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September 23, 2022
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How to Light a Braai Fire: A Step-by-Step Guide
Been invited to a braai by your South African mates? They’ve probably already told you about the 24th of September. It’s National Heritage Day. Back home, it’s widely known as National Braai Day. Millions of South Africans will be lighting fires to celebrate. It’s a public holiday that has been running since the mid-90s to celebrate our diversity, culture, and roots.
How to Start a Braai Fire With Wood
Your 4-Step Fire Guide
A braai isn’t a braai without a proper fire. Here’s how you build one.
1. Get Your Kit Sorted
Grab everything you need before you start. You need a good fire starter. We highly recommend natural firelighters. Or, just keep your old cardboard egg boxes, rub them with vegetable oil, and use them instead.
Next, grab your kindling. Our Sekelbos kindling is extremely dense and dry. Then get your heavy logs ready. You’ll also need a serious pair of tongs. We swear by our Jim Beam grilling tongs.
2. Build the Tower
Put your kindling in the centre of the braai. Lay two pieces down parallel to each other. Place two more pieces on top, but lay them perpendicular to the first two. Place your fire starter right in the middle of this square and light it.
Once that catches, start adding your bigger logs using the exact same square tower technique. Build three or four layers. Keep the wood spaced apart so air can feed the flames.
3. Watch the Flames
You have to watch the fire attentively. Make sure it has enough space to breathe. If you stack too few logs, it dies. If you pack them too tight, you suffocate the flame.
Once it’s burning nicely, leave it alone. When the tower eventually collapses, just move the unburnt logs back onto the hot pile. If you’re using Rooikrans, you’ll have cooking coals in 40 minutes. Give Kameeldoring or Sekelbos about an hour.
4. Move the Coals and Cook
We highly recommend building your main fire on one side of the unit. As the coals form, pull them over to your cooking area and spread them out flat.
Our 900mm stainless steel mobile braai is built specifically for this. It has a dedicated ember maker. You just keep adding logs to the main fire to create a constant supply of fresh coals. Drop the grid to the lowest setting for a quick sear, or keep it high for slower cooking.
Lighting a Braai Like a Local
If it’s your first time hosting, you need to know how to get the fire right. At Let’s Braai, we’re obsessed with the atmosphere a good wood fire creates. It’s the only way to get the ultimate braai experience.
African hardwood burns much longer than standard charcoal. It produces a massive amount of consistent heat. That means you can cook anything like an absolute master. Our imported wood is extremely dry with very low moisture content.
Best Wood for a Braai Fire
Not all firewood produces the same cooking results. Dense hardwoods create hotter, longer-lasting embers that are ideal for braai cooking. Traditional Southern African favourites such as Kameeldoring, Sekelbos, Rooikrans and Mopane are prized because they burn slowly and generate excellent coals for grilling meat. When selecting wood, choose dry, seasoned hardwood rather than freshly cut timber, which produces excess smoke and inconsistent heat.
Here’s what you should be burning:
Kameeldoring: This is a very dry, slow-burning wood. It gives off a musky fragrance and creates a deep bed of hot coals. It’s superb for grilling.
Sekelbos: Super dry and burns incredibly slow. It kicks out intense heat and adds a heavy smoky flavour to your meat.
Rooikrans: This one produces coals in about 40 minutes. It stays hot enough to cook over for up to an hour and adds a lovely smoky flavour.
Mopane: It’s reddish, very dense, and makes incredibly hot coals that last for ages. You can grill for hours with this.
Want to try a few? Grab one of our Mix and Match bundles or a 30kg box with free mainland UK delivery.
When Is a Braai Fire Ready for Cooking?
Patience is the true mark of a seasoned braaimaster.
The most critical visual cue that your charcoal is ready for cooking is the appearance of a pale grey or white ash coating covering the coals. Beneath this dusty exterior, the core of the charcoal should be glowing a vibrant, fiery red.
