Potjiekos (pot food)

October 12, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Beef, Big Green Egg, Potjiekos, Video

Potjiekos Chilli Con Carne

Gee, doesn't time fly when your having fun? This week the weather just got worse and winter is now nearly here in the UK, gales and rain nonstop for the last week. So with all this gloomy weather I thought that a warm stew would be just what we all need and what could be better than a Potjiekos (literally meaning pot food) but with a twist. Chilli Con Carne, lends itself really well to this sort of cooking and we've got a great cheat spice pack which we sell and will make this one of the easiest and tasty meals you can prepare for all the family. Its one of the one shot recipe packs from Nice n Spicy and they make a very good chilli con carne, its not to hot so if you like a big burn then you will need to add a couple of chillies to the recipe to spice it up.

Hears a little history of Potjiekos, this is very traditional way of cooking in SA and when the first Dutch settlers arrived in the Cape, they brought with them their ways of cooking food in heavy cast iron pots, which hung from the kitchen hearth above the fire. However long before their arrival the indigenous people of Africa who were migrating into South Africa as well, learned the use of the cast iron cooking pot from Arab traders and later from the Portuguese colonists. These cast iron pots were able to retain heat well and only a few coals were needed to keep the food simmering for hours. They were used to cook tender roasts and stews, allowing steam to circulate inside instead of escaping through the lid. The ingredients were relatively simple, a fatty piece of meat, a few potatoes and some vegetables were all that was needed to cook a delightful meal. You don't have to stick with traditional recipes which is why Im going to try doing a Chilli so lets see how it comes out.

Serves 4 - Prep: 20 mins - Cook Time: 100 mins

Ingredients

1 x pack of Nice n Spicy Chilli Con Carne (click on the link to buy from our web site) you can add a couple of extra chillies if you like it hot
500g Beef Stewing Steak cubed to bite size or you can use beef mince or cubes of pork if you prefer
100g of bacon roughly chopped or Pancetta
2 x large finely chopped Garlic cloves
1 x red or green Pepper chopped
1 x chopped red onion
1 x chopped white onion
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Tin of Kidney Beans
Steamed rice to eat with the chilli when ready

Method:

Put a large saucepan or potjie (dutch Oven) over a medium heat on the braai or over some coals and fry off the bacon or Pancetta until it starts to get crispy
Add the first sachet of spice to the meat and mix around, one the bacon is crispy add the meat and brown off sealing in the juices
Remove from the potjie but leave the fat in the potjie and set aside to add back in once you have sautéed the onions
Add the chopped garlic to the potjie and stir so they don't burn
Next, add the second sachet of spice to the onions and peppers, stir and then poor into the potjie pot, sauté these for a few moments until they soften
Add the meat and bacon back into the potjie and sauté for a few more moments
Now pour in the chopped tomatoes and then the kidney beans, stir
Next dissolve the last packet of spices in a cup of hot water, this is a blend of seasoning and a thinking agent (corn flower) add to the mixture and stir.
Bring to the boil and the leave to simmer for 90 mins at 150°C (300°F) if on a braai or in the oven or on low heat if on a cooker plate. Or over some coals, you can place a few on the lid to keep the temperature even if you want.

If you've got a heavy potjie and the heat is not to high your potjie pot should protect the food inside but its worth occasionally lifting the lid and giving it a stir, you don't want the bottom to catch and burn. All thats left to do is make some steamed rice (Tactic rice if you're from SA click on the link and you can purchase it from our web site) and serve the Chilli Con Carne on a bed of steaming rice.

This recipe once again turned out pretty well, the only thing I would have liked is it a bit hotter, so the addition of some extra chillies would have been a good idea. These one shot spice packs are really good and the taste is pretty authentic as far as I'm concerned. I will however start to be more adventurous in the coming weeks once my confidence is high and I know just how this braai is going to react. It's amazing what and how well it cooks, its making me look good at the moment as I have not a big disaster as yet (hope i'm not tempting fate). Thanks for taking time to follow this blog and please feel free to let me know what you think in the comments section.

Watch the video below and see just how easy this is to cook.

Peking Duck, on a Braai!!!

October 05, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Duck, Braai, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Roasts

Peking Duck Pancake Rolls (Buck Ging Ngap)

Well, the weather has certainly not got any better and thoughts turn to what to braai this week? Something different, "somebody said" but without any further help of what to cook! So I looked through my collection of recipe books (Charmaine Solomon is the inspiration for this) for something that you would not think to cook on the braai and this is how I arrived at Peking Duck.

You may ask why, I haven't to foggiest idea why but I know now that it was a great choice if not foolish. The Chinese have been cooking this for centuries and make it look easy, let me tell you it's not. This will take longer than all the other recipes I've cooked so far put together but if you follow these easy steps it will be worth it.

