Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes

| South Africa | Sausage

Traditionally eaten at braais, barbecues, boerewors (Afrikaans: farmer's sausage) are thick, hearty and flavoursome Afrikaner sausages, often eaten with a corn porridge called pap.

There is no one definitive recipe for boerewors, as nearly every family has its own variation. Some other recipes use bacon and springbok meat.

This version uses a sausage maker, and makes about 6lb of sausage.

Ingredients

• 2 lb beef
• 2 lb mutton
• 2 lb veal
• ¼ lb. spek
• 1½ Tbsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper.
• 1 Tbsp. coriander, singed¹ and ground
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp grated nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• ½ cup brown vinegar
• 1½ Cookbook:Brandy (optional)
• 2¼ wide sausage casings

Singeing coriander

Singed coriander is often used to spice Afrikaner dishes.

1. Place seeds into a dry frying pan.
2. Put the pan onto low heat and allow coriander to burn slightly.
3. Break seeds apart with a fork.

Use a coffee grinder instead off a fork; for this quantity of meat, add 50ml to 60ml of coriander.

Procedure

1. Cut all meat and spek into cubes.
2. Mix spek and meat together thoroughly, and then coarsely mince.
3. Add all dry spices, vinegar, and if used, brandy.
4. Mix together lightly with a large, two-pronged fork.
5. Place the casings in water.
6. Place mixture in fridge for 2 hours to blend the flavours together, leaving the casings to soak for the same time.
7. Fit casings over sausage maker, and fill with the meat/spice mixture. Be very careful not to over- or understuff the boerewors, as doing so will ruin them. Fill in long continuous lengths, don't make links.
8. Cook on a barbecue, but do not prick to allow juices to escape as much of the flavour will escape with them. Cook until still pink and juicy inside
9. Boerewors can be stored for up to 3 weeks frozen.

Notes, tips and variations

• Add about 100 ml of regular oatmeal – this helps to bind the meat.
• Be careful not to over spice the mince, you will ruin the taste.
• Be careful with adding salt, the spek has plenty as well.