Meet Francois Lottering: new Nguni Braai King
Nguni Grill, in conjunction with Review, hosted a Braai King competition
On September 24, South Africans do not only celebrate Heritage Day, but Braai Day as well. Braai Day aims to unite all South Africans around fires to share their heritage.
Nguni Grill, in conjunction with Review, hosted a Braai King competition, in which participants had a braai-off and stood the chance to win not only prizes and the title of Nguni Braai King, but to have the winner’s recipe included on Nguni Grill’s menu.
On Wednesday, 12 contestants lit up their fires at Nguni Grill and started the braai process. As braaing is a tradition in South Africa, one of the criteria in which each participant was judged was “Proudly South African”. The other criteria were method, originality, presentation and taste.
The judges were Miss Humanity 2014, Katryn Barwise, Pieter Meiring from Review, Hannes Willemse from Nguni Grill and local singer, Leonard “Skaap” Schaafma.
“It is really not an easy task deciding who should win,” said Willemse, halfway through tasting the dishes. The dishes included chicken, pork, rump, snoek and even kudu. Then there were potatoes cooked on the coals, braaibroodjies, corn on the cob and salad. One contestant even prepared a dessert. One team, Sasha-Lee Willemse and Nicol Bradbury, also baked a bread on the fire.
“We are boeremeisies and that is why we decided to participate. We know we’re going to win and even if it is not first place,” said Bradbury. The team came second in the competition with their stuffed chicken and cherries. “We had cherry chocolate merlot wine, cherry jam and cherry muffins for dessert.”
One of the contestants, Gerrit Celliers said he entered the competition because all his friends and family nagged him to take part. He prepared kudu fillet in foil with garlic-cheese bread and salad.
At the end of the competition, Francois Lottering walked away with the Nguni Braai King title.
He said he loved to prepare food in and out of the kitchen. “I love it when I have prepared something and my family enjoys the meal.”
“I am a very lucky woman, His food is really delicious,” said his wife, Irma.
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