Boerewors Sausage

[zippy12]

My mix
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Beef Pork and Beef Fat(ox tail fat)
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Cubed all meat and mixed with spice
Put in a bag and set in freezer until just about solid
ground with smallest die
let sit for 24 hours (no mixing no crushing)

32mm casings
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skewered in rounds (best not to you let some juices out)
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Temped to 160F
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Cuts very nice and taste is like nothing you have ever had!
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[MisterChrister]

Looks and sounds great! Can you describe the taste at all?

[zippy12]

Looks and sounds great! Can you describe the taste at all?


I have never had this taste before. Like the Matrix you see a brat you think a brat. You take a bite and BANG its not a brat its a entirely different road of wonderful flavor! Took some to the guy at work who introduced the recipe and he said the flavor was spot on..... maybe a bit more salt and raw garlic....

[Free Mr. Tony]

Looks great. Yeah, the recipe reads like a brat for awhile then you start getting into cumin and cardamom, which sort of takes it a different direction. The malt vinegar is interesting. I may have to try that in a recipe. Thanks.

[Notorious Q.U.E.]

With a name like that, is it inspired by the Afrikaner culture of South Africa ?

[zippy12]

With a name like that, is it inspired by the Afrikaner culture of South Africa ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boerewors

[sleebus.jones]

Looks pretty good. Hope you don't mind some constructive criticism?

In looking through the process I see that the meat was ground, rested overnight for the flavor to bloom and then stuffed. Refrigerators are usually pretty low humidity inside and the mix can lose moisture as a result. I'd mix, stuff immediately and then let the finished sausage rest overnight in the fridge. I think the results will be better. I also think this will help the bind and make a juicer sausage.

The bind looks a bit loose. Looking at the salt percentage of the recipe, sausage traditionally ranges from 1.4% to 2% at the very high end. This recipe is 1.02%, which can affect the quality of the bind. Salt makes sausage work, and I've found that once you go below 1.4%, it kinda stops tasting like sausage and starts tasting more like ground meat. It will also help the sausage retain water. I would suggest 70g of salt (which is around 1.58%, taken from another boerewors recipe) for the weight of meat, or just a touch less than 4 tablespoons. If you are looking for the low end of the salt spectrum, go with 1.4%, which is 62g, or 3 1/2 tbsp. I'd also suggest a bit more vigorous mixing so that a ball of meat will stick to the palm of your hand when held inverted. If it doesn't stick, keep mixin'!

For ease of stuffing, I usually add about 3% water by weight of the meat block. For this recipe, that's 4.5 oz. It's not much but will make a world of difference in how easy it is to stuff.

Boerewors is a "farmer style" country sausage, so I'd go for a coarse grind, 3/8" (8mm) plate.

For the garlic, it's hard to tell exactly how much 2 heads of garlic is, but from what I can search up on the 'net, it appears to be about 100g. That puts this recipe's garlic content at 2.26%, which is a healthy amount. I think the problem is that it was roasted first, which lessens it's potency. I would try again with 1% fresh chopped garlic rather than roasted. For the meat block above, that's 44g of fresh garlic, or 11 cloves. I think that will give you the flavor you're looking for.

One other suggestion: get a couple of scales that measure in grams. Doing everything by weight in sausagemaking makes life easy. I use this one for measuring big stuff:

https://www.oxo.com/products/preparing/measuring/11lb-food-scale-w-pull-out-display

Handles up to 11 lbs, has tare function, and switches easily to grams. Also really quite accurate, I checked it with a 100g calibration weight and it was spot on, after having it for close to 7 years!

I also got one of these for weighing really small quantities:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AWS-100-Digital-Scale-With-100g-Calibration-Weight-100g-x-0-01g-Gold-Reload-/182173312208

You'll want to make sure to get one with a calibration weight as these are far more sensitive, and you'll want to check them when you use them. I can weigh out spices to a small enough amount that I can make a single patty for testing...let me tell you, that's handy.

I also found another Boerewors sausage recipe you may want to try with a small test batch. It's a lot simpler, and sometimes simple works out pretty well.

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/fresh/south-african/boerewors

The above are just opinions and stuff I've learned on my sausage journey. Take 'em or leave 'em, the price is the same! :becky:

[zippy12]

Looks pretty good. Hope you don't mind some constructive criticism?

