Potjiekos Moments

for NaPoWriMo (and GloPoWriMo) 2016 – Day 6 (to prompt)

Wafting odours,
Rich and sensuous,
Simmering through the lid.
Poised above the crucial fire,
Meat seared,
Vegetables layered up
From thickest and hardest
To thinnest and softest,
All resting in your secret sauce,
Until, hours later, the end arrives
When spoon slips in,
Stirring thoughts and feelings,
Mixing the life from natures source,
Swirling all together,
Now boiled and brewed
To be more,
Greater,
Ready to sustain
A few more lives for
A few more hours,
A few more moments for
A few more memories,
Senses fully entrenched,
In glorious all-consuming consumption,
The ritual of The Potjie,
And The Potjiekos,
A mouthful of moments,
Creating momentary pause,
A sigh,
And deep satisfaction.

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© Copyright 2016 Robin McShane

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The prompt: “Today, I challenge you to write a poem about food. This could be a poem about a particular food, or about your relationship to food in general.”

Potjiekos is a traditional Afrikaans meal made in South Africa using a three legged iron pot (varying in size depending on how many people you wish to feed!) over a wood or charcoal fire.
The fire must be set just right and kept burning for anything from 2 to 4 hours (I prefer at least 4 when cooking with meat).
The ingredients that can go into the pot are many and varied – from seafood to red meat or chicken filled up with vegetables (or even the vegetables only!).
This is something I learnt to make here (having grown up in the UK) and is one of my favourite meals. I usually use simple beef cubes, lambs neck or chicken as my meat base and I have my own sauce ingredients – which remain my secret! 🙂