Are you the braai master?

National Braai Day

Thursday 24 September is not only National Heritage Day, which is spe­cial in itself, but also National Braai Day, which cel­eb­rates an ingrained part of South African cul­ture. The braai is a unique South African pas­time and National Braai Day is held under the ban­ner of Braai4Heritage and the pat­ron­age of Desmond Tutu. Other ambas­sad­ors include Riaan Cruywagen, Gareth Cliff and Jo-Ann Strauss.

But what makes a braai (bar­be­cue) so spe­cial? In my opin­ion it is because there is no bet­ter way to while away a few hours (or an entire day) than sit­ting around the braai spend­ing qual­ity time with good friends and fam­ily ...Within my circle of friends the braai and the activ­it­ies that sur­round it have become some­what of a tra­di­tion and I have no doubt that fam­il­ies and friends in gar­dens all around South Africa have their own traditions ...

National Braai Day

Each time we gather for a braai, the rules are simple — Bring whatever meat (and in some cases veg­gies) and drinks you want to con­sume and the rest will be taken care of — gen­er­ally by myself and a good friend, as we haven’t quite got­ten away from the old tra­di­tions of men tend­ing to the meat on the fire while the women pre­pare the salads in the kit­chen. It may seem like a sex­ist tra­di­tion but we like it this way — and we do know how to make a great salad.

Our braai’s tend to be a whole day affair with the fire being star­ted at around mid­day and care­fully ten­ded to for the next few hours so as to ensure the per­fect cook­ing tem­per­at­ure. I have on many occa­sions tried to ascer­tain when it is the optimal braai tem­per­at­ure but have never quite got the knack – appar­ently it is ready when you are able to hold your hand above the heat for approx­im­ately 10 seconds without the heat sear­ing your hand. However, I’d rather leave this to the boys as they get a kick out of stand­ing around the fire, talk­ing about the latest sports res­ults and gen­er­ally enjoy­ing each other’s company.

National Braai Day

Its tra­di­tional to serve a couple of salads to accom­pany the meat and here is where I do my part. I really enjoy the time spent in the kit­chen while mak­ing salads, it is a fant­astic oppor­tun­ity to catch up with friends and learn the latest gos­sip. Along with our stand­ard prac­tices the boys under­stand that not only is it import­ant for them to be the braai mas­ters, but they also need to play bar­tender for the day and ensure the girls are com­fort­able and con­tent and always have their wine glasses topped up.

The day is always enter­tain­ing with jokes and stor­ies being shared and the boys shar­ing the job of braai mas­ter. It is an hon­our to be the one with the tongs and have the chance to turn the meat while cook­ing it to per­fec­tion and appar­antly you hap­pily endure the smoke and heat, if you are given this honour.

If you don’t feel up to host­ing the braai and would like someone else to braai for you, why not con­tact the Haartenberg Estate and book your place at their table on Thursday 24 September 2009. For R130 a per­son you can enjoy a bottle of wine, cock­tail wors, salads, cheeses and pre­serves, Mediterranean chicken, boere­wors, cof­fee, koek­s­isters and more. (Contact Francel du Plessis for more inform­a­tion on +27 (0)21 865 2541).

Come rain or shine National Braai Day should be spent tak­ing part in this South African tra­di­tion, call your friends and fam­ily and cel­eb­rate this day. The braai is an oppor­tun­ity to unite people from all back­grounds and is a tan­gible activ­ity that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Useful Links:
Braai For Heritage Web Site: http://braai4heritage.co.za/
South Africa Languages & Culture
South Africa Public Holidays
Things to Do in South Africa