshop.  Imagine our surprise then the places were gone within 5 minutes!!  So with one month to go, we are literally counting down the days till we can welcome our 12 new participants – the incoming Plate to Page, Class of Tuscany 2011.

 

 

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  1. Tori (@eat-tori) says

    September 29, 2011 at 5:00 pm

    Never have I been so sad to be living in a flat, in a building with a no bbq rule. We had two on our balcony back in Sydney (one gas, one coal). Talk about homesickness…

    Reply
  2. Kit says

    September 29, 2011 at 5:02 pm

    Great round-up, Jeanne, looks like some wonderful recipes to get us going as we swing into the braai season.
    We’re planning to braai tomorrow night again, as it will be our wedding anniversary – we braaied for our wedding, whole beef fillets, so it’s a fitting way to celebrate!

    Reply
  3. Sukaina says

    September 29, 2011 at 5:36 pm

    Barbeque season is just starting for us here in Dubai- although I won’t be able to do it myself living in a flat! So good to see my feloow Dubai-ans participating here 🙂

    Reply
  4. Blondie says

    September 29, 2011 at 6:44 pm

    I’m stunned & flattered that you included my post in your round-up – thank you! I’m already salivating at many of the other photos & intend visiting them all for ideas (but not when my teenage son is in the shop with me)!! 🙂

    Reply
  5. Colleen says

    September 29, 2011 at 7:55 pm

    Great round up Jeanne. Thank you for hosting and doing all this work. Will visit all of them when I have a decent signal *sigh* some things just dont work so well in Plett hehe!! Love you xxx

    Reply
  6. ninatimm says

    September 30, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    Even for me as a full blooded SA, it is a joy to watch that video!

    Reply
  7. Denise @ TLT says

    September 30, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    Great recipes, they bring back some memories: SA-braais really are special…!
    And I’m really glad I’m one of those lucky two and will be able to join and particpate in the P2P-workshop. Can’t wait to meet you all in Tuscany!

    Reply
  8. web design London says

    October 1, 2011 at 8:07 am

    I been so sad to be living in a flat, in a building with a no bbq rule. We had two on our balcony back in Sydney one gas, one coal.Thank you for hosting and doing all this work. Will visit all of them

    Reply
  9. The Duo Dishes says

    October 1, 2011 at 8:31 pm

    Gorgeous round up. All of those pictures make us hungry! We thought about trying a popular dish like one of these. Might do it soon!

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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