If ever there was a braai cookbook to buy it would be one by the legendary Janbraai – the master of the South African braai. Atmosfire is a treasure trove of braai knowledge allowing you to perfect the art of braaing and cook up recipes that look less like a streetside boerie roll and more like a meal you’d get at a five star restaurant. From breakfast dishes to every kind of protein, pizza, potjies, breads and even desserts Atmosfire will show you how to make a complete meal start to finish on your braai.
Dietary Notes
The South African braai is home to animal proteins (lots and lots of meat) which is exactly what you can expect in this cookbook. There are however some fish, bread and dairy dishes for variety. Most recipes are healthier in that they’re made from scratch and not packed with sugar or oil.
Best For
The braai lover.
Cooking Level
Intermediate. The recipes are not too complicated but they are more advanced than pure beginner – with most elements benign made from scratch.
I’m sharing his recipe for Hand Chopped Burgers with Goulash Sauce, an obvious choice for me as someone who loves cooking from scratch. Not only is his burger hand-made, so is the goulash sauce which needs to go on everything! Made from steak, this did taste more like a steak roll, than burger but either way it was the most bougie burger I’ve made. The type of meat listed below is direct from his cookbook, I chose whatever was available at my butcher.
Hand Chopped Burgers with Goulash Sauce
Ingredients
For the Patties
- 350 grams sirloin or rump steak I used Osyter steak and goulash
- 400 grams chuck steak see above
- sea salt on the braai not before
For the Goulash Sauce
- 2 red onions
- 2 red bell peppers
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 tot olive oil
- 2 tots paprika
- 1 tot tomato paste
- ½ cup beef stock
- salt and pepper
For building the burger
- 4 hamburger rolls
- olive oil
Instructions
- Make the sauce by chopping the onions and peppers. Crush and chop the garlic. Chop the tomatoes.
- Heat the olive oil in a pot (or a potjie if you want to make it on the braai) and fry the onions and peppers for a few minutes until soft, throw in the garlic and fry for another minute.
- Add the chilli powder and paprika and toss to release their flavours. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and beef stock and bring to a boil. Close the lids and simmer until thick. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- To make the patties: the coldest the steak is the easier it is to chop so work from it straight out of the fridge. Remove any bones and then slice the meat into thin slivers. Slice each sliver lying flat into strips (you can stack a few at a time), leaving you with very thin strips resembling julienned vegetables. Change directions by 90 degrees and chop into tiny pieces. Use your hands to shape the mince into patties – don’t add anything to them.
- The patties will be less condensed and solid than bought patties so place them carefully on a piping hot braai for 8 minutes, turning over once. While braaing you can add some sea salt to them.
- During the final minutes of braaing the patties, cut open the rolls and brush with olive oil before toasting on the braai.
- Assemble the burgers with patties, goulash sauce and any other condiments you like.
JanBraai Atmosfire is published by Penguin Random House. It is available here.
