There’s nothing like sitting around a campfire with friends and family, roasting marshmallows over an open flame while you eagerly await that perfect bbq chicken or ribs!
Cooking meals using Rooikrans wood as fuel is an age-old practice that has many benefits. For one, when you barbecue with firewood like Rooikrans, it imparts a delicious flavour that is smokey to your dishes and it’s simply not possible to replicate it with other types of fuel. In addition, using firewood for Cooking is a great way to get back to basics and connect with nature. Hardwoods like Rooikrans are ideal for cooking over an open fire, as they produce a lot of heat and generate minimal smoke. Gas, charcoal and even kiln dried firewood, simply isn’t the same experience as cooking with real hardwood, so if you have the opportunity to cook over an open fire using real firewood like Rooikrans, take it! You won’t regret it.
Using wood as fuel is almost always associated with outdoor fire cooking. The scent of sizzling meat and burning logs is something that will bring back memories for many people who have experienced it first-hand. For South Africans, this means braaiing at the weekend until your fingers are blue from holding onto the cold metal utensils while trying to avoid dropping them over hot coals!
This has always been part of South African culture – For many of us, this literally translates into braaing the entire weekend. It’s all about the experience and braaing using firewood, and cooking on an open fire using logs, or burning through or entire weekend stash of wood on our first night of camping with friends, all of this adds flavour to the entire experience. When you ask any South African, they will agree that gas or charcoal simply won’t do.
At Let’s Braai, we offer a variety of braai wood that will add unique aromas and flavours to your meat, ensuring that you have the best braai experience possible! Rooikrans logs are one of our most popular options and it provides a wide range of benefits for those who use them.
Wood-fired cooking is one of the most sustainable ways to enjoy your meals. Not only does it provide you with a delicious meal, but also helps keep our planet green by using fewer fossil fuels. Cooking with Rooikrans logs has been the traditional way to barbecue and broil most foodstuffs and it has been used for centuries, and the taste and flavours are unparalleled.
The smoke from a burning Rooikrans log is not only unique but full and distinctive smoky flavor. Why? Well because each type of log produces its own special taste and smell when cooking at the campfire or in your garden! It doesn’t matter what kind of South African hardwood you choose for meals that needs some extra something – whether it be spice or sweetness; all our wood will bring out new possibilities with every dish.
Fire Pits, bbq, homemade braai and pizza ovens only need heat from burning logs to grill your meals. This means they are environmentally friendly as well because there’s no gas or electricity needed for these appliances either- making them friendlier with Mother Earth than ever before.
Using firewood as fuel is almost always associated with outdoor cooking. It can be used in a variety of ways, including grilling, smoking, baking, etc. Below we discuss some of our favourite methods.
Grilling is a popular way to cook food with lumber(fuel). The intense heat from the grill will quickly cook your food. Wood can be added to the grill directly, or it can be placed in a smoker box to impart a wonderful smokey flavour.
Smoking is another popular way to cook with firelogs. Smoking cooks your food slowly and low and the smoke from the logs will add flavor and antioxidants to your food. Smoking is a great way to cook meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables.
Baking with logs is a great way to cook desserts. Wood smoke will add a delicious flavor to your cakes, pies, and cookies.
Cooking with wood is a centuries-old tradition that is still used today in many parts of the world. One of the most popular applications is in pizza ovens, where the wood-fired heat helps to create the perfect crust.
We offer a couple of stainless steel pizza domes – one single and one double. They both come with ceramic tiles and accessories. The single one is small enough to fit on any barbecue. We recommend using it with our stainless steel braai, which is the perfect size for our double pizza dome.
There are a few things to keep in mind when using wood for cooking in a pizza oven or with a pizza dome.
Only use hardwoods such as Kameeldoring, Mopane, Sekelbos, or Rooikrans as they will burn hot and slow, giving the pizza plenty of time to cook evenly. Avoid softwoods as they do not burn well under high temperatures.
Second, make sure the wood is well-seasoned before using it, as wet or green wood can cause excess smoke. Our hardwoods are naturally dried in the African Sun and produce clean smoke. Once you have a good fire going you have the perfect fuel for your Pizza oven.
Finally, be sure to keep an eye on the fire and add more wood as needed to maintain a consistent temperature. Our wood has great flavour and has a much longer cooking time than kiln-dried hardwood for example with a little practice, you’ll be able to create delicious wood-fired pizzas at home.
Rooikrans wood is available all year round from our shop and it’s available to order online. Remember, we also provide free shipping for all orders over £190.00. Rooikrans is available in 10kg, 30kg box, 250kg and in ‘bulk’ buy of 320k , 390kg, 540kg and 700kg. When we import our wood, we subject it to careful quality control before packaging them to make sure they arrive in the best condition possible. We also ensure they are the perfect size for grills and braais so they do not instantly combust. Our firewood is an all-natural product and environmentally friendly that provide excellent value with its low moisture content. Rooikrans also produces much less smoke and much less ash so they are perfect for your fire pit as well and can be easily lit using natural firelighters.
The short answer is yes. You can use kiln dried logs for cooking or open fires grilling just as you would hard woods like Rooikrans. But, its important to understand that you will not have the same experience and its not the same thing as using Rooikrans. The main difference – wood that have gone through the kiln drying process are a lot dryer and lighter. So what does this mean for you? You will not experience the same aromas and flavours synonymous with Rooikrans, as for the actual cooking part (kiln dried) you will need A LOT MORE of it to get your steak grilled.
There is a big difference between firewood and logs for cooking! Firewood is typically dried and used to generate heat; while used for cooking is a type of hardwood that is specifically chosen for its ability to produce a lot of heat and generate minimal smoke.
Wood chunks (smoking chunks) are pieces of larger logs (different sized chunks) that produce more heat and less smoke than wood chips. They are ideal for cooking meat or vegetables over an open fire, and can be used either whole or chopped into smaller pieces. Also known as smoking wood chunks. Wood chips are smaller pieces of wood that generate a lot of smoke but not much heat. They are best suited for smoked meat or fish, and can be added to a fire in either whole or chopped form. British hardwoods are usually a popular choice for this.
For us here, at Let’s Braai, the answer to this question is easy. Using wood, (especially our range of imported hardwoods Rooikrans, Sekelbos , Kameldorig and Mopane) will always remain our fuel of choice. Both wood and charcoal have their own unique benefits when it comes to barbecuing. Wood is a great choice for those who want to impart a smoky flavour to their food, while charcoal is perfect for those who want a quick and easy way to get their barbecue going. Wood typically burns longer than charcoal which makes it perfect for grilling a nice big cut of meat. This also means you can cook more in one go. Our African hardwoods can burn for over an hour creating lovely hot coals while charcoal only burns for about half an hour. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference.