Depending on the weather and your charcoal quality, reaching this perfect stage typically takes between 45 and 60 minutes. Once your coals are white-hot and ash-coated, carefully knock the pyramid down and spread the coals to suit your menu.
An expert trick is to create a two-zone heat system rather than spreading them perfectly flat. Bank a thicker layer of coals on one side for aggressive, high-heat searing (ideal for steak), and leave a thinner layer on the other side for slower, medium-heat cooking, which is perfect for delicate items or traditional boerewors. This setup grants you total control over the cooking environment.
COMMON BRAAI FIRE MISTAKES
The most notorious braai mistake is impatience! Specifically, putting your meat on the grid while flames are still present.
Cooking over open flames chars the exterior of the meat in seconds while leaving the inside raw, and the dripping fats will only fuel massive, uncontrollable flare-ups. Always wait for the flames to completely subside into steady, glowing coals before your food touches the grid.
Overcrowding the grid is another frequent error that stifles a good braai. Packing steaks, chops, and wors too closely together restricts vital airflow, causing the heat to drop rapidly and the meat to steam rather than achieve a crisp sear. Give your cuts room to breathe, and resist the temptation to flip them constantly.
Allowing the meat to rest undisturbed for a few minutes on each side is what develops those coveted grill marks and deep caramelized flavors.
Lastly, compromising on fuel quality will cost you in the long run. Cheap briquettes often contain fillers that produce excessive ash (sometimes choking the fire mid-cook) and burn out too quickly to sustain a long braai session.
Investing in premium hardwood ensures an intense heat output (often exceeding 800°C), an extended burn time of 30 to 45 minutes at peak temperature, and minimal ash residue.
How to Start a Braai Fire With Charcoal
Building the perfect braai fire is an art, and when using charcoal, the foundation you lay dictates the success of your cook. While wood is deeply traditional, premium charcoal such as dense hardwood lump charcoal, provides a clean, sustained, and incredibly hot burn.
To start, you should always employ the pyramid method. Stack your charcoal generously into a central mound and tuck natural, odorless firelighters right at the base. This pyramid shape naturally insulates the heat, allowing the flames from the firelighters to travel upward and efficiently ignite the surrounding coals.
Never use chemical lighter fluids, as these can leave an unpleasant, artificial residue that fundamentally taints the flavor of your meat.
Once lit, allow the fire to breathe. If you are using a kettle braai or a unit with adjustable vents, ensure they are fully open to maximize oxygen flow. Let the flames roar unhindered for the first 15 to 20 minutes.
During this critical window, do not poke, prod, or attempt to spread the coals, as they need this clustered heat to fully catch fire.
The History of Braai Day
Back in 2005, Jan Scannell—better known as ‘Jan Braai’—started a campaign to rename the holiday to National Braai Day. It recognizes the massive cultural importance of gathering around a fire. If you can, check out his TV show Jan Braai on KykNet. We actually just got one of his cookbooks and the recipes are brilliant.
The whole mission of Braai Day is to get South Africans to unite around fires, share our heritage, and wave the flag.
In 2007, the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu was made the National Spokesperson for Braai Day. He said it perfectly:
“There are so many things that are pulling us apart. This has a wonderful potential to bring us all together. We have 11 different official languages but only one word for the wonderful institution of braai.”
Go Bokke!
The 24th of September isn’t just Braai Day. It’s a massive day for the Springboks. They’re playing Argentina with a shot at winning the Rugby Championship.
Since we started Let’s Braai, we’ve actually had the chance to meet a few of the Boks, including Andre Esterhuizen, Jasper Wiese, Wilco Louw, and Jaco Taute. They use our wood and our braais here in the UK for a proper taste of home.
So light a fire, throw a good piece of meat on the grid, and grab a drink. From everyone at the Let’s Braai team, we wish all our friends and family in the UK and back home a brilliant National Braai Day.
