South African Sausage (Boerewors)
South Africa
Senior Editor
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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.
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.
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself.
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.
Grind the seasoned meat using the coarse grinding blade.
Add the vinegar to the ground meat and mix well.
Rinse one salted hog casing thoroughly inside and out, and prepare it for stuffing as directed on the package.
Attach the sausage stuffer to your grinder.
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.
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.
Check the sausage for uneven areas and even them out gently by hand before knotting the end.
Knot the end of the casing. Repeat with a second casing if you have mixture left.
Refrigerate the sausages overnight, at least 12 hours, so the flavours come together.
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.
Grill for 4 to 5 minutes on the first side, until the colour has changed and grill marks have formed.
Turn and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on the second side, until firm.
Transfer to a platter, rest briefly, and cut into lengths to serve.
3 reviews
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.
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.