Let’s start with wood:
Wood flavors your food better. It is a common agreement that when meat is cooked over wood it tastes better. It has a spicy, smoky and some even say a ‘bacon’ type of flavor. This is also more prominent in your hard woods, especially sekkelbos and kameeldoring. When thinking about it, even if the taste was a placebo it wouldn’t really matter, wood it? – Ha! There’s also the smokey flavor from fat drippings onto the meat.
Wood and charcoal are always available and not to difficult to come by it’s easy, cheap and convenient. One of the many perks of living in South Africa. A quick trip down to your local grocery and/or petrol station will generally have at least 4 brands of charcoal and a variety of wood.
Different food types need different temperature to cook correctly unfortunately for most, knowing the right temperature to cook on for your various meats and sides can be a quite a lesson to learn. Controlling the temperature is something that takes years of experience. Another factor is that a charcoal/wood braai looses temperature over time, which is tough when you are cooking a large amount of meat and need the temperature to remain constant.
Now for the gas:
Its convenient one push of a button and you are basically good to go! This is definitely the most applicable pro to using a gas braai, its convenience. For those last minute decisions after work during the week, a “braai” for two while you still have a few hours left of the day to enjoy at least some of the elements of a traditional braai, being the fact that you are outside and you can socialize with your loved ones while cooking.
Temperature Control on various levels, one of the best things about a gas braai for those who are into cooking to the books, is that with a gas braai you can control the temperature on multiple surfaces, allowing one to cook a variety of meats and sides at the same time without much effort. There are also temperature controls and many other accessories that make using a gas braai exciting. This also allows for a constant temperature meaning you can cook more for longer and not have to worry about feeding the fire.
Supply and demand Gas is not always available and as mentioned there have been periods of dodgy batches going around. As the demand for gas increases and people start moving to gas the supply will decreases and even less will be available, although I have never had a problem finding/sourcing gas I have heard about people who have walked into multiple sold out situations.
In the end it doesn’t matter which method you prefer, to me a braai is a braai.
Information obtained from www.braaiculture.com
