Beef Ribs smoked on
the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Lekker! Beef Ribs on the Braai

March 01, 2013 by Larry Susman in Beef, Big Green Egg, Braai, Food Websites, Hot & Spicy, Meat, Recipes, Smoking

Beef Ribs Smoked on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Howzit all, today I'm going to be cooking Beef Ribs, smoked with hickory chips and slow cooked to perfection. This takes time to cook if you want to get the best from this cut of meat, then you need to be cooking these for about 6 hours. Ask your butcher to cut the beef ribs thick (they are commonly known as 'Jacob's Ladder' ribs in the UK and the USA) because they shrink during cooking but will still leave you with a huge amount of meat to eat. Allow 1 to 2 ribs per person if they are big meat eater otherwise 1 each will be more that enough.

Beef ribs are larger than and more tender and meatier than their pork counterpart, if they are slow cooked. Beef ribs are cut from the rib and plate primals and a small corner of the square-cut chuck section of the animal. A full rack of beef ribs is typically about 18 inches long and ranges from 3-5 inches thick, contains six ribs as well as the intercostal muscles and tendon and a layer of boneless meat and fat which is thick on one end of the rack and thiner on the other.

The rub I'm using this week is taken from the recipe book of the “Salt Lick” restaurant in Texas USA and if you have never heard, been or seen this place then you are missing out. It's a vegans nightmare but for meat loving South Africans (and the rest of you ) it heaven on earth, check it out here www.saltlickbbq.com

SERVES 4-6: PREP: 15MINS: MARINATE 1HR: COOK TIME:4-6HR

Rub  Ingredients:

7.5 tbsp black pepper
1.5 tbsp cayenne pepper
7.5 tbsp Sea salt

Ribs Ingredients:

6 kg bone-in beef ribs cut 3-5 inches thick .
1 x Jimmy's marinade (available from our website)

Method how to prepare and cook Ribs:

Preheat the Braai/BigGreenEgg to 200ºF/94ºC.
Leave the meat out to come to room temperature.
Place the hickory chips in a bowl, cover with water and let soak for at least 1 hour.
To make the rub (you can store the remainder thats not used for use at a later date) pour the cayenne pepper, salt and pepper into a mill or pestle and grind into a course mixture.
Generously rub the ribs with the spices then set aside to rest for 20 mins.

In the meantime drain and scatter the wood chips over the preheated charcoal.
Place the ribs on the grid with a pan of water under the ribs (this will keep the ribs moist and catch any excess fat) and close the lid of the braai, leave to slow smoke/cook for 1-2 hours do not open the braai during this time.
After 2 hours raise the temperature of the braai to 356ºF/180ºC and open the braai up and baste the ribs generously with the Jimmy's sauce, continue to do this every 40 mins for 4 hrs. It is really worth taking your time doing this and the end result will reward you for your patience.

We are giving away 2 bottles of Jimmy's Braai Sauce so you can try this great recipe out.

All you have to do is please leave some feed back and you could be 1 of 2 lucky people that get a chance to make this really great Rack of Beef Ribs. Also I love to hear what you think about what I'm cooking, feel free to leave suggestions what you would like to see me cook. Entries will close on the 15th March 2013.

Hertzogkoekies on the Braai

February 22, 2013 by Larry Susman in Baking, Big Green Egg, Braai, Cakes, Food Websites, Recipes

Hertzogkoekies on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well I'm back on the weather subject again and cooking in sunshine one minute and snow the next. I wish we had proper seasons in the UK so you know when to take off your boots and put some flops on! To cheer you all up I'm going to try and bake a laaties (small child) favourite cake, “Hertzogkoekies”. If you would like to make these just like your Ouma did we are giving away 3 tins of All Gold Apricot Jam so that they taste like they did back home (see end for details).

These cookies or jam and coconut tartlets are known as Hertzogkoekies in South Africa and are part of every South African housewife's traditional recipes. They were named after General J.B.M. Hertzog, prime minister of the South Africa Union in 1924. According to legend, there was also another cookie baked in nearly the same way (the ingredients were the same) but these were named after General Jan Smuts, Prime Minister from 1919 until 1924 and then again from 1939 until 1948.  Both Smuts and Hertzog played important roles in the early political history of South Africa, both fought in the Boer Wars and the World Wars and both of them had their own staunch supporters. Interesting is that the supporters of the one would not eat the biscuits named after the other one and even today, you will still find a recipe for Hertzogkoekies and Jan Smuts koekies if you search for traditional South African cookies.

