A colleague came up to me a couple of days ago and told me that after work they were going to make a fire and cook some animals on it. Would I be interested in joining them? Intrigued and slightly puzzled I stated that I would. Later on I found out this ritual is referred to as grillen. So what is a grillen? I think it is best explained with a photo
Making a fire and cooking dead animals on it
Yes. I was quite elated when I realised what it was all about. Who would have thought that Germans braai?! Myth busted! So is it exactly the same as a braai? Unfortunately, not quite. The whole thing of making a fire using charcoal and fire lighters and then cooking your meat on it thing, sure. The whole thing of everyone standing around the fire with a drink in hand, once again yes. So far, and I could be mistaken since I still have only had very limited exposure to these grillen sessions, I’m not really sure what they eat with it. No salad yet. Naturally there’s bread since it is Germany, but not much else. So you eat your meat on bread? With bread? Not quite sure, but so far I’ve seen them eat their meat on bread. A bit like a toasted meat sandwich\roll. Once again though, maybe it was just the two I’ve attended that they did this. Maybe with more organised events they have salad and pap… Ok, maybe not the pap. Quick side note, apparently two things that are slightly difficult to explain are pap and bakkies. Bakkies or even 4x4s aren’t really a thing in Germany and throwing out random classics like Toyota Hilux just gets met with blank stares. I finally gave in and quite ashamedly did a quick internet search for a photo. Apparently the word I was looking for was “pickup.”
I have done my duty though and have introduced them to the wonderful braai dessert known as smores. It could not be helped, even though I couldn’t find any Marie biscuits and had to make do with random ones that are more or less the same shape and size. So Marie biscuits are a South African thing? That would be unfortunate. For anyone that doesn’t know, for smores you need marshmallows, Marie biscuits and a slab of random chocolate (Experiment with the type of chocolate). You place a block of chocolate on a Marie biscuit and place it close to the fire. Close enough to soften the chocolate a little but not so close to melt it and burn your Marie biscuit. In the meantime, roast a marshmallow. Once it is done get another Marie biscuit and combine it with the first one to create a Marie biscuit sandwich with melted chocolate and roasted marshmallow in the centre. You are welcome J. Word of warning though, two are amazing but three is too much and more often than not spoils the experience with a bit of a sweetness overload.
