Need a replacement Grid for your Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well I've had a week off from blogging but not braaiing and I'm back in the groove again but as I mentioned, with a twist. This week I'm going to review a replacement Braai Grid that was kindly sent to me by the good people at Craycourt. If your braai has suffered over the winter or you've just not looked after it and it's seen better days then help is at hand. I came across Craycourt some time ago and I've recommended them to others but it struck me that there must be plenty of you who could do with a new grid!

They specialise in replacement Cast Iron Grids for pretty much all sizes and types of braai. Even for gas braais (god forbid) as well as charcoal with ranges for Webber and BigGreenEgg as well as others. Their pre-seasoned grill grids take your braaiing to the next level and with a little care they will last you a lifetime. Another great reason for having a cast iron grid is that they heat up quickly and they will hold the heat much longer than stainless or aluminium grids. See them here!

They sent me one for my XL BigGreeEgg Braai and it arrived quickly and was packed very well. What I like about these grids is that they are in quarters, which makes lifting them out so much easier and you can lift just one piece if you need to add more coals or some wood chipping for smoking. You can see from the photos that it's so simple to set up that any "doos" can do it.

I gave it a quick wash before using and that's all. On firing up there were no smells or nasty tastes coming off the grid as Craycourt had done a great job in pre-seasoning it. I chucked some PeriPeri chicken wings, Sosaties and some lamb chops on it and before you can say Braai they were ready. Because the cast iron gets a lot hotter and holds the heat better your meat will cook that bit quicker and leave those fantastic searing marks that make you look like a professional chef!

Before you say "why did I need a new grid" I didn't but the time will come when you and I will. Most people just throw their old braais away and buy a new one, when really all that's wrong with them is that the grid has burnt away or gone rusty beyond repair. This is when this company will save you a load of bucks. Their prices start at £27 for a 14.5inch grid up to £69.00 for the 27inch one I received. They even have lifters for £6.53 and you can also convert some of the quarters to flat grills (flat on one side and ribbed on the other) so that you can cook eggs, onions etc. There's also a pizza stone and a wok in the range, there's no limit to what you can do now. What great ideas these are and they will make your braai that bit more versatile as an all year round cooker for a very reasonable price. This is great if you're a braai nut like myself.

Cleaning is easy, just fire up the braai to max for a couple of minutes and then brush the grate clean in seconds! Once it's cooled down just wipe over with a little olive oil and its ready to go next time you want to braai. Keep it clean, a clean braai cooks better, that's a fact and you don't get as many flare-ups with a clean grill. So if your braai needs a revamp these are the guys that can do it for you and I can highly recommend them, buy direct from their web site http://www.cast-iron-grate.com/uk/.

Until next time, happy braaiing.

Well, it's time to try something a bit different on a braai, I for one have never even thought about making a pizza. Never mind actually cooking it on a braai, well let me tell you this was an experience, talk about hard work. After its invention in Naples, pizza has become popular in many parts of the world and is made in many different ways. Thin, as in a typical hand-tossed pizza or Roman pizza or thick as in a typical pan pizza or Chicago-style pizza, my plan is to try and make a Romana pizza. Which should be thin, only take a couple of minuets to cook at 600°F or 315°C, ideally you should cook its at 485 °C but I don't want to fire the Egg up to that at the moment.

Before you even get down to making the dough you need to source some good ingredients to make this pizza. After a bit of research I found a great website that caters for a large range of Italian products www.n ifeislife.com . I managed to get some Caputo Pizza flour which is reputed to be the finest flour available and as you will see, even I managed to make a successful pizza dough. I used Lievito live yeast blocks which I think made life easy and the dough rose well above my expectations. Also on my order were the Spicy Salamelia (pepperoni) and Buffalo Mozzarella from Campania DOP which had a fantastic creamy taste. Their website was easy to use and the goods arrived the next day nicely packed and ready to use.

Right lets get down to it, the recipe is as follows:

Recipe for Pizza dough

1 tablespoon of castor sugar superfine
2 teaspoons of dried yeast or 15g or 1/2oz of fresh yeast
215 ml 7 fl oz of lukewarm water
450 g or 3/2 cups of playing all-purpose flour as suggested
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 teaspoons of olive oil
cornmeal (to sprinkle on the cooking surface so that its does not stick)

Okay, put the sugar and yeast into small bowl and stirring in 90 ml or 3 fl oz of the water. Leave it in a draft free spot to activate. If it doesn't start bubble and ferment in about five minutes, then you are going to have to start again as this is an important part process. Your yeast must be fresh and active as this is what is going to make your dough rise.

