Welcome home, Self!

I knew when I arrived in Cape Town last night that I had to get a descent braai in this weekend to reward myself for surviving two weeks in Luanda. I had a braai there last week, but believe me "medium-rare" was not a term that the braaier was particularly familiar with. There you take what you get and you only say grace when you have actually managed to chew and swallow it. But, this afternoon I decided to pull out that soft and tender rump steak with marinade and make myself feel welcome with a "medium-rare" on the fire. I added the traditional "braaibroodjies" (on white bread of course) and my wife added some mushroom sauce to round it off. What a great way to welcome myself back into the most awesome country I have lived in so far.....

"Braaibroodjie"

Someone emailed me the other day and asked what a "braaibroodjie" is. I mentioned it in one of my Friday braai posts. I won't claim that I know exactly what the traditional braaibroodjie consisted of, but I am sure it must be white bread with tomato and onions. I think cheese and the other stuff came later. So, it is basically a sandwich that is put on a fire, and this is as common in South Africa as porridge and koeksisters. I looked on the Internet to see if I could find some recipes, or maybe what the original braaibroodjie looked like. I was amazed to see that there are even a site dedicated to the "braaibroodjie". I am sure if you would like to open an email on Yahoo or Google you will be surprized to find that "braaibroodjie" has already been taken by some very sharp South African.

So how do I like my braaibroodjie? I guess I will eat anything that comes off the fire, but if I make my own then I make sure that I use white bread for starters. My wife still believes that brown bread is a healthier option, but it just does not taste the same. Period. The rest is butter, tomato and cheese. I usually leave the onions out because it usually ends up being half cooked. I guess you do it according to your own taste.

Here are some more articles on "braaibroodjies"
http://blogs.food24.com/potjie/the-braai-broodjie
http://www.weg.co.za/kos/resep/209  (Afrikaans)