Boerewors (South African Sausage)
Serves 12 Time Cooking: 2 hours Resting: >26 hours Difficulty 4/5 Ingredients 13 Steps 10
Traditionally eaten at braais or barbecues, boerewors (Afrikaans: farmer's sausage) are thick, hearty and flavoursome Afrikaner sausages, often eaten with a corn porridge called pap.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp coriander seed
- 2 lb beef, cubed
- 2 lb mutton, cubed
- 2 lb veal, cubed
- ¼ lb spek, cubed
- 1½ tbsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp grated nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ cup brown vinegar
- 1½ brandy (optional)
- 2¼-inch wide sausage casings
Steps
Singed coriander
- Place seeds in a dry frying pan.
- Place pan over low heat. Burn coriander slightly.
- Break seeds apart with a fork, or grind finely in a coffee/spice grinder.
Sausage
- Cut all meat and spek into cubes.
- Mix spek and meat thoroughly. Coarsely mince or grind.
- Mix in all dry spices, vinegar, and brandy with a large two-pronged fork.
- Rest meat mixture in fridge 2 hours.
- Soak sausage casings in water the same 2 hours.
- Fit casings over sausage maker. Fill with meat/spice mixture. Do not over- or understuff. Fill in long continuous lengths, not links.
- Cook on a barbecue. Do not prick, or flavour escapes with juices. Cook until still pink and juicy inside.
Notes from the original
- Try adding about 100 ml of regular oatmeal—this helps to bind the meat.
- Be careful not to over-spice the mince, which will ruin the taste.
- Be careful with adding salt; the spek contains plenty.
- Boerewors can be stored for up to 3 weeks in the freezer.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Boerewors (South African Sausage)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-10-19, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.