Coupé-Coupé (Central African barbecue)

Coupé-Coupé (from the French couper, meaning to cut or to slice) is Central Africa's version of barbecue, perhaps a distant relation of the famous South Carolina and Texas barbecues. Beef, usually tougher, less expensive cuts like brisket, flank, or shoulder, are marinated in Maggi sauce and cayenne pepper and then slow cooked over a charcoal fire. Coupé-Coupé, sold with a french baguette to make a sandwich, is usually found in urban areas. Vendors start grilling early in the morning so as to have the Coupé-Coupé ready for their clientele at lunchtime.

What you need

a large piece of beef (at least a few pounds) suitable for slow cooking, such as brisket, flank, chuck, or shoulder
Maggi® sauce (L'Arome Maggi®) or Maggi® cubes mixed with water
cayenne pepper or red pepper, to taste; (try "Sand's" brand from Nigeria)
cooking oil

What you do

Mix Maggi sauce and cayenne pepper to make a marinade. Pour marinade over meat in a glass container. Let meat marinate for at least half an hour (or longer in the refrigerator).
Slowly cook meat in a smoker or outdoor grill over a hardwood or charcoal fire. (If a gas barbecue grill is used, add smoke by burning some water-soaked wood chips in a metal pan.) Making Coupé-Coupé is like barbecuing ribs: the heat should be low and the cooking slow. A pan of water on the side of the grill helps keep the meat moist. The meat should be basted every twenty to thirty minutes with more marinade and/or oil. Cook the meat for two to five hours, depending on the size and thickness of the meat and the distance from the heat. It's a good idea to use a meat thermometer to make certain the meat is done.
Serve sliced, with french baguettes and lots of Pili-Pili Sauce.

Echo-words Echo-words, words formed by repeating one or more syllables, are common in Bantu languages in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many other languages also have echo-words, for example, aye-aye, boo-boo, bon-bon, can-can, dum-dum, et cetera. Coupé-Coupé is an example of reduplication, a type of echo-word formation where a word is repeated to form another word. (Coupé is the past participle of the French verb couper, to cut). Reduplications are echo-words, but not all echo-words are reduplications. The basic unit of the reduplication has to be a word itself. In some cases, reduplications indicate the plural. Other African echo-words (but not necessarily reduplications) are: Boko-Boko; Coupé-Coupé; Fufu; Kuku (chicken); Moyin-Moyin; Peri-Peri; pikipiki (motorcycle) ; Pili-Pili; rasha-rasha (to sprinkle, rain); Saka-Saka; sawa-sawa (the same).

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