Tips

Your first braai, step by step

A start-to-finish guide for a first braai: what to buy, how to light the fire, how to read the coals, what to cook first and how to know it is done.

A braai (rhymes with cry) is South African cooking over wood or charcoal coals. It is simpler than it looks. You light a fire, wait for it to burn down to coals, and cook over the coals, not the flames. This guide walks you through a first braai from the shop to the last of the embers. For more on the tradition, see what is a braai.

What to buy

• Fuel. For a first braai, use briquettes or lump charcoal. They are ready far sooner than wood. Briquettes give steady heat for 1 to 2 hours. Wood takes 45 to 90 minutes to burn down. See wood, charcoal or briquettes.
• A chimney starter or firelighters. A chimney starter is a metal tube that lights charcoal without lighter fluid. Firelighters are wax or paraffin cubes made for the job. Do not use lighter fluid, petrol or paraffin.
• Long tongs. About 40 to 45 cm (16 to 18 inches), so your hand stays out of the heat. Use tongs, not a fork. A fork lets the juice out.
• A meat thermometer. A digital instant-read one is the first to buy. It is the only sure way to know the food is cooked.
• Useful extras. A hinged grid (two grids joined at one side that close around the food, so it all turns at once), fire gloves, and a grid brush.

The full list is in the braai tools you actually need.

Set up

Tip out the old ash and open any vents. Fire needs air from underneath. Keep a bucket of water or sand nearby in case the fire spreads, and have your tools, the food and a clean plate for cooked meat ready before you light.

Light the fire

With a chimney starter:

1. Put two sheets of loosely scrunched newspaper, or one or two firelighters, on the charcoal grate.
2. Stand the chimney over them and fill it with charcoal or briquettes.
3. Light the paper or firelighter through the holes at the bottom.
4. Leave it alone until the top layer is covered in grey ash.
5. Pour the coals out carefully, with the handle in a gloved hand.

Without a chimney, break two or three firelighters into pieces and tuck them into the gaps at the base of a loose pyramid of briquettes. Wait until the firelighter smell has burned off before any food goes on. More in how to light a braai fire.

Wait for coals

The most common mistake is putting food on too early, over flames.

• Lump charcoal in a chimney: about 15 minutes.
• Briquettes in a chimney: 20 to 25 minutes.
• Briquettes with firelighters in the braai: 25 to 30 minutes.

The fire is ready when there are no flames, the smoke is thin and the fuel is glowing under a coat of grey ash. See how long to let the fire burn.

Reading your coals

Every recipe on this site is marked hot, medium or low coals. Hold your open hand, palm down, at the height of the grid. Count the seconds until you have to pull it away.

Treat it as a rough guide. If the coals are too hot, raise the grid, spread them out or wait ten minutes. If they are too cool, lower the grid or rake them closer together. The full guide is reading your coals.

Build two zones

Pile about two-thirds of the coals under one half of the grid and spread the rest thinly over the other half. The hot side browns the food. The cool side lets it cook through, and is where food goes when fat flames. Put the grid on for 5 minutes to heat, then brush it clean. See setting up a two-zone fire.

What to cook first

Start with food that forgives mistakes.

• Boerewors is a coiled, spiced beef sausage. Cook it over medium coals for 8 to 10 minutes a side and turn it only once or twice. Do not prick it.
• Chicken sosaties are marinated chicken on skewers. They take 12 to 15 minutes over medium coals, turned every few minutes.
• Braaibroodjies are cheese, tomato and onion sandwiches toasted in a hinged grid. Cook them last, over low coals, for about 10 minutes, turning every minute or two. They teach you how gentle low coals are.

Cooking more than one thing? The order is in braai timing, and there is a full game plan in a first braai for beginners.

Check it is done

Push the thermometer into the thickest part, away from bone and fat. On a sausage, go in through the end. The safe minimum temperatures:

Put cooked meat on a clean plate, never the one that carried it raw. See safe braai temperatures and using a meat thermometer.

Rest the meat

Steak rests for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing, and chops for a few minutes. Boerewors rests for 5 minutes before you cut it. Chicken can go straight to the table. See salting and resting meat.

Put the fire out safely

Toast marshmallows over the dying coals, then let the fire burn out on its own, and never leave it while it is still glowing. On a kettle, put the lid on and close the vents to starve it of air. Keep children and pets away until it is cold. Ash can hide live embers for a day or more, so empty it only once it is completely cold. Put it in a metal bin with a lid, never a plastic bin or a paper bag, and keep the bin away from the house. If you need to clear it sooner, soak it well with water first. Clean the grid while it is still warm. See cleaning the braai grid.

Put leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours, or 1 hour on a day above 32°C (90°F).