What does the founder of the Braai Day initiative do on its 20th anniversary? He’s still bringing the heat, says Liezl Vermeulen, and celebrates by sharing his skills in his biggest braai book yet.   

The man that started the campaign for the Braai Day initiative many years ago, Jan Scannell, is – lucky for all of us – still on fire. “I’ve had the extreme fortune to craft a career and life around this wonderful institution of making wood fires and cooking food on those fires”.

You might ask: ‘Do we need another braai recipe book?’ The answer, after paging through Jan Braai’s useful guide, Atmosfire, is a resounding yes.

What sealed the deal was seeing the ‘braaibak’ (aluminium roaster) that was turned into a smoker to create his Beer-Smoked Angelfish, as well as reading the fascinating chapter on cooking directly in the coals. The I-can-make-that feeling coupled with the thrill of experimenting with food is what got us giddy with excitement about this book.

Since the Braai Day initiative started 20 years ago, Jan explains in his intro that he has accumulated a “treasure trove of knowledge”. He now captures everything that his travels, braaiing TV-show and fellow South Africans have taught him, in a whopping 400+ page bumper book.

Bursting with clever ideas, Atmosfire pens down familiar recipes that you might have tasted at a friend’s braai, new recipes you never thought to make over the coals – enter Braaied Butternut Soup and a Nacho Potjie – and naturally, some more daring tries like the Octopus and Greek-style Braaibroodjies. That’s what keeps Jan Braai relevant so many years later. It’s not the Jan Braai sauce that you buy at food retailers – it’s the continuous learning and sharing of recipes, offering tried-and-tested techniques, and getting advice from a hands-on braai artisan.

With 20 chapters filled with dishes and cooking methods, one can never be tired of braaiing the same thing. As for us over at MK, we’re all but bored with Jan Braai. He’s left us keen to braai up something new, again!

Pulled brisket rolls with braaied pineapple coleslaw

Makes 12

When you have a large crowd of pleasant guests coming over, this is a good way to feed them. I go more Asian than American in flavour proñle in the potjie, and this is matched in the braaied pineapple coleslaw I like to serve it with. 

Ingredients

To prepare the meat  

2 kg brisket
4 garlic cloves
Ginger, equal in volume to the garlic
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves

For the potjie  

1 onion
1 tot olive oil
½ cup soy sauce
1 cup orange juice
340ml beer, cider or apple juice
2 star anise
½ cup brown sugar

For the coleslaw  

1 pineapple
1 red cabbage
1 red onion
2 cm piece ginger
1 lime
2 tots olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh coriander

To serve  

12 soft rolls
Mayonnaise (preferably Kewpie)

Method

1. Prepare the meat: Cut the brisket into 2 or 3 pieces if it will make it easier to fi t into your potjie.
2. Crush and chop the garlic and grate the ginger.
3. Mix the garlic, ginger and all the spices together and rub into the pieces of brisket. 4. Chop the onion. Add the oil and onion to your potjie, get some flames under the potjie and fry the onion for a few minutes.
4. Now add the brisket to the potjie and brown it on all sides. You can take as long as you like to do this but aim for 10 minutes.
5. Add the soy sauce, orange juice, beer, cider or apple juice, star anise and sugar to the potjie. Bring to a gentle simmer and close the lid. The potjie should now simmer very gently for 5–6 hours until the meat is completely soft and starts to fall apart by itself. Every half an hour or so you can lift the lid and flip the meat over. It shouldn’t happen, but if at any time the potjie runs dry, add a little water.
6. When the brisket is done, remove the potjie from the fire and let it relax a bit.
7. You should be able to spot the star anise. Remove from the potjie and discard. Now use two forks and pull apart and shred the brisket. Taste a piece as your braaier’s privilege. Mix all the pulled brisket meat with the liquid relaxing in the potjie.
8. Assemble your buns with a layer of meat, then slaw and top off with a dollop of mayonnaise.

For the coleslaw  

1. Light your fire. Carefully cut the skin off the pineapple using a sharp knife. Cut the pineapple into slices and braai them on a grid over hot coals until charred and sweet. Set aside.
2. Use a sharp knife and shred the cabbage into thin strips. Slice the onion. Grate the ginger. Mix all these ingredients together.
3. Once the pineapple has cooled down, chop into blocks and add to the cabbage mixture.
4. Grate the skin of the lime, which is called zesting, into the cabbage mixture and squeeze all the juice over the cabbage. Drizzle the olive oil over and season with salt and pepper. Mix everything together.
5. Roughly chop the coriander, using stalks and all, and add to your slaw.
6. Serve with the pulled beef brisket in a bun.

Atmosfire by Jan Braai (R590) published by Penguin Random House is available online and at all local book retailers.

THREE LUCKY SUBSCRIBERS stand the chance to win a copy of Atmosfire by Jan Braai. Automatic entry for all MyKitchen subscribers. Ts&Cs on page 74.

Root vegetable salad directly from the coals

Serves 4

This is the advanced version of baking potatoes directly in the coals, but no more complicated. The sugars in the carrots, beets, bell peppers and onions will all caramelise in the coals and they will become sweeter, all of the vegetables will be soft, and they will pick up a smoky and charred braai character. As you will find out when using too small vegetables, they will all but disappear in the coals, so you want larger, approaching oversized versions of carrots, beets and onions for this one. 

Ingredients

4 large carrots
4 large beets
2 large onions
2 bell peppers (red, yellow or green)
200g feta, for serving

For the dressing  

3 tots olive oil
1 tot freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp honey
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper

Method

1. Make a big fire and, once that is done, make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients together. Set aside.
2. Once you have an adequate bed of coals, place the vegetables directly on the coals and braai, turning occasionally, until blackened all over. The bell peppers are ready as soon as they are blackened all over. Place the peppers in a plastic bag or cover in a bowl with a lid, so that they can steam, to make it easier to peel off the skins. The rest of the vegetables are ready when each one is tender enough to be pierced with the tip of a knife. This will be about 15 minutes for carrots and 30 minutes for beets and onions. As each one is ready, remove from the fire and let it cool down.
3. For the bell peppers, use a sharp knife to scrape and kitchen paper to rub and remove as much of the charred skin as possible. Slice the peppers into strips, removing and discarding the seeds. Scrape or cut away any ash and overly charred and burnt outsides of the rest of the vegetables and cut or chop into pieces. For the onion this will be easier but for the beets and carrots you can use your judgement. Don’t lose all charred parts, it’s part of the flavour profile of the meal.
4. Place all the vegetables onto a platter and crumble feta over them. Drizzle the dressing over that and serve.

Recipes: Jan Braai

Food styling: Brita Du Plessies

Photographs: Toby Murphy