To braai......or to barbeque? That is the question.

As you will know by now it is winter here in South Africa and here on the west coast where I live, July and August are our worst months in terms of miserable days. Granted we do have nice days in between, days when we can ride comfortably or when we can rush out and have a braai and we do take advantage of them.

Here most braai aficionados are scornful of the gas braai - "That's not a braai, that's a barbie!" will be the shout as you open the gas bottle valve and generally the weather will have to be really bad before most of them will condescend to use one. Here a braai is sacrosanct, firewood only and very few will even use charcoal. I however do not fall into that category, I love to cook outside but I will resort to using whatever is the most convenient and that is how I came to be using my gas "braai" on Sunday.

I had bought some lovely aged Ribeye on-the-bone, thick steaks and was determined that they should be cooked in flame rather than a pan but the weather was miserable.

I marinated the steak in olive oil, fresh garlic and thyme for a couple of hours, and then applied the flame;

A steak of this quality deserves to be treated with respect and the application of flame is the best way to give it that respect, this steak was perfectly done to our taste, medium rare  and the boerewors also reacted very well to the flame. It was a delicious meal.

I do enjoy a traditional braai, using a decent hard wood to make long lasting coals is the best way but in inclement weather I will still cook outside. How do you feel about this?