Boerewors is a South African sausage made from beef, pork, and lamb mixed with spices and fat. It is traditionally grilled and served fresh, often with cornmeal porridge. Authentic boerewors is almost entirely meat and uses coriander seeds, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and thyme as spices. Non-traditional ingredients like cheese, garlic, tomato sauce, and chicken have been introduced but are not considered true versions of the sausage.
Boerewors is a traditional South African sausage originally created by Dutch settlers using available meat and spices. The food’s name literally means “farmer’s sausage,” and was often made by farmers from the animals they raised. The original recipes for boerewors used beef, pork, and sometimes lamb mixed with spices and fat and then stuffed into pork casings. The sausage is meant to be used and cooked fresh and does not age well, unlike a similar variety known as droewor, which is dried. Once prepared, the sausage is usually grilled and may be served as a picnic food or included in a common dish with cornmeal porridge.
The standard meats used to make boerewors are beef, pork, and lamb. As the sausage’s popularity began to spread, the variety of meats used increased and began to include more exotic varieties of local wildlife, such as ostrich. In the mid-20th century, some producers began using less expensive types of meat, including by-products, offal, and other fillers. Authentic boerewors is almost entirely meat. A final ingredient that is mixed with the coarsely diced meat is spek, which is essentially diced pork or beef fat, although many recipes actually call for diced bacon bits to be used instead.
Meat in boerewors is complemented by a variety of spices. The exact quantities are usually developed by the sausage maker and, in some situations, are kept as secret family secrets. In general, the basic spices used are coriander seeds, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and thyme. They can be added raw to the mix or can be roasted first to bring out a different flavor.
As boerewors began to be produced commercially, non-traditional ingredients were introduced. These included items like cheese, garlic, tomato sauce, and chicken. While these varieties are still sold, they aren’t generally considered true versions of the sausage.
To make the actual sausage, the ingredients are minced, combined and stuffed inside a pig casing. The most common shape for boerewors is a very long continuous coil. It is not aged like some sausages and needs to be refrigerated to keep it from spoiling.
The finished boerewors are usually grilled or fried. It can be served on a roll with onions or on its own with other vegetables. A classic dish uses sausage diced into cubes and mixed with a very chunky cornmeal porridge called pap, which is similar to Italian polenta.
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