Potjiekos
Also known as Potjie
The cook leaves a potjie unstirred until just before serving, while meat and layered vegetables simmer for hours in the three-legged iron pot.
- TraditionSouth African outdoor cooking
- Kind of dishBraai
- SeasonAll year
- OccasionAny day of the week
A potjie usually begins with a slow-cooking cut such as beef shin, oxtail or lamb shank, browned in the hot pot with onions and spices. Vegetables are layered on top, the slowest-cooking at the bottom and the quickest at the top, a little liquid goes in, and the lidded pot simmers gently for hours. The cook avoids stirring until just before serving, so that each layer cooks in the steam.
Potjiekos means food from the little pot. The potjie is a round, lidded, three-legged cast-iron pot made to stand over an open fire. Iron pots are believed to have arrived with Dutch settlers in the 17th century, and indigenous communities, who had cooked in clay pots, also adopted them.
It is usually a social meal, cooked outdoors while people gather around the fire.
Check out these sources
- potjie · Dictionary of South African English
- A brief history of the cast-iron potjie pot · Sunday Times (TimesLIVE)
- How to master the perfect potjie · Getaway
- 10 of the best potjie tips from Getaway readers · Getaway
- Oxtail and red wine potjie · Cooksister (Jeanne Horak)
- Potjiekos · Wikipedia
