In South Africa, braai is a time-honoured tradition. It generally stemmed from the Afrikaaner people, those European farmers who spread far and wide over the country after fleeing British rule in the Cape.
Braai and braai culture has evolved however in a modern sense and even English speaking white South Africans braai frequently. Of course in Cape Town the coloured communities also braai and they have their own twists on it. The black community has Shisanyama which is also similar.
In the Western Cape where I live, we live on the coast of the cold Atlantic Ocean brining its stream from Antartica. It is an area known for suddenly changing weather and LOTS and LOTS of wind! In fact, the beach 5mins from home is one of the “Wind Capitols of the World” and thus is an absolute favourite of wind surfers and kite surfers.
What makes this relevant to a braai is that West Coast people are often forced to braai in windy conditions. A regular windy day might seem quite unfavourable to other South Africans from other areas of the country, while it might just be seen as a negligible condition and not an obstruction.
On Saturday, my friend Nicolaas was at my place, sleeping over and visiting me from far away Orania. , Barry also joined us. Of course my family was there too:
,
and
. Our youngest boy was not at home.
I am still busy with another project at the docks but I have this guest and so I made plans so I could leave around 11:30ish. From there I went home, changed and collected Nicolaas. Together we went to the shops to get some braai supplies.
And THEN the wind turned super nasty. This would be conditions that normally by ourselves and I would think twice before lighting a fire.
So we had the people attending and we had the meat and the snacks and the drinks. No way we were NOT going to braai!
And so we did! had brought Hasty Tasty’s Sweet and Sour sauce and I had a Sticky Sweet and Smoky marinade. I used both in combination over the pork chops and chicken as well and it came out amazing! I also did some sausage and Claire prepared Potato salad and garlic bread.
Altogether I do not have too many photos because I was making fire, chatting, drinking, laughing and braaing the meat!
Thank you for reading this post!