braai.co.za
Die tuiste van die Suid-Afrikaanse braai

Where there's smoke,
there's a story.

braai.co.za is the home of South Africa's favourite ritual — the definitive guide to fire, wood, meat and the people standing around it.

Browse the recipes Master the fire
… days to National Braai Day
24 September — Heritage Day. Start planning your fire

Die Vuur is burning

One communal fire for the whole country, live on this site. It burns down every hour and stays lit only if somebody puts something on it — a word, a braai spot, wood wisdom, a family recipe. If it goes out, the page stays up forever.

Stand around it
The guides

Everything between the match and the plate

Written the South African way: no gadgets you don't need, no shortcuts that cost you flavour. New to all of this? Start with What is a braai? — then kit yourself out with the gear guide.

Fire & Wood

Kameeldoring or rooikrans? How long before the coals are ready? The full fire-craft guide, from stacking to the eight-second hand test.

Read the guide →

The Cuts

What to ask your butcher for — beef, lamb, pork, chicken and proper boerewors. Which cuts love open flame, and which belong in the potjie.

Read the guide →

The Recipes

Fifteen classics every braaier should have in hand: boerewors rolls, braaibroodjies, butterflied lamb, sosaties, two kinds of ribs, snoek, potato bake, potbrood — and roosterkoek.

See the recipes →
The manifesto

The Rules of the Fire

Unwritten for generations. Written down at last.

  1. The braaier braais. Whoever holds the tongs holds the floor. Advice may be offered once, from a respectful distance, and never twice.
  2. A braai starts when the fire is lit, not when the meat goes on. The hours in between are not waiting — they are the point.
  3. Wood makes coals; coals make the braai. Flames are for show. Meat meets the grid only once the fire has calmed down and grown up.
  4. Trust the hand test. Hold your palm over the coals at grid height: eight seconds is perfect for wors, six for tjops, four means wait.
  5. Boerewors is turned seldom and never stabbed. Pierce the casing and the juice you lose is the flavour you promised everyone.
  6. The braaibroodjie is not a side. It is the measure of the braaier. Low coals, patience, and butter on the outside — always on the outside.
  7. Pap en sous feeds the nation. A pot of stywe pap and a proper tamatie-en-uie smoor turn a packet of wors into a feast for twelve.
  8. Weather is a rumour. Rain moves the guests inside; it does not move the fire. That is what the garage, the stoep and the umbrella are for.
  9. Never count the tjops. There is always room for one more person at a braai, and somehow always one more chop on the grid.
  10. The fire dies down; the stories don't. The last hour around the coals, long after the food, is where the braai actually happens.
Start here

Three recipes that never miss

The classic

Boerewors rolls with tomato smoor

Slow-braaied wors in a soft roll under a rich tamatie-en-uie smoor. The people's champion, done properly.

Get the recipe → Non-negotiable

Braaibroodjies

Tomato, onion, cheddar and chutney, toasted slowly in a toeklap-rooster over dying coals. The braaier's true exam.

Get the recipe → Crowd-pleaser

Chicken sosaties, apricot & curry

The Cape Malay classic — overnight in a curried apricot marinade, then quick over medium coals.

Get the recipe →