One Duck, will yield three separate dishes, the crackling crispy skin is eaten with mandarin pancakes (this is the most important course and what is meant by "Peking Duck") the flesh is served separately and the bones are then used to make a soup. I am only going to do the first two as I ran out of time to make the soup but have make the stock ready for another day. This is a variation on the traditional way to make this dish but it saves a lot of time and really works well.

Serves 6 - Prep: 8 hrs marinating - Cook Time: 120 mins

Ingredients:

1 x 2.5kg rousing duck
2 tsp of salt
1/3 cup of vodka (a couple of shots for yourself will help with the time it takes to get this meal ready)
3 x tbs honey
3 cups of water
6 slices of fresh ginger

For Serving

2 dozen Mandarin pancakes (I cheated and bought them from my local Chinese restaurant along with the Hoi sin sauce) who's got that much time that you can make these as well? If you have then let me know and you can pop along and give me a hand, lol
Spring onions sliced into slivers
Hoi sin sauce
1 cucumber cut into long slivers
Fresh steamed rice
Fresh stye fried Bok Choi
Pack of prawn crackers to serve the skin on

Method

Wash the duck, drain well and dry thoroughly, inside and out
Rub the salt all over the duck inside and out
Spoon the vodka over and rub all over the duck place the sliced ginger inside the duck
Leave for 4 hrs to marinade turning the bird from time to time so all the skin is in contact with the vodka at some point
Dissolve the honey in the water, rub this mixture into the skin of the duck not missing any place (they use a red dye but I prefer not to)
You now need to tie the duck, so that you are able to hang it in a breezy place, for at least 4 hrs to dry (the Chinese chefs inflated the skin of the bird before hanging it for 24hrs but that was just beyond my abilities and time limits at the moment) I left it in our large fridge, worked a treat
Preheat the braai to about 190°C (375°F)
Place the duck on a rack over a roasting pan that has hot water in it, the duck must be well above the water
Cook for 30 minutes and the turn the heat down to 150°C (300°F) for a further hour
Then bring the temperature back up to its original temp and roast until the skin is crispy and brown all over

All that needs to be done now is to eat this fantastic bird, start by separating the skin from the meat. It should be really easy if you have crisped the skin correctly, start by cutting along the breast as I have in the photo below. Place the skin sliced onto a bead of prawn crackers, this will soak up the excess fat and will be fantastic when you eat them later.

The first course should be the soup that you made with the bones but as I said I have not done this this time.

Second course is the Peking Pancakes, I served this with the skin a little meat and the spring onion and cucumber, along with a little Hoi sin sauce. Wow, I could not believe how good this actually was and it was cooked on a braai.

Third Course was the flesh of the duck served with steamed rice and fresh Bok choi man this was just as good the pancakes.

This braai is just unbelievable, even a novice as myself is cooking what I consider to be a great meal. I'm sure that without this braai I would just be burning these dishes but who knows perhaps I'm getting better after nearly 8 weeks of cooking. Why not give this a go, if you do, please let me know what you think, we all would be interested to hear your stories.

Texan Steak, Blue Bull Steaks or even a Heinke Steek

How to Braai the perfect Steak!

September 28, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Food Websites, Beef, national braai day, Big Green Egg, Video

Texan Steak Braaied to perfection

Well, what a week we've had in the UK, force 6-8 winds, floods, thunder and lightning how exciting! Anyway I managed to braai this week and what I decided to do was braai a massive pieces of rump steak or what some people call "Blue Bulls Steaks" depending on where you're from. Or as one of my Facebook fans suggested "Heineke Steek" LOL. However we will be selling these on our web site and call them "Texan Steaks" just to keep the peace.

It's a very simple thing to cook a great steak but its just as easy to murder a great piece of meat. If you follow the following simple instructions you shouldn't go to far wrong.

Serves 2 - Prep: 2 minutes (1hr marinating if you must) - Cook Time: 6-8 mins

Ingredients:

1 x 800g Black Gold Rump Steak (300-400g per person) if you are a South African carnivore or less if your from anywhere else, lol.
Sea Salt or a marinade of your choice if you must but these steaks just don't need anything added
2 x potatoes to bake on the Braai
Salads of your choice

Method

Preheat the braai to about 300°C (550°F)
Get the Braai as hot as you can
Idealy you need a lid to cook this way as this stops the flames from rising to high and just burning the meat
Season the meat to your choice (see image below)
If you are using a marinade, always give it at least an hour to absorb the spices
Make sure that the meat is rested and not to cold, don't cook straight from the fridge always let it come up to room temp
The trick when cooking a steak is not to turn it to often, once on each side and the just a quick turn again to put those great diagonal burns in the meat.
For a steak of this size 850g I cooked it only for 4 minutes on each side to get a medium rare steak. Add or subtract a minute on each side depending on if you want to go up or down the cooking scale. This usually works a treat for me, resulting in a steak landing on my plate just the way I want it.
BIG TIP, always let the meat rest for at least 5 minutes after it comes off the braai so that it relaxes and reabsorbs the juices. Be patient and you will be rewarded.

