National Braai* Day is Friday Sept 24th: What will you have on the fire?

Our routine of late has been to take in a Farmers Market on Saturday morning and end off the day dining on the fresh, often organic, produce we find. With National Braai* Day approaching I’ve found a farmer growing colourful roots to which we’ll add brussels sprouts and onions and roast them up in a seasoned marinade of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic and chopped fresh herbs.

Add to that two grass fed steaks, slowly cooked to just 145 ˚F (63˚C) and then very briefly roasted under the searing heat of a propane torch to caramelise the surface.

This evening was just a test run for Friday …

*braai = BBQ

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BBQ with a Propane Torch: The Perfect Steak?

UPDATE: Finally, with some successful experimentation under my belt (and some tasty food as well), I torched a steak …

Caption: The Steak, destined to become medium rare: Slow roasted in the BBQ with hood down around 300˚F (148˚C) for about 25 minutes until the internal temperature reached 140˚F (60˚C) — turned once — then turbo blasted for a few seconds to improve caramalisation. Then rested and carved. Moist and tender, less grey layer than usual for me, but I’d like to reduce that even more — by cooking slower at a lower temperature I think. More experiments are welcome required.

Celebrating National Braai Day

Some South Africans celebrate National Braai* Day on September 24th: We did so tonight in our own off-beat fashion with fish burgers grilled up on the Weber.

A couple of eggs, a bunch of fresh parsley chopped, a diced onion and a flaked can of tuna all folded into a firm, somewhat dry, batch of potato pancake mix. Roll into balls and flatten on the grill plate. Cook five minutes a side to make crisp cakes ready for the bun. Speaking of which, while gently warming the buns, whip the zest of lemon and a good squeeze of the juice into half a cup of good mayonnaise and then dress up both sides of the bun with this tangy sauce. Slide the fish burger pattie in between and enjoy!

Alternative endings: Substitute sardines, boneless and skinless, in oil, for the tuna if you enjoy the real taste of fish or flaked, smoked crab meat for a pretty awesome crab cake burger.

*Barbeque