All-purpose braai marinade and basting sauce

Name: All-purpose braai marinade and basting sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: makes about 500 ml (2 cups), enough for 2 kg (4.4 lb) meat
Cuisine: South African
Ingredients: 250 ml (1 cup) tomato sauce (ketchup); 50 ml (3 1/2 tablespoons) Worcestershire sauce; 50 ml (3 1/2 tablespoons) fruit chutney, such as Mrs Ball's; mango chutney is the easiest substitute; 1 teaspoon vinegar; 1 teaspoon Aromat, or 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt; pinch of salt and black pepper; 250 ml (1 cup) ginger beer, or 125 ml (1/2 cup) apple juice plus 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

The classic South African sweet-sour braai sauce of tomato sauce, chutney, Worcestershire and ginger beer, used raw as a marinade or simmered into a glossy baste.

Coals: No fire needed
Prep: 10 min
On the fire: 10 min
Plan ahead: 2 to 12 hours marinating
Serves: makes about 500 ml (2 cups), enough for 2 kg (4.4 lb) meat

Ingredients

250 ml (1 cup) tomato sauce (ketchup)
50 ml (3 1/2 tablespoons) Worcestershire sauce
50 ml (3 1/2 tablespoons) fruit chutney, such as Mrs Ball's; mango chutney is the easiest substitute
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon Aromat, or 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
pinch of salt and black pepper
250 ml (1 cup) ginger beer, or 125 ml (1/2 cup) apple juice plus 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Method

Whisk the tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, chutney, vinegar, Aromat, salt and pepper together in a bowl.
Stir in the ginger beer. The sauce is now ready to use raw as a marinade.
To marinate, put the meat in a dish or zip-seal bag, pour over enough sauce to coat it, and refrigerate. Allow overnight for red meat, 2 to 4 hours for chicken and 30 minutes for fish.
To make the baste, pour the rest of the sauce into a small pot and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until it is glossy and slightly thick. Let it cool.
Keep the baste away from anything that touched raw meat. Brush it onto the meat only in the last 10 to 15 minutes on the coals.
Store the cooked sauce in a clean jar in the fridge. It keeps for 2 weeks.

Done when: the simmered baste is glossy and coats the back of a spoon.

Tips

Steak and chop marinade, per 500 g (1.1 lb): 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 crushed garlic clove, leaves from 3 rosemary sprigs, juice of half a lemon, black pepper and a splash of red wine.
Sweet sticky chicken marinade, per 1 kg (2.2 lb): 2 tablespoons smooth apricot jam, 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons olive oil, flaky salt and pepper.
Seafood marinade, per 500 g (1.1 lb): juice of 1 lemon, 2 crushed garlic cloves, a thumb of grated ginger, 2 tablespoons melted butter, 1 tablespoon olive oil, a splash of rice vinegar and chopped parsley. Marinate 30 minutes only.
Vegetable baste: 2 tablespoons melted butter, 2 tablespoons basil pesto, a pinch of chilli flakes and flaky salt.
Sugar from the jam, chutney, tomato sauce and ginger beer burns over coals. Marinate in it, wipe off the excess before the meat goes on, and baste late.
Salt in a marinade that sits for more than an hour works as a brine. That helps chicken and pork. For steak, salt it 40 minutes or more ahead, or right before it goes on.
Do not marinate longer than 24 hours. The acid turns the surface of the meat mushy.
Marinade that has touched raw meat is only safe to baste with after it has boiled for 2 to 3 minutes.
The oil in a marinade helps the spices stick and keeps the meat from sticking to the grid.

Tomato sauce, fruit chutney and Worcestershire sauce are the backbone of nearly every South African braai sauce. Simmered down with onion and a few extras they become the monkey gland sauce served with steak. The ginger beer and Aromat in this version are the marks of a home cook rather than a bottle from the shop.

Mix a batch the night before and you have both the marinade and the baste for chops, wings or sticky pork ribs.