Get a 800g Texan Steak for free!

To launch these steaks on our web site they will be discounted by 15% for the first two weeks that they are on sale, so make the most of this offer if you are a meat lover. Also tell me why (in the comments area below) you think you should be the first to try one of these steaks for FREE and we will send you a 800g steak to try. Sorry but this is only available to people on the UK mainland due to delivery restrictions, entries close on the 4th October 12.

Watch me Braai this 850g Rump Steak

Blue Bull Steak, 850g of Black Gold Rump Steak

It's National Braai Day

September 24, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Big Green Egg

Blue Bull Steak, 850g of Black Gold Rump Steak

As you all know I'm a native South African living through the currently chilly British summer and today was not a good day if you live in the UK, rain and force 6 winds. South Africans celebrate Braai Day on 24 September (South Africa’s Heritage Day) and as you know we take our braai very seriously!

This is my offering to the celebrations even in these conditions, just thought that I would post this quickly so you don't think that I'm letting the side down. I don't think I could even stand up on the beach today in Seaford (my local beach). It was just like Cape Town on a really bad winters day with the South Easterly wind blowing and rollers crashing onto the beach.

I will be adding to this post later on this week to show you how to cook the perfect Blue Bull Steak above. That's a really large steak to those who aren't from SA this one was 850g bit on the small side but there was only two of us eating. LOL

Hope you've all been Braaing?

Slow Roasted Lamb

August 31, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Vegetables, Big Green Egg, Lamb, Stir Fry, Roasts

Slow Roasted and Smoked with Rosemary

It feels like winter is about to set in here in the UK, summer lasted all of one week and my stomach is telling me it's time to bring back Roast Suppers! So this week i'm cooking a leg of lamb, unfortunately not spring lamb as we are slipping into autumn but this half a leg of Welsh Lamb is as good as it gets.

Ingredients

Leg of Lamb or half (serves 2-6)
10 cloves of garlic
Loads of Rosemary
Mixed vegetables to stir fry
Tastic rice mixed with wild rice

Method

Peal the cloves of garlic and leave whole
Wash and leave rosemary in sprigs
Take a sharp knife and push into the lamb to about 2-3cm
Push garlic into the cuts
Push rosemary into cuts on top of the garlic leave heads to poke out (looks great)
Cut all your veg up into julienne strips, as you are just going to stir fry these quickly with a little olive oil at the end. Two carrots, 6 asparagus, 1 courgettes , 12 mange too and t baby leeks. Make sure to put you rice on to cook and then to steam for at least 30 minutes (makes the rice fluffy and light) this will stop it being just a stodgy mess
Take the remainder of the rosemary and place in a tray that you can place under the leg of lamb, so that it smoulders and smokes it to perfection
Cook the lamb for about 3 hrs at 160°C (320°F) for half a leg, 4-5 hrs for a whole leg. The internal temp of the lamb should reach 82°C (180°F) for Medium, a bit higher if you want it well done or less for rare. I like mine rare so I took it out at 77°C (100°F). Tip, when you place your temperature probe into the meat, make sure it's not touching the bone as this will give you a false reading.
Make sure that you cover it and leave it to rest for at least 20 minutes, this always seems like to longest 20 minutes in history. Especially when it smells so great

It may sound like a load of garlic but when you slow roast it it mellows and just infuses a fantastic flavour throughout the lamb. Just don't eat the cloves when you cut the meat if you want anybody to come close to you later! Slow roasting and smoking the meat will give it such a fantastic colour and flavour, only cooking for 3hrs will mean that the smoke flavour is not to intense either.

Once you have taken the lamb off the braai and set it aside to rest for 20 minuets you can then start to stir fry your veg. You could have slow roasted them with the meat but I wanted them to be fresh and al dente, with vibrant colours to go along side the meat. They will only take 4-5 minutes to cook depending on how you like them. Taste one occasionally, perks of being the Chef!

Please make sure that you leave the meat to rest for 20 minutes, this will make all the deference between a nice bit of meat and a fantastic moist piece of meat. Its a long time to wait but its worth every minute. Carve into generous slices and serve on a bed of rice with vegetables and mint sauce, just look how simple and great it looks.

P.S. I did not season the meat or vegetables with salt or pepper as they just don't need it. Enjoy!