In looking through the process I see that the meat was ground, rested overnight for the flavor to bloom and then stuffed. Refrigerators are usually pretty low humidity inside and the mix can lose moisture as a result. I'd mix, stuff immediately and then let the finished sausage rest overnight in the fridge. I think the results will be better. I also think this will help the bind and make a juicer sausage.

The bind looks a bit loose. Looking at the salt percentage of the recipe, sausage traditionally ranges from 1.4% to 2% at the very high end. This recipe is 1.02%, which can affect the quality of the bind. Salt makes sausage work, and I've found that once you go below 1.4%, it kinda stops tasting like sausage and starts tasting more like ground meat. It will also help the sausage retain water. I would suggest 70g of salt (which is around 1.58%, taken from another boerewors recipe) for the weight of meat, or just a touch less than 4 tablespoons. If you are looking for the low end of the salt spectrum, go with 1.4%, which is 62g, or 3 1/2 tbsp. I'd also suggest a bit more vigorous mixing so that a ball of meat will stick to the palm of your hand when held inverted. If it doesn't stick, keep mixin'!

For ease of stuffing, I usually add about 3% water by weight of the meat block. For this recipe, that's 4.5 oz. It's not much but will make a world of difference in how easy it is to stuff.

Boerewors is a "farmer style" country sausage, so I'd go for a coarse grind, 3/8" (8mm) plate.

For the garlic, it's hard to tell exactly how much 2 heads of garlic is, but from what I can search up on the 'net, it appears to be about 100g. That puts this recipe's garlic content at 2.26%, which is a healthy amount. I think the problem is that it was roasted first, which lessens it's potency. I would try again with 1% fresh chopped garlic rather than roasted. For the meat block above, that's 44g of fresh garlic, or 11 cloves. I think that will give you the flavor you're looking for.

One other suggestion: get a couple of scales that measure in grams. Doing everything by weight in sausagemaking makes life easy. I use this one for measuring big stuff:

https://www.oxo.com/products/preparing/measuring/11lb-food-scale-w-pull-out-display

Handles up to 11 lbs, has tare function, and switches easily to grams. Also really quite accurate, I checked it with a 100g calibration weight and it was spot on, after having it for close to 7 years!

I also got one of these for weighing really small quantities:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AWS-100-Digital-Scale-With-100g-Calibration-Weight-100g-x-0-01g-Gold-Reload-/182173312208

You'll want to make sure to get one with a calibration weight as these are far more sensitive, and you'll want to check them when you use them. I can weigh out spices to a small enough amount that I can make a single patty for testing...let me tell you, that's handy.

I also found another Boerewors sausage recipe you may want to try with a small test batch. It's a lot simpler, and sometimes simple works out pretty well.

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/fresh/south-african/boerewors

The above are just opinions and stuff I've learned on my sausage journey. Take 'em or leave 'em, the price is the same! :becky:



Thanks for taking the time to me execute a better product next time!

[yoursangoma]

Wish I lived closer to you. I miss boerewors from my time spent in South Africa. They are way too expensive to order online. Those look delicious.

[fantomlord]

Nice—I loved that stuff when I was down there...adding this to my tondo list.

Thanks for sharing!

[kuberlarrie]

As a South African it warms my heart to see one of our cultural mainstays in the US of A.
Boerewors is a truly South African sausage. Due to slaves and labourers that came over to SA centuries ago from the east and the Indian subcontinent, we have a more "exotic" flavour profile if you are used to things like German sausages etc.
My tips for Boerewors:
1. Fat percentage should be 20 - 30%.
2. It is a fairly coarsely ground sausage.
3. It is not a sausage like frankfurters or english sausage where you mix the ground product before stuffing to let the myosin "bind" the sausage. The texture should be quite loose but juicy with the fat content.
4. I use about 3 cups of oats per 20kg of meat block to improve the texture.
5. You can use a pure beef mix, or a beef and pork mix, or, as in my case, a venison and beef mix. Using pork will shorten the freezer life and tends to go rancid after a few months.
6. Stuff into natural hog casings 28/32 size or so.
7. Do not skewer the sausages - it causes all that lovely juiciness to run out. Ideally these should be grilled on an open fire preferably on a wooden fire, not charcoal.

My recipe is as follows: sorry for the metric sizes, thats how we roll down here in SA.

