Wholesome and sweet flavour make up this brown sugar and rooibos smoked chicken! Don’t stress if you don’t have a smoker at home, you can easily build a smoker on your stovetop with our guide.

SERVES 4 // COOKING TIME 1 hour 25 min

INGREDIENTS
8 chicken thighs
Olive oil, to coat
2 cup brown sugar
2 cup water
½ cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp rooibos tea leaves
1 tsp grated ginger
1 garlic clove, crushed
To smoke
2 cups wood chips OR sawdust
½ cup rooibos tea leaves
Heavy-duty foil
Colander and big pot with a tight-fitting lid OR roasting tin and wire rack

METHOD
1. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper, and rub with olive oil.
2. Grill the chicken on high heat until charred, about 15 minutes on each side.
3. For the glaze, place all the remaining ingredients in a pot. Bring to the boil and cook for 3 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat and allow the sauce to simmer for 5 minutes until reduced.
To smoke
1. Soak the wood chips or sawdust in water for 1 hour. Drain.
2. Wrap wood chips or sawdust and tea leaves in foil. Poke a few holes in it with a fork. Place at the bottom of the pot. Place the chicken in the colander and position it over the foil packet.
3. Cover with a lid. Set the stove to medium and cook for 1 hour.

OR

1. Soak the wood chips or sawdust in water for 1 hour. Drain.
2. Place wood or sawdust and tea in a roasting tin. Place the chicken on a wire rack and position it on top.
3. Wrap the whole lot in foil, sealing tightly. Set the stove to medium and cook for 1 hour.

Recipe & styling: Amerae Vercueil
Photography: Gareth van Nelson // HMimages.co.za

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It’s time to rise and shine with these lovely pea croquettes with poached eggs and salmon! These make the perfect option for spoiling that special someone with brekkie in bed.

SERVES 2 // COOKING TIME 50 min + 2 hours cooling time

INGREDIENTS
For the croquettes
1 small potato
¾ cup peas
¼ cup grated Parmesan
2 tbsp chopped chives
1 tbsp flour
1 egg yolk
2 whole eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil, to shallow-fry
For the creamy caper dressing
Handful chopped parsley
½ cup mayonnaise
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tbsp chopped capers
To serve
2 whole eggs
200 g smoked salmon

METHOD
For the croquettes
1. Cook and peel the potato, then mash and measure out 1 cup. Cook the peas. Leave both to cool.
2. Mix the mashed potato, peas, Parmesan, chives, flour and egg yolk. Roll into small balls and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
3. Beat together the whole eggs in a bowl. Place the breadcrumbs in another bowl.
4. Pour oil into a pan 2 cm deep and heat to medium-high.
5. Dip the chilled balls in egg, then roll in breadcrumbs. Working in batches, fry them, turning often, until golden brown and crisp, about 3–4 minutes. Drain on paper towel.
For the creamy caper dressing
1. Combine all the ingredients.
To serve
1. To poach the eggs, bring a pot of water to a simmer and add a drop of vinegar. Crack each egg into a separate cup. Stir the water to create a whirlpool and tip in an egg. Cook for 3–5 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon. Repeat.
2. Serve the poached eggs, croquettes and salmon drizzled with the creamy caper dressing.

Recipe & styling: Amerae Vercueil
Photography: Andreas Eiselen/HMimages.co.za

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Got a taste for seafood? This lightly smoked mackerel pasta is perfect for lunch or supper. Plus, mackerel is a sustainable fish option from the WWF-SASSI green list!

SERVES 4–6 // COOKING TIME 1 hour 5 min

INGREDIENTS
2 garlic cloves
1 onion
Olive oil, to drizzle
Salt and pepper
1 cup mascarpone
250 g linguine
200 g smoked mackerel
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp cumin seeds, toasted

METHOD
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Wrap the garlic and onion in foil with a drizzle of oil, and season. Roast for 40 minutes.
3. Place the mascarpone, roast garlic and onion in a food processor. Blend until smooth.
4. Boil the pasta in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain.
5. Add the sauce to the pasta. Flake in the mackerel. Cook over high heat for 3 minutes, until heated through.
6. Serve sprinkled with lemon zest and cumin seeds.