MAKES 9-10 - PREP: 40 MINS - COOK TIME: 15-20 MINS

INGREDIENTS FOR SWEET PASTRY

1 3/4 Cups plain (cake) flour
2 tsp Baking powder
2 tsp Sugar
50g unsalted butter
3 x egg yolks
pinch of salt

METHOD FOR MAKING PASTRY

Sift the flour onto a clean smooth work surface and make a well in the centre.
Add the butter which you have cubed up and rub it in with your fingers. Make into a texture that resembles crumbs.
Add the egg and mix until the pastry is formed.
Rest the pastry for 15 minutes in the fridge covered with cling film.
Then roll out to 5 mm thickness on a floured surface and use cutter to make circles ready to be filled (if time is of the essence, buy ready made pastry).

INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING

¾ cup Sugar
2 cups Desiccated coconut
3 egg whites
8 tbsp smooth apricot jam
12 glacé cherries (optional)

METHOD FOR MAKING THE FILLING

Pre Heat the Braai to 180°C (350°F).
Stiffly beat the egg white into firm peaks then gently fold in the sugar and coconut, its that simple. Place half a teaspoon of jam in the bottom of each lined patty and then generously cover with the coconut mixture. Place a cherry on the top of each if you choose to, personally I love that final sweet taste of cherry on the last bite.
Tip  When filling the jam tarts, put a spoonful of apricot jam into a plastic bag containing a little flour. Shake the bag until the jam is well coated with flour, then place onto pastry. This will ensure that the jam does not "leak" during baking.
Finally place in the braai to bake for 15-20 minutes and you will end up with some great koekies.

Fancy making some of these? We are giving away 3 tins of All Go ld Apricot Jam so that you can make them taste like they did back home. All you have to do is please leave some feed back and you could be 1 of 3 lucky people that get a chance to make this really great South African Snack. Also I love to hear what you think about what I'm cooking, feel free to leave suggestions what you would like to see me cook. Entries will close on the 8th March 2013.

Cheese & Garlic Boerewors Sausage Rolls cooked on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Cheese & Garlic Wors Rolls on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

February 08, 2013 by Larry Susman in Baking, Big Green Egg, Braai, Food Websites, Meat, Recipes, Beef

Cheese & Garlic Boerewors Sausage Rolls cooked on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Howzit, thanks for all your support it's really appreciated and your are growing in number every week, please continue to spread the word. This week I'm cheating a little as the main ingredient is made by me at our factory so I will not be giving out our boerewors recipe as its top secret. But you can also cheat and buy it from us on our website www.biltong.co.uk . Or even better leave a comment at the bottom of this blog and have a chance to be one of 2 lucky people that we will be giving away two packs of boerewors to, so you can make your own. Sorry but this is only open to UK mainland residence as we cannot ship fresh meat out of the country.

What I though I would make this week is something really quick and easy and that you can snack on at anytime of the day “Boerewors Sausage Rolls”. You can cheat even more and buy ready made pastry but we used a very good quick recipe to make your own. I choose our “Cheese & Garlic Wors” as I thought it would be a little different to the norm but you can make it out of type you like so lets crack on.

PREP:15 MINS – PROVE 20mins – COOK TIME: 25mins

Ingredients for Puff Pastry

250g strong plain flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
250g butter , at room temperature, but not soft
about 150ml cold water
1 x Pack of our Cheese & Garlic Boerewors.
This is enough to make about 700g pastry.

Method for making the Pastry

Pre-heat the Braai or over to 200°C (395°F)
Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl or clean work surface and roughly break the butter in small chunks. Add them to the bowl and rub them in loosely you need to able see bits of butter.
Make a well in the bowl and pour in about two-thirds of the cold water, mixing until you have a firm rough dough adding extra water if needed. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 20 mins in the fridge.
Turn out onto a lightly floured board, knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle. Roll the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width, about 20 x 50cm. Keep edges straight and even. Don't overwork the butter streaks; you should have a marbled effect.
Fold the top third down to the centre, then the bottom third up and over that. Give the dough a quarter turn (to the left or right) and roll out again to three times the length. Fold as before, cover with cling film and chill for at least 20 mins before rolling to use.
Roll the pastry out into a long strip about 15cm wide ready to receive the boerewors.

