The best potjie pots and cast iron for the coals, picked for South African shoppers

The numbers do the talking. Shoppers rate it 4.8 from 152 ratings, which is the only rating count on this shelf big enough to tell you much. Everything else is either unrated or sitting on a handful of reviews.

The listing is also the most complete of the lot: eight sizes from the quarter-pot up to No. 25, with capacity, weight and price published for each, and a note on how the serving numbers are worked out. Heavy sand-cast iron, close-fitting lid, side handles, legs for coals. That is the whole brief for a potjie, stated plainly rather than sold.

Price-wise the entry size is among the cheapest on this page, and the No. 3 range sits below what Bubbles charges for its enamelled equivalent. Buy the size you will actually cook for, not the size that looks impressive on the stoep.

The catch. The listing price shown is for the smallest size, so check which number you are actually adding to the basket before you compare it against a full-size pot elsewhere.

LK's is a name most braai shops carry, and the spec covers the things that matter: wax coated and ready to use, a lid edge designed to hold coals on top, and a removable steel carry handle. That last detail is more useful than it sounds when the pot is full and hot.

Sizes run 700ml, 3, 6, 7.8 and 9.3 litres, so the family-sized No. 3 and the bigger No. 4 are both available. It costs more than our top pick for comparable capacity, and you are paying partly for the brand.

The catch. No shopper ratings at all on this listing, and wax coating means you must oil the pot before the first cook and after each one.

Three litres, the listing says it serves three to six, and it is enamelled rather than raw, so cleaning is less of a ritual. There is a six-month warranty against manufacturing defects, which is more than most listings here commit to.

It happens to be sitting well below its usual price at the moment, which sweetens an already low price. That is a reason to move quickly, not a reason to choose it.

The catch. The listing is thin on detail and there are no shopper ratings. Enamel also chips if you knock it about on the coals, so it rewards a gentler hand than bare iron does.

The maker states it is cast from LM6 aluminium, will not rust, and needs no seasoning or curing. The three legs come off, and each pot ships with a fitted waxed canvas bag. Sizes run from 2 to 10, so there is a proper big-group option.

Aluminium does not hold heat the way iron does, so it responds faster to a hot fire and cools quicker when you pull it off. Some cooks prefer that control. Traditionalists will not, and that is fine.

The catch. It costs about as much as a full-size cast iron pot while giving up cast iron's heat retention, and there are no shopper ratings on the listing.

Legs are a nuisance indoors. This one sits flat, and the listing says it works on gas, electric coil, induction and ceramic glass with a diffuser, is oven safe to 260 degrees, and is pre-seasoned out of the box.

It is rated 4.7 from 30 ratings, a respectable showing, and it costs less than most of the three-leg pots on this page. If your fire is occasional and your stove is daily, this is the more useful pot.

The catch. Without legs you cannot sit it over coals the traditional way, so you will want a grid or stand for fire cooking.

Pick the size first and the brand second. The numbering is standard across makers: a quarter is a sauce pot, a No. 1 feeds a small household, a No. 3 at roughly 7.8 litres is the everyday family size, and anything above a No. 4 is catering territory. A potjie is best filled to around three-quarters, so size up slightly if you cook for crowds and down if you mostly cook for two.

Check what state the pot arrives in. Wax coated means you oil it before first use. Pre-seasoned means you can cook sooner. Enamelled means no seasoning at all and an easier wash, at the cost of a surface that can chip. None of these is wrong, but they ask different things of you over the years.

Look at the lid and the handles. A lid with a raised edge or gutter holds coals on top, which is how you get heat from above as well as below. A removable or wire carry handle matters when the pot is full. These are small things on a listing and large things at the fire.

Weight is real. A full cast iron No. 3 is a two-hand job, and the big numbers need a plan for lifting and storing. If you are moving the pot often, cast aluminium or a smaller size will serve you better than the one you wish you could carry.