What is a braai?
What makes a braai different from a barbecue, how the day usually goes, and the words you will hear around the fire.
Braai rhymes with cry. The word is Afrikaans, short for braaivleis, which means grilled meat. It is used for the fire, the grill, the meal and the event.
How it differs from a barbecue
- The fire is wood or charcoal. Most South Africans would not call cooking on a gas grill a braai.
- The fire is part of the occasion. People arrive while it is being lit, and the hour it takes to burn down to coals is spent talking around it.
- One person runs the fire. The braaier decides when the coals are ready and when the meat is done. Guests offer advice. The braaier ignores it.
- Food is cooked directly over coals, on an open grid, fairly quickly. Slow smoking with a closed lid is a different tradition.
How the day goes
The fire is lit well before anyone is hungry. Meat goes on in order of cooking time: chicken first, then boerewors, then chops and steak. Sides such as pap, salads and garlic bread are ready before the meat. Braaibroodjies go on last, over the dying coals.
A bring-and-braai means every guest brings their own meat and drinks, and often a side dish to share.
South Africa’s Heritage Day, on 24 September, is widely known as Braai Day.
Words you will hear
- Braaier
- The person cooking.
- Grid
- The grill grate. A hinged grid closes like a book so that food can be turned all at once.
- Wors
- Sausage, and usually boerewors.
- Tjop
- A chop, usually lamb.
- Sosatie
- Marinated meat on a skewer.
- Flattie
- A whole chicken opened out flat.
- Potjie
- A three-legged cast-iron pot, and the stew cooked in it.
- Pap
- Maize porridge, served with a tomato or chakalaka relish.
- Braaibroodjie
- A sandwich toasted on the grid.
- Roosterkoek
- Bread rolls baked on the grid.
- Lekker
- Good, tasty, enjoyable.