There has been a fairly rapid progression in the way that I braai snoek and the sauce I baste it with in the year leading up to the publication of this book. By coincidence, two things happened in the same year and both profoundly changed how I braai snoek, something I thought up until that point I had nailed. When braaing snoek I always do it open, but I used to aim for some caramelisation on the flesh side. So you braai it skin-side down for the majority of the time, but also aim for some browned bits on the flesh side by also giving that a fair amount of time facing the coals. And then, during an epic adventure where a few friends braaied our way down the West Coast all the way from Alexander Bay to Cape Town and braaied and ate seafood many times a day during this journey, I saw and experienced how many locals on the West Coast (who clearly braai snoek more often than me) do exactly the opposite. They actively try to limit any caramelisation on the flesh side. The snoek is braaied skin-side down almost exclusively – many of them use foil on the skin side to make the braai and coal intensity even less – and the flesh side only looks at the coals very briefly now and again, really just a kiss of direct heat. Whereas I was sceptical at first I had to admit this yields a very juicy and moist end result, which is clearly preferable to over braaied dry fish. Secondly, in that same year or two leading up to the publication of this book, I had the privilege of braaing with many of South Africa’s top fine dining chefs. All of them taught me valuable lessons, many of which are scattered throughout this book, and as far as snoek goes everyone still agrees that a basting grounded on the classic combination of butter, garlic, lemon juice and apricot jam is the undisputed champion of snoek bastings. However, every single chef now adds some form of umami flavour to the classic snoek basting, be that soy sauce or miso paste. The other thing that everyone does is to go further than just lemon juice, by adding either lemon zest or lemon grass. All of this gets us to how I braai snoek these days and makes this recipe a very good example of what this book is about. It is a summary of all my braai knowledge at this exact moment in time. The side dish I serve with snoek hasn’t changed. Everyone still agrees you serve snoek with the original and classic sweet potatoes prepared in a potjie.