Method for making the Boerewors (Sausage) Rolls:

It's really simple now, all you have to do is take the boerewors out to the skins (don’t leave this on as the will be tough if you cook the rolls with it on) and roll into mini sausage shapes about 10cm long and 1.5 circumference.
Place them on the pastry and cut across, take the egg yolk mix and brush the open side and fold over. Pinch the edge so that they seal and then score the tops with a sharp knife. Finally brush the tops of the rolls with the egg yolk so that it browns nicely and then place in the braai for 25 mins to cook. Keep an eye on the after about 20mins as you don’t want them to burn.
The juices from the wors will run out and be soaked up by the pastry, wow did this taste great. I would recommend that you make the wors a little longer that the pastry as when the pastry cooks it expands and can leave a gap at the end. Which is what happened to mine but on the other hand, if like me, you like pastry don’t worry lol.

If you would like to win one of the packs of two of our Cheese & Garlic Boerewors then please leave some feed back and you could be 1 of 2 lucky people that get a chance to make this really great South African Snack. Also I love to hear what you think about what i'm cooking, feel free to leave suggestions what you would like to see me cook.

Sorry but this is only open to UK mainland residence (but I would still love to know your thoughts even if you cannot win the prizes) as we cannot ship fresh meat out of the country, please post your comments by the 22nd February 2013.

Tomato Bredie cooked in a potjie,
served with Tastic Rice.

Tomato Bredie, in a potjie on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

February 01, 2013 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Vegetables, Food Websites, Hot & Spicy, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Lamb, Potjiekos

Tomato Bredie cooked in a potjie, served with Tastic Rice.

Howzit, well it seems like the weather is never going to get any better in this country for the foreseeable future so we will just have to get used to the water around our ankles. This week I'm going to cook a South African favourite “Tomato Bredie” this is a Cape Malay dish and I got this recipe from one of South Africa’s most famous chefs "Cass Abrahams". I was fortunate enough to spend a day with Cass back in February 2000, how time flies, it only seems like yesterday that we were jawing in the sunshine.

Firstly here are a few tips from Cass to making a Good Bredie:

Always braise the meat with onions and spices before adding the vegetables.
Never boil meat in stock or water – this tends to dry out and toughen the meat.
Always keep the cooking temperature constant – medium heat – allowing the bredie to simmer gently for a few hours.
Don't add liquid. The juices from the vegetables are sufficient to make a loverly thick gravy.
Bredies are best served with Tastic Rice (click here to see on our shopping site)

SERVES 8: PREP: 25MINS: COOK TIME:2-3HR

Ingredients for the Tomato Bredie:
1kg x Mutton rib or chump chops
2 x large onions sliced
½tsp x peppercorns
½tsp x ground cloves
125ml x water
25ml x vegetable oil
2 x sticks of cinnamon
3cm x pice of fresh root ginger finely chopped
2-3 x cardamon pods
2-3 x cloves fresh garlic chopped (optional)
1kg x very ripe tomatoes chopped (or 3 tins)
1-3 x green chilli chopped (to taste)
6 x medium potatoes, peeled and halved
salt, pepper and sugar to taste (I used ½tsp salt, ½tsp pepper and 2 tsp sugar) with some chopped parsley for a garnish.

Method of cooking the Tomato Bredie:

Preheat the Braai/BigGreenEgg to 180°C (356°F)

Place the onions, peppercorns, cloves and water in the potjie or large saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until all the water has been absorbed. Then add the oil and cinnamon and braise until the onions are golden. Add the mutton, ginger and cardamon pods and stir thoroughly. Turn down the heat, cover the potjie with a tightly fitting lid and simmer gently for 30 mins. Then add the tomatoes and chilli (garlic if you want) and close the lid and simmer for a further 20 mins. Now add the potatoes, salt freshly ground pepper and sugar to taste. Replace the lid and simmer for as long as you can, I cooked mine for a further 2hrs, the longer you can leave it the better it will taste.

Garnish with some chopped parsley and serve on a bed of freshly cooked Tastic Rice. Note, this is not a curry so don’t expect it to taste like one, its a classic South African Stew and boy was this great!

We are going to be giving away 2 x 1kg Packs of Tastic Rice this week. If you would like to win one of the lucky winners then please leave some feed back and it could be you that gets a chance to make this really traditional South African recipe with some Tastic Rice. Also I love to hear what you think about what i'm cooking, feel free to leave suggestions what you would like to see me cook. All the best until next week “Alles van die beste tot volgende week”.

Christmas Lunch on the Braai, cooked on the BigGreenEgg!

December 28, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Food Websites, Chicken, Beef, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Roasts

Braaiing in the rain in storm force winds.

