….”Boerewors”

Boerewors – a Traditional South African sausage perfect for a braai.

As South African’s we love to braai! And nothing says weekend like braai, boerewors and beer (or rather wine)…. Boerewors is such a huge part of being South African there is even an annual National Competition to crown the best boerewors. 

Sadly, boerewors is not completely low carb friendly, as most commercial boerewors contains fillers like cereal, oats and wheat flour. The other problem with commercially produced boerewors is they tend to use all the off cut meats and even some organ meat to make the wors.

Growing up we use to make our own boerewors – thanks to my grandfather owning a farm. I never understood the value in making your own meat products until I had to start reading labels in order to avoid ingredients we were allergic too – like wheat.

With Little M being unable to eat almost all shop bought products, we were forced to start making our own products again. So, it was just a matter of time before we made our own boerewors. We bought a meat grinder, that came with all the accessories to make wors. It contains the meat grinder with different size blade, 3 nozzle sizes to make different thickness of wors. We bought it back in 2014, for R 500 and still use it, so it was worth every cent.

Personally, I don’t think there is a right or wrong recipe for making boerewors. Some believe you need to add a mixture of meats – like beef and pork. Others believe you should only use salt and pepper to season your meat. Some prefer the casing to be thin while others like thick boerewors. So, you can play around with the spices you like and what you want to use. You can even add fresh herb, cheese or chillies (one of hubbies favourite ingredients).

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Kg Beef
• 1 Kg Pork
• 500g Bacon
• 1 Tsp Black pepper
• ½ Tsp Cloves
• ½ Tsp Nutmeg
• 5 Tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Cumin
• 6 Tsp Coriander
• 50 ml Apple cider vinegar
• Casing (pork or lamb

METHOD

Cut meat into approximately 2.5cm cubes. Let the cubed meat stand for a while to allow excess blood to drain. Cut bacon into small pieces. Mix all the meat and spices. Add the vinegar and mix well. Put the prepared mixture in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Wash the casing with salt water and ensure it is properly rinse. Stuff the mixture into the casing using a food processor and appropriate size nozzle, but be careful not to overstuff the casing.

It might seem like a lot of effort to stay low carb, but once you have tasted the difference, you will never eat shop bought wors again. We make venison wors for Little M as she can’t eat beef. We use a mixture of venison and lamb with added fat to keep the wors juice. M

There is no need to buy overpriced “banting friendly” boerewors, when you can make your own and know it is 100% pure. Just make sure you use pure spices and not mixed spice as many of them also contain fillers.

Happy weekend all and enjoy your boerewors and braai.