South African Sausage (Boerewors)
Aperçu
Boerewors is South Africa's sausage and one of the few foods in the world whose composition is set in law. Regulation requires at least 90 percent meat and caps the fat, which means anything sold under the name has to be the real thing. That is an unusual amount of legislative attention for a sausage and a reasonable measure of what it means to the country. It is coarsely minced beef, often with pork or lamb, seasoned with coriander seed, black pepper, nutmeg, cloves and allspice, bound with vinegar and filled into a natural casing in one continuous spiral. The coriander is the note people recognise. The spiral is not decorative: boerewors is grilled whole in its coil and cut only after cooking, because the casing holds the juices and cutting it first dries the sausage out. Its setting is the braai, and the braai is not a quick barbecue. It is an afternoon or an evening built around constructing a wood or charcoal fire and waiting for it to reach the right heat, during which a good deal of talking and drinking happens. When the braai master declares the fire ready, the meat takes half an hour and everything else has to be ready. For South Africans abroad, boerewors is the food most often named as the one they cannot get, which is why so many of them learn to make it.
Note de Patrimoine AFN
Boerewors takes its name from the Afrikaans boer, meaning farmer, and wors, meaning sausage, and developed from Dutch sausage making brought to the Cape. Its composition is defined under South African regulation, which requires a minimum of 90 percent meat content for a product sold under the name.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Cube the beef and pork into pieces that fit your meat grinder. Sprinkle the spices over the meat and mix to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- 2
Grind the seasoned meat using the coarse grinding blade.
- 3
Add the vinegar to the ground meat and mix well.
- 4
Rinse one salted hog casing thoroughly inside and out, and prepare it for stuffing as directed on the package.
- 5
Attach the sausage stuffer to your grinder.
- 6
Load the casing onto the stuffer, leaving 4 inches hanging off the end, and knot that end. Begin stuffing slowly, taking care not to overfill.
- 7
As you stuff, coil the sausage onto a large plate. Stop when 5 to 6 inches of casing remain, then remove it from the stuffer.
- 8
Check the sausage for uneven areas and even them out gently by hand before knotting the end.
- 9
Knot the end of the casing. Repeat with a second casing if you have mixture left.
- 10
Refrigerate the sausages overnight, at least 12 hours, so the flavours come together.
- 11
Heat a grill to medium high, around 200°C. Push soaked wooden skewers through the sides of the coil to make it easier to turn.
- 12
Grill for 4 to 5 minutes on the first side, until the colour has changed and grill marks have formed.
- 13
Turn and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on the second side, until firm.
- 14
Transfer to a platter, rest briefly, and cut into lengths to serve.
Notes de l’Africook
- Never prick the casing. The whole point of cooking it as a coil is to keep the juices in, and a punctured boerewors dries out in minutes.
- Use fresh meat rather than frozen. Meat that has been frozen and thawed holds water and gives a looser, wetter sausage.
- The pork fat is not optional. A boerewors made from lean beef alone is dry and crumbly, and the fat is what carries the coriander and clove through the sausage.
- Rest it overnight before cooking. Twelve hours in the fridge is what lets the spices move through the meat, and a sausage cooked the same day tastes noticeably flat.
- A ready mixed boerewors spice pack is the practical route and comes with a guide to quantity per pound. Chunks of cheese worked in make kaaswors, which is a recognised variation.
Questions fréquentes
What makes a sausage legally boerewors in South Africa?
Regulation sets a minimum of 90 percent meat content and limits the fat, along with restrictions on other ingredients. It also has to be beef based, though pork, lamb or a mix are permitted alongside. That legal definition is why boerewors is generally more expensive than ordinary sausage and why the name means something specific rather than being a style.
Why is boerewors cooked as a whole coil?
To keep the juices in. Cutting the coil into individual sausages before cooking opens the casing at each end, and the fat and juices run out onto the coals. It is grilled whole and cut only after cooking, which is why a grilling basket or skewers pushed through the coil are useful for turning it.
What spices go into boerewors?
Coriander seed above all, which is the note that identifies it, along with black pepper, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. Vinegar goes in as well, both for flavour and for preservation. Purists toast and grind whole spices themselves; ready mixed boerewors spice packs are widely used and perfectly good.
Can I make boerewors without a meat grinder?
Not properly. The coarse grind is essential to the texture, and shop bought mince is ground too fine and often too lean. Some butchers will coarsely grind meat to order if you ask, which solves the problem. Stuffing can be done with a hand crank stuffer or a grinder attachment; the grinding is the part that cannot be skipped.
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Franchement, the smell of nutmeg and cloves mixed with the ground beef reminded me of spice mixes back home, even if we usually make kamundele to eat with pondu! Found hog casings at Megamart in Silver Spring. My only note is 1/8 tbsp cloves was a bit dominant for us, so I will cut it in half next time.
couldn't find natural hog casings at Giant Eagle so had to drive down to Saraga on Morse Rd to get them. Chale, using freshly cracked coriander seeds makes a massive difference paa! That 1/4 cup of malt vinegar cuts right through the fat from the pork shoulder nicely.
Spent the whole afternoon stuffing the hog casing with my brother. Herh, that toasted coriander seed and allspice smell when the meat hits the braai grill is something else oo! We used brisket and pork belly like you suggested. Very juicy and not dry at all.