Here’s a departure from my usual recipes. I don’t ever buy packs of marinated meat, braai or otherwise. I prefer to make my own marinades, partly because I think homemade ones are better than most commercial marinades, and also because if I do it myself I know what’s gone into it.

Eskort, who make South Africa’s beloved pork sausages (along with rival brand Enterprise), launched a marketing campaign with a big billboard at OR Tambo International Airport with the slogan “Go Springbox. Love Eskort.” This takes a leaf from the Nando’s playbook: an advertising campaign designed to grab our attention and amuse us while drawing attention to the brand. It turned out to be a campaign to market “a new cooler box for spring, aptly named the Springbox, a cooler box made for carrying Eskort braai meat”, to quote Eskort’s marketing spiel.

In the polystyrene box were a 1kg pack of Eskort Cocktail Ribs, two bags of prego steaks and another pack called a Snacktime Platter containing mini frikkadels, crumbed pork strips, mini Gold Medal pork sausages and mini cheese grillers. That’s a very cool box of braai goodies. There was also the ubiquitous branded apron (almost every food campaign comes with one of those, I wish they would think of something else), and a vacuum-packed sachet of Freddy’s Legacy Sprinkle, a “classic BBQ blend of herbs and spices”. I never buy the Freddy’s brand because their spices are supercharged with MSG and I have a family member who is allergic to it. There are better ways of adding spikes of flavour to food. 

I had planned a different dish altogether for that night’s supper, but it would have been foolish not to use at least one of the meat products from the box right away. The two packs of prego steak were still well chilled despite their long hours on the road. So they would be supper.

My first thought was: air fryer. I checked the back of one of the packs for cooking instructions. It offers three options: oven grill, pan fry and braai. Nothing for air fryers. Eskort has missed an opportunity in not including air fryer instructions (many packaged food products now carry air fryer directions), but here I am, coming to the rescue. They might want to rethink their labels accordingly.

Yes, you can cook these prego steaks in your air fryer, and it’s quick and easy. But first, some thoughts on what goes into the marinade swimming around inside the tough plastic wrapping. Let me list them for you, verbatim: pork (78%), brine (8%), salt, stabilisers, antioxidants (sodium erythorbate, ascorbic acid), plant fibre, marinade (14%), sunflower seed oil (including TBHQ), water, dextrose, sucrose, salt, spices, MSG (flavour enhancer E621), dehydrated bell peppers, onion, cereal (wheat), garlic, herbs, spice extracts. It does not state which herbs and spices are used, nor what went into the marinade; presumably the water, salt, onion, bell peppers, herbs and spices. Anyway, enough of that; we can agree to differ on some things.

It was a relief to see garlic crawling through at the back of the field, because garlic is what flavours the meat for a Portuguese prego roll. Lots of it. As for the meat, it is often beef, can be pork, and chicken is also commonly used. Deboned chicken thigh is a popular choice for a prego roll. Just ask Nando’s.

These were pork and of a perfect size to fit a bread roll. Full marks for that. The taste of the marinade was very strong, really salty, and the spiky flavour highs would have made it obvious that it was packed with MSG even if you had not read the back of the pack.

So, use this product in rolls or as one of the meats at a braai party (perhaps along with that pack of braai snacks I mentioned earlier), or make your own marinade for either beef, pork or chicken using lots of garlic along with your own choice of herbs and spices.

Here’s how to cook this product in your air fryer, even though there are no package instructions for it. You’re welcome.

(Per 6 steaks)

Ingredients

2 x 540 g packs of Eskort prego steaks

Cooking oil spray

6 soft white bread rolls, if making prego rolls

1 batch of coleslaw, if not using rolls

Method

There’s a fair amount of marinade in the bag, and this can’t all go in your air fryer, so pour it off into a saucepan to heat up and pour on the cooked steaks. Scrape some of it off the steaks too, so that they do not braise rather than grill/fry.

Preheat the air fryer for 5 minutes at 200℃ or 205℃ if your air fryer has this temperature option. Spray the bottom of the basket with olive oil spray. 

If your air fryer has a grill setting, use that. Otherwise cook on the air fryer setting. Cook at the above temperature for 8 minutes, turning halfway through. They turned out perfectly.

Coleslaw was ideal for serving with them, as it counterbalanced that sharp flavour given by the MSG. They were pleasingly tender and I know that some of my friends would enjoy them more than I did. A pleasant meal but a simpler marinade would have worked better for me.

I’ve called them Go-Bokke prego steaks as a nod to the spirit of their campaign. DM

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

This dish is photographed on wares by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.