As I said last week I'm glad that I had a test run making half of the christmas lunch, thus giving me no excuses to get it wrong this week. In addition to cooking a Capon on the Braai I'm also going to braai a whole Rib Eye of Black Gold Beef which we sell in our shop and on the web site www.biltong.co.uk .

I'm sure that most of you can remember having Christmas lunch around the pool or on the beach in 80 degree sunshine, well for me, those days are long gone and now I find myself braaiing in the rain and getting blown away at the same time. I must be nuts!! But I'm holding up the flame for US BRAAI NUTTERS from SA who insist on braaing on Christmas Day no matter what and I can tell you it was well worth the effort.

Sorry if i'm repeating myself but I will be listing the recipe for the Capon again plus the cooking instructions for the rib eye. The spicing of the Beef is going to be very basic but simplicity is the best way to braai beef in my opinion. As this is being posted after Christmas Day, I hope that you all enjoyed the festive season, whatever you were doing. Needless to say the curry that I hinted at was not required as the meat part of the lunch turned out perfectly as well as the accompanying vegetables that were prepared and cooked by the rest of the family.

SERVES 4-8 - PREP: 5 MINS - COOK TIME: 1 - 2hrs

Ingredients for the Beef

1 x Beef Rib Eye 2.5kg
1 x tbsp Sea Salt
1-2 x tbsp Black Pepper corns

Method for cooking beef

Preheat the Braai to 230°C (446°F)
Take the beef out of the fridge so that it comes to room temperature before aplying the spices and cooking
Pour the salt and pepper corns into a pestle and grind into a course mix, this is so much better than using pre ground as the aroma’s really come out.
Rub the mix all over the beef 5 minutes before you place on the braai to cook, this is so that the salt does not take all the moisture out of the beef. You want it to season, not preserve.
Place on a roasting rack, cover with tin foil and place in the braai for 1hr. After an hour take the foil off and allow the beef to colour for about 30 mins, this should give you medium rare beef, add 15mins to bring to medium and another 20 for well done.
Once cooked take out of the braai and allow to rest for 20 mins before you carve.

SERVES 4-8 - PREP: 10 MINS - COOK TIME: 2 - 2.5hrs

Ingredients for the Capon and sauce

1 x Capon 4.6kg / large free range chicken or even your turkey
2 x large lemons, 1 thinly sliced and the other halved
150gm x salted butter
3 x large red onions, peeled and quartered through the root
1 x 30g pack fresh thyme (reserve a few sprigs and roughly chop the remaining leaves)
2 x cloves garlic, peeled and crushed 
1 x teaspoon olive oil  Seasoning

For the gravy

425ml dry white wine
Juice of 1 lemon

Method for cooking Capon

Preheat the Braai to 230°C (446°F)
Take a knob of butter and slide it under the skin on the Capon along with some thyme, this will help the breast stay succulent.
Next mix the sliced lemon with the remaining thyme and place it inside the cavity of the capon and position it in the centre of the tin.
Add some seasoning then arrange the vegetables all around.
Add more seasoning, then place the capon on a rack in the middle of a roasting tin, Cover the Capon with some silver foil. Then place it on the centre shelf of the braai and time it for 90 minutes without opening the lid. Then remove the foil and allow the capon skin to crisp up for 20 mins (Because Braai`s vary, test the thickest part of the chicken with a skewer – if the juices run clear it is cooked. If not give it another 10-15 minutes).

Method for making the gravy

Now remove the vegetables to a serving dish and keep warm. Then spoon out the lemon slices into the tin, put a wooden spoon into the cavity and, using a spatula to hold the breast end up, tip the capon and let all the juices run out into the tin.
Transfer the capon to a carving board and leave it in a warm place to rest for 20 minutes.
Next stir the juices in the tin to release any crusty bits and transfer everything to a medium saucepan. Now add the wine, bring it up to a simmer and let it bubble and reduce by half – this will take about 8-10 minutes. Then add the lemon juice, taste and season.
Carve the capon and serve with the vegetables on warm plates.
Add any escaped chicken juices to the sauce then spoon it over the chicken and serve the rest in a warmed jug.

I can only say a big sorry for the fact that there are no images of this plated up but the family were not willing to wait for me to set up the shots as they were eating as I carved it. Even if I say so myself this was a great meal, simple and easy to prepare for me that is (Janet made 11 different veg and potatoes to go with the meat) man what a feast! Could not move the rest of the day LOL. Please leave your comments below as usual, always interested to hear what you think. Merry Christmas Larry