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Just when you thought a braai couldn’t get any more lekker, this beer-smoked chicken recipe to enjoy around the fire.

SERVES 6 // COOKING TIME 2 hours

INGREDIENTS
For the chicken
1 whole chicken
330 ml can beer
For the marinade
150 g butter
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
3 sprigs thyme, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
For the dry rub
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper

METHOD
1. Prepare a smoker or kettle braai by packing the coals so that there is ample room for the chicken to sit in the middle.
2. Combine all of the marinade ingredients and rub the mixture under the skin of the chicken.
3. Combine all of the dry rub ingredients and rub the mixture over the chicken.
4. Open the beer and insert it into the cavity of the chicken. Place the chicken in the middle of the braai so it doesn’t cook over the direct heat.
5. Add smoking chips to the coals, close the lid and smoke for 1½ hours.

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Today I want to talk to you about how I made my smoked brisket at the World Food Championships in USA. Smoking food is not big in South Africa – yet. America is where it’s at and it’s a lifestyle to them.

As one of plenty of teams who began by competing in ‘backyard’ competition, we were invited to Nationals, and were the only nominated team to make to Internationals. This was one of the best food experiences I’ve ever had. Touring through nine states over two months, cooking wherever we went and seeing the world’s best chefs take each other on live. I had my own way of doing things before America, but after watching the pros at work, I incorporated their style with my own South African flair.

By John Grundlingh

As you all know, a brisket is a very tough, cheap cut of beef, and so it needs to be cooked low and slow. The first rule of smoking a brisket as an art is that consistency is key. Keep everything – your methods, rub, injections, timing, wood, resting times, all processes – the same. If things are not working, you will have to make changes one step at a time. And because it is such an art, everyone has their very own rub and injection methods, and you will never get those recipes out of them. So I encourage you to get creative with this one when you try it for yourself.

Start by cutting all the excess fat from your brisket, including any membranes and begin injecting it with brine. This is a bit of your own personal rub diluted in bottled water. This will keep your meat moist in the smoker. Then rub the meat with salt, pepper and your special rub.

If you have a smoker, smoke it constantly for 5 hours at 110°C. Remove it from the smoker and cut off the point (the section marbled with fat that sits on top of the larger, flat lean section of the meat) and set it aside as it should be cooked. Wrap your lean piece of meat in brown baking paper to ensure it doesn’t absorb any more smoke, and return to the smoker to cook for another 4 hours.

If you don’t have a smoker at home, you can easily create this in a Weber. Make two charcoal fires, one on either side of the Weber, and place the brisket in the middle with no direct heat below. You can add burnt out charcoal every hour to keep the heat constant as well as a handful of woodchips such as hickory. As above, smoke it at 110°C for nine hours.

The internal meat temperature should be 79°C. And it will be perfectly cooked.

Let it rest for an hour and baste it with the juices trapped in the baking paper. Then cut into 5 mm-thick slices. Serve it as is or in a bun with slaw or in a taco.

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Snoek is packed with protein, locally sourced and safely sustainable. You do need to be careful of all those tiny bones though, so make sure you are buying any smoked snoek or fresh fish from a trusted community fishery.

SERVES 4 // COOKING TIME 20 mins

INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 red onion, peeled and sliced
400g smoked snoek, shredded and bones removed
2 cups shredded white cabbage
2 spring onions, sliced, plus extra to garnish
1 green chilli, chopped
8 taco shells
½ cup grated cheddar

METHOD
1. Put the balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, honey, zest and juice of ½ a lemon, and onion in a jar. Close the lid and shake until well combined. Leave to stand for 10 minutes, then strain out the liquid and set aside the pickled onion.
2. In a bowl, mix together the pickled onion, smoked snoek, cabbage, spring onion, chilli, and remaining lemon zest and juice.
3. Fill the taco shells with the snoek mixture, top with grated cheddar, garnish with spring onions and serve.

There are plenty of ways to enjoy this protein-packed, locally sourced goodness! Like one of SA’s best-loved street foods, traditional fish and chips.

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