Bread
Braaibroodjies
Toasted sandwiches with cheese, tomato, onion and fruit chutney, cooked in a hinged grid over the last of the coals. The side everyone finishes first.
Braaibroodjies come at the end of the evening, once the meat is off and the coals are fading. The chutney is the point at which they stop being toast.
- Prep
- 10 min
- On the fire
- 10 min
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- easy
Method
-
Butter the bread
Butter one side of all twelve slices thinly. That side faces outward — it becomes the crust and stops the bread welding itself to the grid.
-
Build them
Lay six slices buttered side down. Spread chutney on the dry side, then cheese, tomato, onion. Season firmly; the tomato needs it. Top with the second slice, butter facing out.
-
Clamp them
Lay the sandwiches side by side in the hinged grid and close it tightly. A loose grid means they fall apart when you turn them.
-
Cook them
Hold them over mild coals — eight seconds on the hand test, meaning the heat left after the meat. Turn every 60 to 90 seconds for eight to ten minutes, until both sides are evenly golden and cheese oozes at the edges.
-
Serve at once
Cut diagonally and eat with your hands. Cold, a braaibroodjie is just a sandwich again.
Tips
- The coals must be weak. Over full heat the bread burns before the cheese melts — which is why braaibroodjies always come last.
- No hinged grid? Two cooling racks clamped together with a pair of braai tongs will do.
- Slice the onion thin. Thick rings will not cook through in ten minutes and taste sharp rather than sweet.
Braaibroodjies prove that the best things at a fire happen on the side. They need no fire of their own, just the warmth left once the meat is resting on the board — and that is exactly the order they are meant for.
The composition is remarkably non-negotiable. Cheese, tomato, onion, chutney: leave out any one of the four and you will be corrected. The chutney carries the weight — its sweetness against the salt of the cheese, its acidity against the fat of the butter.