For a 20kg meatblock:
70% meat to 30% fat.
150ml table salt
200ml freshly roasted and then finely ground coriander seeds.
150ml worcestershire sauce.
20mm finely ground black pepper.
10 ml ground cloves
750ml oats
150ml BBQ spice. This is a commercial mix we get here in SA. Please do not confuse this with a normal Southern type BBQ spice. It is not sweet at all. To substitute you can use Ina Paarman's BBQ spice or meat spice. Just be wary of the salt content. I would start at 80mk per 20 kg meat block and work my way up to 150ml acc to your salt preference. I always fry up a small amount of seasoned and ground sausage mix and taste my seasoning before stuffing and adjust if necessary.
3 liters of cold water.

Method:
Keep your meat cold.
Cut all meat into about 1 inch cubes.
Add all the spices and liquid and mix thoroughly by hand.
Let mix stand in cold room or refrigerator for an hour.
Grind once through fairly coarse plate - 6mm or so.
No further mixing or resting needed. Stuff into casing and enjoy! Flavour develops a bit more after a 24hr rest period. I lightly vacuum seal mine and freeze it. It keeps very well in the freezer.

Some pics to follow...

[kuberlarrie]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170717/bf0982be714df395c15e0c1dc6e9f0e8.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170717/9e18f640497711586f0d38b135eb6758.jpg

[zippy12]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170717/bf0982be714df395c15e0c1dc6e9f0e8.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170717/9e18f640497711586f0d38b135eb6758.jpg

OMG

You send chills down my spine!!!!

Thanks for sharing!

Love you man!

Wish we were neighbors

[Burnbern]

Well explained and this what I do. I just made 20kg of boerewors and it tastes great!


Looks pretty good. Hope you don't mind some constructive criticism?

In looking through the process I see that the meat was ground, rested overnight for the flavor to bloom and then stuffed. Refrigerators are usually pretty low humidity inside and the mix can lose moisture as a result. I'd mix, stuff immediately and then let the finished sausage rest overnight in the fridge. I think the results will be better. I also think this will help the bind and make a juicer sausage.

The bind looks a bit loose. Looking at the salt percentage of the recipe, sausage traditionally ranges from 1.4% to 2% at the very high end. This recipe is 1.02%, which can affect the quality of the bind. Salt makes sausage work, and I've found that once you go below 1.4%, it kinda stops tasting like sausage and starts tasting more like ground meat. It will also help the sausage retain water. I would suggest 70g of salt (which is around 1.58%, taken from another boerewors recipe) for the weight of meat, or just a touch less than 4 tablespoons. If you are looking for the low end of the salt spectrum, go with 1.4%, which is 62g, or 3 1/2 tbsp. I'd also suggest a bit more vigorous mixing so that a ball of meat will stick to the palm of your hand when held inverted. If it doesn't stick, keep mixin'!

For ease of stuffing, I usually add about 3% water by weight of the meat block. For this recipe, that's 4.5 oz. It's not much but will make a world of difference in how easy it is to stuff.

Boerewors is a "farmer style" country sausage, so I'd go for a coarse grind, 3/8" (8mm) plate.

For the garlic, it's hard to tell exactly how much 2 heads of garlic is, but from what I can search up on the 'net, it appears to be about 100g. That puts this recipe's garlic content at 2.26%, which is a healthy amount. I think the problem is that it was roasted first, which lessens it's potency. I would try again with 1% fresh chopped garlic rather than roasted. For the meat block above, that's 44g of fresh garlic, or 11 cloves. I think that will give you the flavor you're looking for.

One other suggestion: get a couple of scales that measure in grams. Doing everything by weight in sausagemaking makes life easy. I use this one for measuring big stuff:

https://www.oxo.com/products/preparing/measuring/11lb-food-scale-w-pull-out-display

Handles up to 11 lbs, has tare function, and switches easily to grams. Also really quite accurate, I checked it with a 100g calibration weight and it was spot on, after having it for close to 7 years!

I also got one of these for weighing really small quantities:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AWS-100-Digital-Scale-With-100g-Calibration-Weight-100g-x-0-01g-Gold-Reload-/182173312208

You'll want to make sure to get one with a calibration weight as these are far more sensitive, and you'll want to check them when you use them. I can weigh out spices to a small enough amount that I can make a single patty for testing...let me tell you, that's handy.

I also found another Boerewors sausage recipe you may want to try with a small test batch. It's a lot simpler, and sometimes simple works out pretty well.

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/fresh/south-african/boerewors

The above are just opinions and stuff I've learned on my sausage journey. Take 'em or leave 'em, the price is the same! :becky: