South African Gathering in Greystones Co Wicklow Ireland

Last year was big !

This year's event was

MASSIVE

All I can say is well done to Berilyn and her team for a well arranged well managed and very successful event

The event officially opened at 11:00 and the line at the front gate just kept going and going !!

We had set up our display BBQs and also had entered the cooking competition called a "POTJIE" competition.

For non South Africans that means "Small Pot" cooking competition. 

We set up the two Ultimate Convector Grills, with each one loaded with 22 briquettes per basket. The one we had in direct cooking mode and the second one we set up in indirect mode. 

The one in the direct mode was lit first so that we could get the briquettes to a grey covering mode ready for placing the potjie pot onto the unit. 

Normally a "Potjie" cooking container is a round pot with three legs that is placed into the fire and allowed to cook over a period of time. We were using a flat bottomed unit more commonly known as a Dutch pot.

Various food types can be cooked in this way but the most popular at oxtail, mutton, beef and seafood.

Ok, so that is pretty much anything you love !

The potjie process starts with the pot being lightly oiled to prevent sticking of the food to the pot and then popping in something like onions or initiate the cooking process.

These are left to brown before the next step starts.

Then one by one the rest of the ingredients are added to the batch. Typically the next in would be the meat.

We chose Mutton which we cubed and seasoned with mix of herbs, salts and  pepper 

The process is a slow and aromatic process.   

On the second convector we set up in indirect mode, also with 22 briquettes on each side and the baskets set up on the outside of the base.

This unit was going to be used to make our savory bread. This bread has been  a favorite with our family and friends for many years and always goes down well.
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All thurned our great and was enjoyed by friends and family.

Cleaning up involved folding up the aluminium foil, that we placed on the base of the Convector grill fire area and emptying the coals from this foil into a bin provided to cold coals. Ok so we have learned to work smart not hard :-)

Easy to clean and no mess, no fuss !
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