A National Braai Day feast

National Braai Day is the one day of the year to cook the classics, so this menu does exactly that. Boerewors and lamb chops share the grid, pap with chakalaka (a spicy vegetable relish) and buttery mielies (corn on the cob) go alongside, braaibroodjies (toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches) finish over the last of the heat, and malva pudding, a warm apricot sponge, bakes while you braai. The dishes are scaled for 8, which gives two chops and a length of wors each. The recipe links below open at those amounts.

The day before

• Make the chakalaka. It tastes better the next day and keeps for 5 days in the fridge.
• Make the tomato smoor for the wors. It keeps for 4 days.
• Make the flavoured butter for the mielies, roll it into a log and chill it.

On the day

• 2 1/2 hours before you eat: Light a wood fire. It takes 45 to 90 minutes to burn down to cooking coals. With briquettes in a chimney starter, light them about 1 hour before you eat instead. See how long to let the fire burn.
• 1 1/2 hours before: Rub the chops with the toasted coriander, garlic and oil, and leave them out of the fridge for 30 minutes. Mix the malva batter. Build the braaibroodjies.
• 1 hour before: Malva pudding goes into the oven, or into a covered kettle braai set up for indirect heat, for 40 to 45 minutes. Start the pap. It steams for 30 minutes, stirred every 10.
• 50 minutes before: Rake the coals into a two-zone fire, with a hot side and a medium side. Heat the grid for 5 minutes and brush it clean. Wrap the mielies in foil with the butter and cook them over medium coals for 20 minutes, turning every 5.
• 40 minutes before: Boerewors goes on over medium coals for 8 to 10 minutes a side. Warm the chakalaka and smoor at the edge of the fire.
• 25 minutes before: Salt the chops. Stand them on their fat edge over hot coals for 2 to 3 minutes, then lay them flat for 3 to 4 minutes a side. Unwrap the mielies and char them on the grid for 2 to 3 minutes.
• 15 minutes before: Wors and chops come off to rest for 5 minutes. Braaibroodjies go into a hinged grid over the fading coals for about 10 minutes, turned every minute or two. Take the malva out and pour the hot sauce over it.
• After the main course: Serve the malva warm with custard, cream or ice cream.

Make it easier

• Check the wors with a thermometer: 71°C (160°F) in the thickest part. Lamb chops are medium at 63°C (145°F).
• With more than 8 people, add chicken sosaties on the medium side rather than doubling everything. They need 4 hours in the marinade, so make them the night before.
• No oven or second kettle? Make the malva pudding the morning of and warm it through before serving.