Boerewors () is a type of sausage which originated in South Africa. It is an important part of South African, Setswana, Zimbabwean cuisine and is popular across Southern Africa. The name is derived from the Afrikaans words (literally, a farmer) and ('sausage'). According to South African government regulation, boerewors must contain at least 90 percent meat or fat from beef, pork, lamb or goat. The other 10% is made up of spices and other ingredients. Not more than 30% of the meat content may be fat. Boerewors may not contain offal other than the casings, or any mechanically separated meat (as recovered through a process where meat and bone are mechanically separated).
History
Boerewors is made from coarsely minced beef, minced pork, lamb and or goat. When locally available antelopes such as springbok or oryx are included, the sausage must be labelled with the species from which the meat originates.
Guinness World Record
On 3 May 2014, the Guinness World Record for braaiing the longest boerewors in the world was broken in South Africa by Aiden. The sausage measured in length. The boerewors was distributed freely to old-age homes and the Abraham Kriel Orphanage.
Ingredients
- 2kg beef (30% fat)
- 1kg fatty pork (neck, shoulder, belly)
- 45ml whole coriander seeds
- 5ml whole cloves
- 15ml fresh ground black pepper
- 2ml grated nutmeg
- 10ml ground allspice
- 10ml brown sugar
- 125ml dry red wine or 125 ml dark vinegar
- 90g thick sausage casings, soaked in water
Preparation
right|thumb|Boerewors and other meat on a grill
Boerewors is most traditionally braaied (grilled over charcoal or wood), but is often cooked under an electric grill, or roasted in an oven, or fried in a pan. When cooking Boerewors, pricking the casing will lead to the sausage losing much of the moisture and fat during cooking. A local variant of the hot dog is the boerewors roll, or "boerie" roll, which is a piece of boerewors in a hot dog bun, often served with a tomato, chili and onion relish or chakalaka. Some people prefer boerewors stew which can be prepared with mashed potatoes or pap.
Variations
The many varieties of boerewors include specialties such as garlic wors, kameeldoring (camel thorn), Karoowors (sausage from the Karoo region in South Africa), and spekwors (made with cubed pork fat). Other ingredients include cheese and chilli peppers.
A similar sausage may also be made from the meat of different animal species, such as kudu, and springbok, but it may not be sold as boerewors. Instead, it is named after the predominant meat species, but only if it contains at least 75% meat from that specific species. When a sausage is made from different types of game, it may not be labelled boerewors but must be labelled as game sausage and with the names of the game species in it.
See also
- South African cuisine