Welcome to the UK Window Cleaning Forums

Starting or own a window cleaning business? We're a network of window cleaners sharing advice, tips & experience. Rounds for sale & more. Join us today!

First bbq of the year

Dave B

Staff member
Moderator
Messages
18,784
Location
.
Such a nice day today i done some work in the garden including starting to box in my water storage and paint it the same as the shed and fences and decided to break the bbq out

I will usually have a bbq every weekend and a few during the week all spring and summer until it gets too cold but even i don't usually start this early

What you think @spruce?? Too early for a braai?

 
Ja Nee. Altyd is tyd vir 'n braai jong. 'N stukkie boerewors, steak 'n a bietjie pap 'n sous. En jy moonie vergeet 'n yskoud Castle Lager. /emoticons/biggrin.png

Trouble is that half the time I can't be asked to get the braai out of the garage.

.

 
I have a few south African mates from the rugby club and they will be out there soon

I went to a place called Kloof (don't know if you know it @spruce ..about an hour from Durban)

Spent a month there at my mates and can't remember day we didn't have a braai

 
Nice one daveboy we binned our barbie years ago to much faff on with the charcoal although i have been tempted to buy a gas one i could put a whole rabbit on /emoticons/biggrin.png

 
If your gonna go down the gas bbq route, you might as well drag your cooker into the garden.

Admittedly its slightly less faffing about, but you lose that 'bbq' flavour and makes you feel less 'macho caveman' lol

 
I have a few south African mates from the rugby club and they will be out there soon
I went to a place called Kloof (don't know if you know it @spruce ..about an hour from Durban)

Spent a month there at my mates and can't remember day we didn't have a braai
We lived in Kloof for a short period of time when I was a baby. I only have photos of the house we lived in as I have no memory of those days as I was very young. My brother was born in Durban when we were living there.

I tried to find the house on Google Earth but to no avail. I have never been able to find the address and sadly both my parents have long since gone as has my brother. The property was on a fairly large piece of land with mature fruit trees. I guessing the property was sold off, the house knocked down and an estate build on it now.

I don't know whether they owned the house or if they rented it. The house they had previously in Linden Johannesburg where I was born was owned by them and they sold that to move to Durban.

I have found every other property associated with our family back to 1906 in South Africa. The first property I found was in Bezuidenhout Valley, Johannesburg which the family built in 1908 on the side of the hill overlooking the valley. 100 years later the house still looks virtually the same although the area has changed for the worse.

0173 Kloof, Durban c1954.jpg

 
Last edited by a moderator:
If your gonna go down the gas bbq route, you might as well drag your cooker into the garden.Admittedly its slightly less faffing about, but you lose that 'bbq' flavour and makes you feel less 'macho caveman' lol
I think the most popular braai or bbq in South Africa is still the charcoal fire.

However, for portability Cadac brought out the first 'Skottel' braai some 30 years ago. It was a large concave dish with a burner underneath and power by a portable gas bottle. So in essence it was a large outdoor frying pan. But you lost the charcoal smoky taste of the meat etc. These appear in their dozens in cricket stadiums during the cricket season in summer. It was the ideal thing to cook early morning bacon, eggs, sausage and tomatoes for breakfast on holiday.

I have one in the garage as well as my old Cadac gas bottle. Unfortunately they aren't allowed to refill the Cadac bottles in the UK and I wasn't paying a 'fortune' for a replacement bottle here.

Another popular bbq is 'potkiekos'. I also have one of those which now fits to the braai after I welded a bracket on for that. Again, its just not worth the hassle. I've got too old and haven't the energy to be bothered now tbh.

Getting it out, setting it up, and cooking takes around 4 hours or longer. So ideally its started in the morning whilst you cut the grass etc and then the afternoon it becomes a social event in SA usually around the swimming pool with Castle Lager (I preferred Lion Larger as it was a little sweeter) and an assortment of 'bag in a box' wines with a tap at the bottom.

Potjiekos - Wikipedia

 
Last edited by a moderator:
If your gonna go down the gas bbq route, you might as well drag your cooker into the garden.Admittedly its slightly less faffing about, but you lose that 'bbq' flavour and makes you feel less 'macho caveman' lol

Yeh I know but its the faffing about that stops us having a barby , Oohh lets have barby 1hr later still waiting and I stink of smoke :eek: like when we used to have coal fire pleased we moved house far less faffing /emoticons/biggrin.png

 
What takes you so long to light it lol

I use a metal chimney

1 firelighter underneath

Fill it with charcoal

Light it

Sit indoors with a beer for 20 minutes

Go out and cook

 
What takes you so long to light it lol
I use a metal chimney

1 firelighter underneath

Fill it with charcoal

Light it

Sit indoors with a beer for 20 minutes

Go out and cook

It always seems to take longer for the charcoal to burn well and produce a good amount of heat to cook the meat , I will do a bit of research this year and buy a better barby , I used to get a blazing fire in no time at all when we had a coal fire but always struggled with a barby .

 
The metal chimneys are great..20 minutes and it is all white from bottom to top

Lift off the chimney and ready to go

 
The metal chimneys are great..20 minutes and it is all white from bottom to topLift off the chimney and ready to go
Good idea, but the smoke always drifts toward my eyes no matter which side I stand on.

Those outside Pizza ovens were also a must have but they aren't the same as a piece of Wors and vleis, especially if its a Texan rump steak. /emoticons/wink.png

Anyway, I just put on a few pounds thinking about it.

 
Also i eat quite a bit of biltong when i was there..nothing like the rubbish in uk shops

Nice bit of kudu etc

I suffered a bit after as it all rehydrated in my body:rofl:

 
I prefer savannah dry cider
For some strange reason I don't ever recall drinking cider in South Africa. In the summer here I can handle a pear cider when its warm but I usually adulterate it with lemonade. I share a bottle with the wife and stick the rest into the fridge for next time.

In Rhodesian days I would gravitate toward a 'Buster' in the dry heat of summer. It was served in a pint glass, half lemonade, half ginger ale with a splash of bitters, a slice of lemon and served with plenty of ice. I could drink a few of those knowing I was totally sober to drive home when it was time to leave.

I very really have anything alcoholic to drink these days. If we go out for a meal I usually order a glass of coke, mainly because I prefer it.

.

 
Loved it when I lived in oz, breaky on the barbie, and tea on the barbie..weekends down the creek suppin and barbie they have them near most the beaches free to use as long as you clean them

 
I have my moments as i love a nice cold cider but am drinking less lately as trying to shift a few lbs again

 
Also i eat quite a bit of biltong when i was there..nothing like the rubbish in uk shopsNice bit of kudu etc

I suffered a bit after as it all rehydrated in my body:rofl:
Health and safety has also found its way in SA and the biltong isn't the same anymore. Its clinically dried in large ovens with warm air. In the old days it was well salted and spiced and hung up to dry/cure in a barn open to the elements. Flies and other undesirables were mostly kept out with fine mesh screens, but wasn't always guaranteed. It was the hot dry dusty winds that made the best stuff. And all those germs didn't do us any harm, I don't think.

.

 
Humans have been preserving meat like that for thousands of years before the hse got involved lol

 

Latest Posts

Back
Top