Toe in the Water

Plough Discs

Plough Discs

For no apparent reason, I have been thinking of barbies of late. Not barbie dolls but the great cook-out, barbecue, grill and the Australian barbie. To the growing list of names for this activity should be added the southern African version, the braaivleis (pronounced "bry, to rhyme with eye, flays, the ess being soft). An Afrikaans word meaning literally "cook meat", this is frequently shortened to "braai".

The braai is conducted in much the same way as in other parts of the world but it does have a few special foods included, most common of which is boerewors (again an Afrikaans word, meaning farmer's sausage). This is a sausage made with coarsely-ground meat and several spices, very similar to the sausages Americans use in the same circumstances. If you are really lucky and the host or hostess of the braai you attend happens to be Afrikaans, you might also be treated to koeksisters after the meat course. These are a wonderful confection that I can describe no better than the Wikipedia's excellent rendering: "a syrup-coated doughnut in a twisted or braided shape (like a plait). They are best eaten cold; koeksisters are very sticky and sweet and taste like honey."

But I do not want to be deflected into a long discussion of southern African foods; the idea was to tell you of the barbie of barbies, the king of outdoor cooking, the greatest culinary invention by civilized mankind. It is simple in concept and execution but difficult to describe so bear with me while I attempt the task.

For the best barbecue party you have ever thrown, first you're going to need a plough* disc. There is a particular type of plough that consists of a row of discs held by a frame that is towed behind a tractor. The discs are dished and held almost upright, thereby doing a pretty good job of cutting into the earth and turning it over as the disc is dragged along. And occasionally the discs become a bit worn and are replaced with new ones, leaving the farmer with the problem of what to do with the used ones. This is where the braai suggested itself as the answer to at least one Zimbabwean farmer.

The disc is about three feet in diameter and needs only to be cleaned and perhaps polished to present itself as a large wok without a handle. All that has to be done now is to build a fire in a slight hollow in the ground and then to place the disc on to the glowing coals that eventually result. Throw the boerewors in first and they will cook in their own juices. The juice then serves as the oil in which to cook the remaining meats and whatever else you want to add to the mix.

I know this is essentially frying the food rather than grilling it but the aroma of the burnt wood enters the equation and results in a taste treat beyond your wildest dreams. After this barbie of barbies, you will pine for the real thing at all subsequent barbies, especially those awful gas-fired things we have today. You can tell me that there are regulations against open fires these days but that surely is just one more argument against the proliferation of rules and regulations in modern life. Give us back our real barbies, I say!

Incidentally, after slaving away at my description of a plough disc I found lots of pictures of them. I could have saved myself the trouble, therefore, but I leave the description in so that you can see it is all true...

* There are just a few words that I cannot bring myself to spell the American way and this is one of them. It is entirely illogical that I should feel this way about the word "plough" so I have devised an excuse for myself and it goes like this: We all know that the word-ending "ough" has so many variations in pronounciation in English that it is the natural choice if you want to trip up a foreigner. I have not been able to think of another example apart from "plough" that uses the letters to make the sound "-ow" and this makes "plough" an endangered species. As such, it deserves protection from encroachment by the American "plow".


Word count: 724