Shashlik is simply meat on a stick. Grilled over a coal fire, its found all over Central Asia. No, it’s not any sort of exotic meat, its mutton (sheep), ground up and sometimes mixed with some chopped up onion. It’s generally served with a generous helping of naan (white bread) and often with some vinegar and raw onions. Unfortunately, shashlik, perhaps like so many meats on a stick, is often made with the fattiest and poorest cuts of meat. More than once there were bits of bone in my shashlik, but perhaps the most off putting of all, for me at least, was the layer of greasy fat in your mouth afterwards. No wonder its served with vinegar and onions, nothing less would cut through the fat.

Before you get angry or grossed out, let me clarify- Shashlik isn’t disgusting, not by any means. It’s just fatty, really, really fatty, and frankly the ubiquitous fatty taste and texture left in your mouth was so off putting to me I could hardly stand to eat it after a few days. Danny of course was more willing to give the meat on a stick a chance, but eventually he too agreed that it wasn’t the most eerrrr ‘delicious’ of the meats on a stick. Perhaps the Central Asians should take some lessons from our meat loving friends.

IF YOU GO: In Central Asia you’ll have to try shashlik once, but don’t say we didn’t warn you. Kazakhstan did serve it up a bit better than Uzbekistan, however.

On our way into Kruger National Park we read in our guidebook that the park actually began as a refuge for the animals from biltong poachers. Ironic then that the first gift shop we walked into had entire wall of biltong from a host of different animals ranging from the traditional beef and not so hard to find ostrich to all manner of game including kudu, impala, springbok and the list goes on.

Later that evening, while sharing a Braai with some friendly people in the campsite, I asked some questions and was told that kudu is probably one of the better game meats to try because it is a browser (eats bushes) rather than a grazer (eats grass) and that usually means the meat is of a better quality. We opted to try some Kudu and taste it alongside the beef and….could not tell the difference for the life of us.

The word braai comes from the Afrikaans word for grill, and grill they did. Of the group that we were invited to join everyone took a turn grilling except for the host. We probably spent about two hours cooking because there was just so much for the 10 of us and there wasn’t a morsel of hamburger to be found. As for last week’s Foodie Friday there were no exotic meats to try although there were a few suggestions. Instead, we had chicken breast, chicken wings, steak, and probably 6 different varieties of sausage.

Most, if not all, of that sausage was boerewors, which is is basically South African sausage. Generally strongly seasoned with about a million of varieties from spicy, cheese, and even garlic. The most amazing part was that for all the varieties, it was all beef.

Missing from the braai though, which our hosts soon remedied was our first taste of biltong. Pronounced with their accents such that I thought they were talking about “bull tongue” it is basically sun-dried beef, something akin to jerky, but spiced and a good bit more flavorful as well. This specialty though can actually be found, or so I’m told, in ostrich, kudu, and impala varieties as well.

There are braai pits nearly every where we go, including inside the cricket stadium. Its one thing for the grocery store to have a specialty braai foods section but the gas station does as well. As the weather here is always wonderful it really isn’t much a surprise that a weekend here wouldn’t be complete without a braai.