Cabin Fever in the Ou Transvaal - Cowboys Cooking with Acacia BBQ

Cabin Fever Remedies

January and February are cold months in Canada. By the time late-February rolls around, Canadians are grumpy. Cabin fever sets. Children and old people go missing. Ice Hockey referees resign, and parents get violent. Strange things that happen in the winter lands of ice and snow.

We've been living in Canada for 12 winters now. Every year we are still astounded to see just how much of an influence the winter blues have on people around us. Many lucky ones escape to warmer climates. Popular destinations include Mexico, the Southern United States, and a few lucky ones make it Downunder or to our homelands - Southern Africa.

This year we stayed home under our blanket of white. To counter cabin fever, we relied on our diligent preparation and applied remedies that didn't involve children, violence, sticks, or rock hard rubber disks. We saved items and happy thoughts for the occasion. Some things we used as crutch included a little Mieliepap, Old Brown Sherry, a few vintage Peppermint Crisps, Dry Wors, Jelly Tots, and some frozen slivers of Biltong.

Then we remembered our African lump charcoal from Acacia BBQ. Willie, one of the owners, left us a stash in the Fall with a mini-braai before he himself escaped to warmer climates. What a happy discovery!

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The Bushveld Smell

Why bring Charcoal from the other side of the world to Canada?

Honestly, unless your first breath in this life was that of a Bushveld Braavleis fire, you will be hard-pressed to follow the logic. In reality, charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by removing water and other volatile constituents from plant materials (Wikipedia).

Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis - the heating of wood or other organic materials in the absence of oxygen. The advantage of burning charcoal, compared to burning wood, is the absence of water and other components. This allows charcoal to burn at higher temperatures, and give off very little smoke ("...regular wood can release a significant amount of steam, organic volatiles, and unburnt carbon particles - soot - in its smoke when it is not burned completely."). The end result is the solid-state of the one thing that drives the hysteria and New-World religion - carbon. Burn it, and you have pure carbon monoxide - plant food!

The charcoal you buy for your local BBQ or Braai at your supply store is close to, but not pure lumps of carbon. Where the mass and weight of the material is concerned, one chunk of plant material-derived carbon is much like the next. However, not all plant material is destroyed in the manufacturing process. There remains a faint memory of the origins of the wood due to some unburned content and volatiles. These are the remnants that impart the particular characteristics that differentiate Oak derived charcoal from Muskeet, Applewood, or in the case of Acacia BBQ, African hardwoods.

That is why a bag of Royal Oak differs from Kingfords, Canadian Maple, and the rest. The mass and density set the temperature, and the time it burns (hence briquettes are very similar in performance). The unburned material and volatiles impart the flavour. It is this flavour of the Bushveld smoke that took us home when we lit our first box of Acacia BBQ charcoal on a little Easy Grill.

Acacia BBQ charcoal is a product of HB’s Premium Char Imports Ltd. It is available in Canada and the USA. The charcoal they import is the result of 10 years of trials and tribulations to realize the dream of a family business.  Acacia BBQ searched all over Southern Africa to find producers that would bring the “braai” (BBQ) experience of Africa to North America.  They are conservation-minded and source the materials sustainably while remaining sensitive to the socio-economic issues and opportunities of Africa.

Observations

If you haven't breathed the Bushveld, then you will be forgiven for considering the Acacia BBQ product, just another premium lump charcoal. Burn-time and temperature don't set it apart, and you will be forgiven for thinking it is expensive. Remember, it did come from halfway around the world.

It is the flavour that sets it apart! We consider the profile baby perfume-like. Yes, we are biased because our memory receptors are triggered to take us to our happy place - a bushveld fire, the sun setting, jackals howling in the background, and a "tjoppie" sizzling on the braai (grill), fueled by African hardwoods.

We thank Willie and Acacia BBQ for this huge present at a time we needed it most. He gave us another glimpse of heaven and reminded us of where we came from. This is our Valhalla!

It made -25C a little bearable this time around. We escaped Cabin Fever for another year. If you want the smell of Africa for your meat, then cook with Acacia BBQ. That is why we do it.

Hendrik

Cooking Cowboy

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Christmas Box!

Little Fire!

Eazy Grill

Wors!

Cooking with Fire

Lekker Man, Lekker at The Lekker Shop in Hamilton, New Zealand

Lesson Learned

People that make things are good at what they do for two simple reasons. They like and value what they do, and they are continually working towards bettering it. We are makers because it feeds the single biggest survival instinct we developed as a species. 

Our oversized heads and brains are proof of our privilege and our affliction. Anyone with pre-frontal cortex will tell you, we are born to learn!

EP1

EP2

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It is as universal as humanity on this little blue planet of ours. It doesn’t matter where you find people in the Tundra, deep Amazonian jungle, small Pacific Island or in London or New York. Everyone is driven by the need to keep our minds occupied. It is even estimated that our brains consume as much, or more than a third of our energy. We are learning machines.

What we do with this drive distinguishes one person’s life from another. In pre-history, the ones that learned the fastest to gather food and avoid danger were the survivors. In modern history, the ones that are better adept at sourcing information, applying it, and relating to other members of a community, thrives more.

