Braaivember with Borries the Braaimaster!
This month… A mouth full! Foods of Tomorrow teams up with Corné Bornman to dish-up, develop and braai new Wagyu recipes for wagyucookbook.com #WagyuWednesday and who better to work with than the man himself?
It is no secret that Corné Bornman, also known as Borries, can do magic when it comes to food. From the fire to the heart, he definitely earned his title as The Ultimate Braai Master! We met him in July 2020 when he coined Wagyu popcorn, showed us how to make proper ‘boere’ soap and we smoked a Wagyu brisket with cherry wood. A few things I never thought I’d do all in one day, but with Borries’ time management skills, his ability to organize and simple hospitality he made it seem effortless!
(Photo from left: Borries & Kagiso)
Talk about TV shows and competitions - Ultimate Braai Master, Bring and Braai – Braai TV, Sterre Braai and Jo’burgs’ Fire and Feast Festival, to mention a few wins that Borries walked away with in the last couple of years; and that’s only in South Africa. As Borries says; he enjoys participating in competitions - the spirit, the skill and his love for food is ultimately what makes him walk away with the title each and every time.
In 2013, Borries participated in the United States at the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue, World Food Championships in Las Vegas, and the American Royal World Barbecue Invitational where he was crowned barbecue champion with his team Braai-B-que.
Food Fight for Africa is the gathering place of those that enjoy what food can do and to unite different food styles and cultures. Uniting competitors and enthusiasts that love to make a difference on many levels with their own brands and products. Borries has participated in some of the Food Fight for Africa events, one of which was in Botswana and most recently in Namibia where he and his team won against some of the seasoned Namibian teams, as he said “It's the first time we, as a South African team has taken part in Namibia’s 30-year history hosting the event, so quite a good and big achievement that”.
“And then we continue to look forward when opportunity arises. We look for opportunities where we can have fun cooking with fire, doing recipe development for brands like Foods of Tomorrow and wagyucookbook.com and various other companies and products.
We keep on learning and cooking as much as we can using fire. Understanding how to cook with it and use it to our benefit. The different techniques one can use with the same ingredients to get the best out of it. That is something we keep learning, and learning from.
And for the future; we just opened the Fire Kitchen in Alberton that we run a few nights a week. We have certain set menus we offer on specific nights, everything from Pulled Pork to 1kg T-bones and Tomahawk steaks cooked on fire. Also, a new venue we have created that's open for events and parties whatever it may be with the Fire Kitchen that's been put up there is quite impressive.
And that's the long and short of it. We love taking part in competitions and keep sharpening the knives, we keep learning and hopefully others can learn from us as we can share our knowledge.”
Borries has built quite the empire over the last couple of years; from cooking for some renowned chefs to creating amazing products and spices. And if you thought he had a busy schedule already, Borries caters for guests and clients on a daily basis at his guest house in Alberton called Borisimo’s Guest House.
I don’t think there is anything that Corné Bornman hasn’t done or tried before when it comes to food, but I will definitely be the first in line to support him when he does.