Braaiing and Recipes

[Dzombo]

Had a nice braai on Sat evening.

Built a mini wall of bricks down the side of the Olive logs.
And started it going with the other "rubbish" wood that I had tried before.

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[Richprins]

Jolly good, Dzombs!

[Lisbeth]

An excellent idea if you are not a big party

[Dzombo]

An excellent idea if you are not a big party

Then I just use the full length of the braai if we have a lot of people.

[Dzombo]

I have used olive wood from when I prune trees here on the farm .Olive wood is dense and heavy , more than 1000kg per cubic meter , with a very fine grain , turn darker as it grows older , and fantastic for furniture manufacture . Needs to be well dried , and burns very well with fairly long-lasting embers .

So.....

I have the option of buying some bulk olive wood (which I have tried) or Kameeldoring (not tried).

Price is similar

Which would you go for?

[Dzombo]

One thing though - International Health and Safety regulations require that all wood imports/exports must be fumigated in order to stop spreading of wood-bugs and diseases .
I am not sure what that entails as far as inter-country movement of such wood is concerned within the EU - it may not apply , and I assume that as the Olive wood probably has an EU origin , then that wood is probably not fumigated -- your wood supplier should be able to confirm that .

On the other hand , Camelthorn wood , originating from Africa , MUST certainly be fumigated , and again , then , the supplier/importer MUST be in possession of a fumigation certificate . Fumigation is done prior to shipment , and the fumigation certificate must accompany shipping documents , otherwise the shipment may be stopped by Port Health authorities .

Personally therefore , for obvious reasons , I would not use such fumigated wood to cook my food over an open fire .

The Olive is from Spain apparently.
And yes, I would imagine that within the EU (for the next few months anyway ) it doesn't get sprayed.

So I think you have made the decision for me.
Olive it will be.

[Richprins]

Braaiing is becoming very technical!

[Dzombo]

And of course , when braaing , do try not to use Tambotie

Unless the in laws are coming over

[Dzombo]

Way back in this thread, someone, maybe Okie, suggested using home made paper mache/paraffin fire starters.

Well I finally got to making some last weekend.
And tried to use them last night. Decided for first attempt try with charcoal.

What an abject failure.
There was tons of smoke. And very little flame.
My eyes are really sore this morning.

The neighbours can't be impressed.
And the SO wasn't happy as dinner was late and the veg etc she was making got dried out.
Needless to say, the rest I made will go in the bin.

[Richprins]