We developed a considerable preoccupation with social engagement. It includes the elaborate rituals and rules that should provide relative harmony between ourselves and others in our group. How we relate to others also determines our standing. The better the reputation, the more fortuitous we tend to become amongst our peers. Our unique ability to better learn, adapt and organize, ultimately made us the dominant species on planet Earth.

If we knew that every waking moment of our existence and the majority of our biology is devoted to continuous, conscious, and unconscious learning, how will this knowledge influence our lives?

As a start, we will know what drives people. For example, now we know what drives the little baby to crawl and discover. It encourages some people to dream, travel and to explore. It is also the reason why our elderly are fixated on their televisions, and our teenagers are caught in online gaming worlds, pursuing the one elusive objective after the other. It is why mankind stares hypnotized at electronic screens concerned about the state of social affairs thousands of disconnected miles away, while unaware of the names of their neighbours, barman or barista.

If you capture the attention of a curious mind, you can direct it and effectively control the person.

Who Is In Charge? 

Fortunately, with our learning instinct comes a failsafe switch in the form of self-awareness and reflection. Instead of being “mindlessly” controlled through stimulus and response, we can reflect on the outcomes of our learning and then potentially direct it.

We can steer our drive towards something we appreciate and consider valuable. We do it through filtering and focus. By deciding what gets our attention and what to ignore we direct our learning. In this decision lies the single key that unlocks meaningful and happy lives.

If you are searching for more meaning and purpose in your life, all you have to do is choose or change your focus. Seek learning opportunities with a feedback loop in a context that you consider valuable. Your focus inevitably creates your reality. If you like it. Keep doing it. If you don’t change your focus. 

Lekker Man!

In the case of The Lekker Shop, they devote their focus, attention and maker efforts to not only recreating something special from their homeland - South Africa. Their focus is to make it even better than back home. We think they are on to something. They have lekker wors!

During our impromptu visit before Christmas 2018, it felt like we came home. We were instantly transferred to our favourite Kuka Shop and Butchery in the Bushveld. Thick Boerewors was waiting in the cooler and fresh Droëwors and Koeksisters in the fridge. Within minutes we were old friends. If we had Gemmerbier, we would have shared a bottle and put a vleisie on the braai.

The Lekker Shop is a South African shop and butcher in Hamilton, New Zealand. They call themselves the home of Lekker Biltong, Boerewors, and much, much more! Facebook calls it an "Ethnic Grocery Store". We call it "our store" because they brought a bit of South Africa to us when we were away from the continent. Lekker Man!

What stands out for us during our visit was the range and quality of products. One thing was more obvious than anything - they are proud of what they do! Remember, people that make things are good at what they do for two simple reasons. They like and value what they do, and they are constantly working towards bettering it.

Now, if only we can convince them to tell us their secret to the Lekker Wors - it will save us a trip from Canada to get our fix. On the other hand, maybe we don't want to know. It will give us ample reason to make another visit to our friends at the Lekker Shop!

Hendrik
Lekker Cowboy!

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Lekker Man!

Lekker Wors

Lekker People

Heaven in a Derm!

May the Wors be With You in the Land of the Long White Cloud, South African Shop, Auckland, NZ

Wors Immigration Proliferation

Warning: "A Boerewors is like no other wors (sausage). Once you've had one, all others fail your expectations." The best Smokie, Bratwurst or Vienna doesn't come close to this South African Boere delicacy.

New Zealanders (Kiwis) are quite liberal and progressive in their outlook. They've generously accommodated immigrants, cultures, dispositions and wors preferences from all walks of life, and corners of the globe.

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They tolerated one group in particular - the South Afrikaners. Despite a fierce and violent (rugby) history between them, this group has been singled out above others to the degree that some may consider it unjustified favouritism. We believe it is for one, and only one reason. It is because of the wors. South Africans came to New Zealand with their Boerewors, and the New Zealand wors palate expanded, never to be the same ever again.

This is where it gets tricky. With its famed history of apartheid and segregation, wors families have taken great care to keep their particular version of wors pure, perfect and dare we say it, segregated. Even today, years after liberation, recipes remain fiercely guarded and kept confidential within families. You have to be part of the inner circle of Afrikanerdom. Even then, you may still end up with inferior wors.

The Boere avoided cultural and culinary contamination to claim wors flavour supremacy. The implication is that while you can get many attempts at the great wors, not all are born equal. Some are, dare we say it, better than others'.

Observations

We have our favourites because we don't have time to make our own (yeah, right). When we are in New Zealand, we get our Boerewors from Oom Kallie at the South African Shop in Howick. Until we find something better, Oom Kallie will be assured of our undivided loyalty and devotion. We forgave him for inbreeding sosatie. As long as he keeps our wors separate and fresh, we will be back for more wors supremacy, every time we are in Auckland New Zealand.

Long may the good wors live in the land of the white (cloud) and may the wors be with you.

Hendrik
Beer Cowboy

We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. Please book us here so we can tell your story too.

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Boerewors!

Springbok