Its that time of the year again, where the temperatures have dropped and you find yourself building that fire larger and sitting snuggled around the glowing flames. There is nothing more satisfying on a cold night, to dish a nice hot plate of venison potjie, add the call of the Nightjars in the background and “Born Up A Tree!!” your in heaven!
The three-legged pot was originally used widely across Europe and it was introduced to South Africa when Europeans settled there. Today, more than 500 years later, potjie cooking is a strong tradition that belongs to all the different peoples and food cultures of South Africa. It is a way of socializing, a way to have a party, and a way of cooking outdoors when you are camping. For most South Africans an invitation to potjiekos (food cooked in a potjie) promises a relaxing time of cheerful chatting by the fire, often in a beautiful surrounding, while mouth-watering flavours emerge from the potjie.
Potjiekos, is often considered bit of an “art” according to the hardcore enthusiasts out there, but we all have to start somewhere! Here is a recipe that is well suited for beginners which works like a charm and tastes like a pro made it!
INGREDIENTS:
1.5kg Venison shanks (Any venison will do) (If the meat comes from an old bull/cow, leave it in a marinade sauce for a few hrs to soften it up a bit)
1.0kg Beef Mix (ask your butcher to give you a mixture of brisket, chuck & short rib. This works extremely well. Lamb shank will obviously do as well)
250g Smoked Rind-less Bacon (cut into cubes)
1 x Bottle Italian Salad Dressing (375ml). The normal one, not the cream one
12 or so Small Onions (those pickled onions work well)
1 Bunch of Celery (chopped)
500ml Beef Stock (or enough just to cover the meat)
4 Bay Leaves
4 Tsp Rosemary
8 Whole Cloves
1 Tsp Dried Thyme (or fresh herbs if you have)
1 Tsp Dried Parsley
1 Tsp Dried Basil (we’re going easy with the spices, as the salad dressing has quite a bit of spices in it as well)
1kg Bag of “Potjie Veggies” (most P ‘n P and Spars sell them in 1kg bags)
250g Baby Potatoes (just to add to the veggie “ready mix”)
3 Yellow Mielies (sliced into 2″ pieces)
500g Button Mushrooms (sliced in halves)
5 Whole Chillies (chopped) +- 3″ long do not remove the seeds!
2 Tbs Apricot Jam (heaped tbs)
3 Tbs Olive Oil
Freshly Ground S & P to taste.
First of all, you start with the pot by by adding the olive oil to a well heated pot. Let it heat up a bit before adding manageable quantities of the beef mix for browning. Do a batch, remove from the pot then do the next batch. After you’ve done the beef, then get stuck into the venison and do the same. As you remove the batches of meat from the pot, add some freshly ground Sea Salt & Pepper to each batch as per your liking. (The reason I say “manageable quantities”, is to ensure you brown all the meat, and not just the parts closest to the heat. That will make your meat chewy.)
After the meat has been cooking away for +- 2hrs, add the mushrooms, yellowmielies, apricot jam and the baby potatoes to the pot. Give the pot a gentle stir, just to get everything mixed up a bit. Do not go postal on the stirring part as that will simply mush everything together, which is not the idea. Remember, we’re making a pot, not stew. You just want to stir the ingredients through a bit, don’t worry about getting the jam stirred through, for instance, that will cook through on its own. Simply give contents of the pot 2 gentle flips, with a wooden spoon and this will be more than suffice to mix things up.
As soon as the meat is nice and tender and the potatoes are nice and soft when you stick a knife in it, it is time to eat!! Give your pot ONE final flip and what should take you +-2.30hrs to cook, should deliver a great result!
– Your pot must gently simmer away, not be a raging inferno, but on the other hand, it should definitely not be silent either. A raging pot means it IS burning and a quiet pot means nothing is happening. What you are looking for is a nice pleasant simmer, not to fast and not to slow. Put your ear against the pot, it will soon tell you if it is happy or not. Don’t laugh, it works!!
– Manage your fire. Different heat will come from different heat sources. Wood burns at a different temperature to that of charcole. Chaka has a slow constant heat, where some of the other brands burn very hot very quickly. You will have to manage your heat to keep the pot purring away. I usually make my main fire and 30-40min later, I’ll make a little side fire with some back up coals, just for in case my pot takes a bit longer than originally planned.
– Stirring is not suggested, although here and there a gentle flip, will do very little harm. BUT, if you do stir, remember easy does it!!
– The lid should be on the pot 99% of the time. A pot should hardly ever be without its lid, this is what makes the cooking process work optimally. Opening it every 5min. or so hinders the flow of things.
– Taste your brew as you go along. Add what you need, tastes differ from one person to the next. Some like their food bland, others like it spicy and others will eat anything but green paint. It’s YOUR pot, make it YOURS.
– Whatever takes the longest to cook, should go in the pot first. The meat usually goes in off the bat, then the potatoes, mielies, spices, veggies and done!! Layering a pot is important, i.e. your veggies will burn to a crisp before the meat is done as your meat takes WAY longer to cook than veggies. Meat +- 2.5hrs, veggies +- 30min.
– Hardly EVER should you add water to a pot. If your pot is running a bit dry, rather add HEATED stock, NOT cold stock or water, as it buggers around with the temp. of the pot.
– Rather to little salt than to much. One can always add a shake or two of salt to your plate, but if the dish is to salty……. Not much you can do about that.