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Meat · In Afrikaans: T-bone tjop

T-bone with braai salt

A thick T-bone over full coals, seasoned with home-mixed braai salt of toasted coriander, salt and paprika. Two seconds on the hand test — this is searing, not cooking.

Braaisout is South Africa's answer to steak seasoning: ground coriander, coarse salt, paprika and garlic. Every family has its mix and every family thinks theirs is right. The constant is coriander — it comes from the same spice cupboard as boerewors.

Prep
20 min
On the fire
12 min
Serves
4
Effort
medium
T-bone steaks on the grid over open coals
Jon Sullivan · Public domain

How hot

Full heat

You can hold your hand over the grid for 2 seconds · ≈ 230 °C+

Every coal stage explained →

Which wood

Kameeldoring

subtle, dry

More on this wood →

When it goes on

First on the fire

Goes on first, while the coals are at their hottest — steaks, thick chops, and anything that sits in a pot for hours.

Equipment: Grid

This line

British period1806 to 1961Made at the Capelate 20th century to today

Chutneys, marinades, side salads — and the word chop.

Method

  1. Mix the braai salt

    Toast the coriander and pepper in a dry pan until fragrant, then crush coarsely. Mix with the rest. In a closed jar it keeps for months — it is the reason to bother with the rest of this recipe at all.

  2. Bring the meat up

    Out of the fridge an hour before, and patted dry. A dry surface browns; a wet one steams.

  3. Oil first, then season

    Rub thinly with oil, then season generously with braai salt. In that order, so the seasoning sticks to the meat instead of falling into the coals.

  4. Build two zones

    Rake the coals to one side. Over the hot side two seconds on the hand test should be all you can manage — no more, and no less.

  5. Sear

    Three to four minutes a side over full coals. Turn exactly once. Flip every thirty seconds and you get grey meat with grid marks.

  6. Move it across

    Then two to four minutes on the clear side to finish, depending on thickness and how you want it. Medium rare is roughly 54 to 57 °C in the middle.

  7. Rest

    Eight minutes on a warm board, loosely covered. Then cut along the bone and slice across the grain.

Tips

  • The bone cooks more slowly than the meat next to it. So lay a T-bone with the bone towards the hottest part, not the fillet.
  • With this method, salt goes on shortly before cooking. Salt an hour ahead and you draw water to the surface and wait longer for a crust.
  • Kameeldoring holds its coals long enough that the third steak gets the same heat as the first. With rooikrans the second round runs short.

A T-bone carries two different cuts on one bone: the lean fillet on one side, the beefier sirloin on the other. They differ in thickness and want different times — so the bone is not a nuisance, it is the control. Put the bone towards the hottest part and the fillet facing out.

The real content of this recipe, though, is the braai salt. It costs ten minutes, keeps for months and turns any piece of meat into something South African. The toasted coriander is not interchangeable — it is the link to boerewors and to everything else that goes over a fire here.

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