Then mix the flower and salt in a bowl or food processor fitted with a plastic blades, do it by hand it's a lot more fun. Add the olive oil and the remaining water to the flour as well as the balance of the yeast mixture and start to stir until it makes a loose crumbly mix, then roll into a ball and empty it onto flat surface covered with flour. Now you are going to have to knead for about eight minutes, this helps with the calorie burn prior to eating the pizza lol. If you need to add a little more flour or a few drops of water do so as necessary. The final dough should not be sticky but is dry to the touch.

Next rub the inside of a large bowl with some olive oil, place you dough mix into it and then roll the ball around the bowl and coat with the olive oil. Then cut small crossing the top of the dough with sharp knife and cover with a teacloth or put it in a large plastic bag with space to grow and leave in a draft free area for about 1-1 1/2 hours until the dough has doubled in size. Once it has risen quite substantially, to double its original size, you will need to punch it down to reform it to the size it was originally. You'll notice that it seems to be very light and airy and if it's like this then you're onto a winner.

At this stage you can now store it for up to 4 hours in the fridge to use later, just remember to bring it back to room temperature before you start to use it. This is where the fun starts and you might "like me start to pull what hair you have left out". Cut your dough into 4 and roll into balls, then using the palm of your hand start to push out into a circle or use a rolling pin if you want or make a small round disc and then try spinning it in the air to stretch it out. BIG TIP sprinkle loads of flour onto the surface that you are going to work on at least 3 times as much as you think you need. Believe me I didn't and I paid the price, my first attempt stuck like a limpet to the work surface and the to the pizza peel. As you will see not a great effort, also I thought that I had pushed it out thin enough. No! I ended up with a deep pan pizza to start.

Try to push the dough out into 12 inch / 30 cm circles with the edge of it slightly thicker so that it creates a nice crust. I found that spinning it gave me the best result and after you've dropped it three or four times on the floor (adds to the flavour) you will get the hang of it.

I did not make my own tomato paste (which I regret now) for my pizza's but I tried three different types form Sainsbury's:

Sainsbury's Organic Tomato Puree
Sainsbury's Pizza Topping Sauce
Odysea Tomato Perasti

I found the best results I got from the Sainsbury's Organic tomato paste which are just purely tomatoes it was slightly sweet to taste but when the other topping were added it had the best over all flavour. The Sainsbury's Pizza sauce was a bit artificial and not really strong enough so that you could not really taste it. The Odysea just wasn't up to the job at all and we felt this was the worst of all. Next time I will definitely make my own sauce and I will revisit pizza making at a later date with the recipe that I come up with to make a better Pizza. Once you have added your sauce start to put your other ingredients onto your pizza, decide before hand what you are going to do. I went for the traditional American hot Pizza with pepperoni, hot jalapeños, onion and added a few sultanas to sweeten. Its really up to you what you want to eat, don't be fooled into thinking you have to make a Margareta, 4 seasons, American or the like. I forgot to bring home some Biltong (can you believe that) otherwise I was planning on making a Biltong Pizza!

Once you have all your toppings on, the next trick, is to get your creation onto the pizza peel (shovel). Once again make sure you use extra flour, you need a lot more than you think otherwise it'll stick to the pizza peel. You're now ready for the final hurdle of placing it carefully on your pizzas stone if you have one.

I'm using the one on my big green egg, man does it get hot! Had to shut the vents down so that it didn't over heat, as I'm still running it in :-). Make sure that whatever the surface you are going to cook on you sprinkle some cornflour on (I didn't have any so I used the same flour that I made the dough from) this prevents the pizza from sticking to it. Cooking time will depend on your oven, here are some indications:

60–90 seconds in a 485 °C (905 °F)
3-4 minuets in a 315°C (600°F)
4-6 minuets in a 250°C (480°F)

But go by you own instincts, smell and vision, you will easily be able to tell when it looks cooked. Whatever you do don't think that this is a quick meal, it might be when you go out to a Pizza Resturant but remember they have done all the hard work before you even get there, however it was great fun and I think that 80% of the time your own creations will have more flavour than a shop or restaurant bought ones. So have a go, I was very pleased with my first efforts and I will be making them again. Perhaps not this month but when I do I will definitely make my own tomato sauce. Good luck and happy Pizza making.

Need a replacement Grid for your Braai?