My belly has been very unhappy with me lately, apparently a lack of red meat is to blame. I had to rectify the matter ASAP, so I drove down to my local butcher, picked up some sirloin and called some friends. It’s braai time!
First I boiled some baby potatoes. This takes about 15 / 20 minutes. If you can stick a knife in a potato easily and it comes out clean it is done.
I then strained the potatoes using a colander, cut them into halves and gave them a generous coating of salt and ground black pepper.
Popped these in a pan with a nice knob of butter, some chopped up garlic and a bit of parsley
I then did the same thing with some baby marrows that I have sliced up.
I like my steak to have a bit of fat on, so I tend to go for sirloin. I also prefer to cut the meat myself, so I tend to buy a whole slab of the stuff :D
You can then cut them to the desired thickness. If you have some of those fools at the braai that eat their meat overcooked, slice a few up that are thinner than the rest, so they will cook quicker.
It’s important to leave your meat out of the fridge for at least an hour before cooking. Otherwise it will still be cold in the center and you’ll have a hard time cooking it correctly.
Now you can season these puppies with your favourite herbs and spices. I have a secret blend of spices that I am not willing to share with the world at this stage, so I won’ t hehehe. After you have seasoned the meat, put them on the braai, over high heat.
With steak it’s important to get a feel of the level of “done-ness” by poking the meat with your finger. The harder the meat is, i.e the more feedback you feel, the more cooked it is. People have all sorts of gauges like feeling the fleshy part of your palm, but in reality its just something you should get some experience with. You will probably mess it up a couple of times as you get used to how it should feel, but once you are used to poking the meat you will get good results every time.
I let mine go for a couple of minutes each side and then I bring on the flames! I like the taste this gives the meat, just be careful here to not burn off your eyebrows, and turn the meat quickly, you don’t want charcoal flavored steak! To get the flames going, I have a squeeze bottle with some olive oil, I squirt some over the meat and thats normally enough to get my flame grill going. If you just see smoke, your coals are probably not hot enough, Try lighting it with a match.
I forgot to take a picture of the next step, coating the steaks with a basting sauce of your choice. No need to cook them much more after this, I just let them go for a minute or two on each side so the basting can stick to the meat and get “cooked”. Thats it, you can now remove the steaks off the grill.
It’s important to let the meat rest for about 10 minutes after cooking. This allows the juices to redistribute and results in juicier meat. I like to slice one up as a snack for the men religiously standing by the braai finishing their drinks. I like my meat medium rare, although looking at the photographic evidence it seems I overcooked this piece, this is what medium cooked steaks look like.
Smother these with some mushroom sauce, add some of the potatoes and marrows we made earlier and you got yourself a killer meal!
Hope you enjoy! As always, comments and questions welcome!
I’m very upset that I discovered this website! I’m drooling all over the keyboard!
I will kill for that steak! Medium rare is the only way.
Much to my annoyance my (beautiful) wife brought home sirloin rather than the rib eye I requested. I have always found that Sirloin gives little room for error. Anyway searched the site for sirloin on the Barbeque (braai) and found this recipe. I immediately realised in the past I overcooked the sirloin. The olive oil for flames was also a winner. It tasted great. Almost looking like the picture here. Cheers and thanks. Yum Yum
Thanks for the feedback, so chuffed that my post helped you! Yes I must admit, sirloin can be a tricky bugger, but as you mention as long as you don’t overcook it you should be fine. I must admit, I haven’t tried rib-eye yet, will make a point of giving it a bash. Cheers!
Hey Fritz,
Just found you on Twitter and popped on over for a look at your site. With articles like this I’ll definitely be back for more. Always good to meet a fellow braai lover.
Hi Braaiboy! Glad that you approve, and thanks for the kind words! I’ll definitely keep an eye on your site too, and yea, nothing beats a good braai!
Sjoe papi! That looks awesome!
Thanks dude! I must admit by steak is always a huge hit with me guests!