Sausage-making is a very old form of food preservation - it is believed that sausages have been made for a long as animails have been slaughtered for food. Although some sausages were eaten fresh, some types were spiced to help prolong their life for a few days, or dried and preserved for later use.   Today, the making of sausages differs from country to country and from region to region. This difference may be due to the type and coarseness of the meat, the proportion of fat to lean meat and the addition of spices and seasonings. Even the casings used tend to differ and may be pork, beef, mutton or cellulose.   The making of boerewors and droewors, sausages peculiar to South Africa, has become an art-form. This coarse, loose-textured sausage is flavoured with spices such as coriader, cloves, nutmeg and allspice, but the kind of seasoning used is often influenced by the area in which the boerewors is made. We have provided no less than four variations which can serve as the starting point for the development of your own personal boerewors recipe.

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1. Cut the meat into 50-mm cubes, sprinkle with combined seasonings and mix to coat

2. Remove the rind and cut the speck into long thin strips, then cube or dice

3. Mince the meat, using a 9 mm plate, and add a little of the speck to each layer of mince

4. Soak the casings in lukewarm water for about 30 minutes, rince with cold running water, and pull over sausage filler.

5. Stuff casing with minced meat - don't overfill and avoid getting air in.

6. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours before cooking in a riffle pan,  freezing or making dried  wors.

Use fresh, not frozen, beef, pork, mutton or combinations of these meats, together with speck or sheep's tail fat. Although top grade meat is not essential, the tough connective tissue must be removed before mincing. Use meat from young animals as the meat from older animals tends to affect the colour and binding quality of the sausage. Never wash the meat with water as this causes spoilage and a tough texture.

BOEREWORS

When making boerewors, use 6 parts meat to 1 part speck. The beef/pork ratio is a matter of taste, but two parts beef to one part pork will give an appetizing end result. Cut the meat into 50-mm cubes, spread them on a clean surface, sprinkle the spices over and mix very lightly. Dice the speck into 3-mm cubes or if you have a special course mincer plate it can be minced separately. The object here is to get a mixture of mince and speck without too much handling. Overhandling results in a polony-like texture. Boerewors should have a loose, fairly coarse texture. It is important, therefore, to make sure that the mincer blade and plate are sharp and to use a mincer plate with large (9 mm) holes. Finer holes will result in a texutre that is too firm.

This is pork fat usually cut in slabs from the belly of a baconer. It is easier to cut it into slices, squares or dice if it is placed in the freezer for about 30 minutes before use.

These should be used  with discretion so as not to overpower the flavour of the meat. Salt and pepper are the main seasonings for almost all sausages although coriander is the most common spice used for traditional boerewors. To bring out the flavour, coriander should be scorched, ground and sieved. (See notes) If whole  coriander is not available, use ground coriander (5 ml ground coriander for every 15 ml whole coriander required in the recipe.)
other popular additions include ground cloves, nutmeg and crushed garlic. Herbs such as thyme and marjoram give an interesting flavour but, like spices, should be used sparingly.

These are obtainable fromn spice dealers and butchers and can be pork (available fresh or preserved in  salt), beef, mutton or cellulose. If preserved in salt, casings must be soaked in lukewarm water for about 30 minutes, then rinsed in cold running water before use. Unuased casings can again be preserved in salt and stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
Pork casings are the best for boerewors while mutton rather than pork casings should be used for mutton sausages and if you prefer thinner sausages.
When filling the casings, especially at the start of each new casing, press out all the accumulating air to prevent air bubbles forming. Never fill the casing too tightly as this will cause it to burst during cooking.

Before using or freezing, keep fresh sausages in the refrigerator for at least a day to dry out the casing and allow the flavours to permeate the meat thoroughly.
Uncooked boerewors can be stored in the refrigerator for a day or two while cooked wors can be placed in well-sealed, sterilized bottles and covered with clean fat. This method of preserving is particularly popular with campers.
Fresh sausages can be frozen for up to two months after which time the flavour may change.

It is important to cook your homemade sausages correctly. Place them in an unheated, riffle pan without the addition of cooking oil or any liquid. Heat slowly and, without pricking the skin, turn the sausages to brown on all sides until pan-grilled to taste. The nicest method is of course the traditional South African "Braaivleis" Boerewors cooked outside over hot coals, with a glass of South African wine or an ice cold beer. Add some Pap and a tomato and onion gravy and a green salad.......and you've got a meal fit for a King! Lekker man, lekkerrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

This is made in mush the same way as boerewors except that pork and speck are not used (pork fat tends to go rancid). Salpetre may be added as a preservative but will give the meat a reddish colour.
Dip the filled sausage casings in boiling water to which a good measure of vinegar has been added (350 ml to 4.5 l of water) Hang the lenghts of sausage over wooden poles thick enough to keep the inner surfaces from touching - don't use wire hooks as these could pierce the casings.
After a day, flatten the partially dried wors to get rid of any air bubbles where mould may set in. (If the casings are filled loosely they will flatten more easily.)
To improve the flavour, droewors may be smoked after a day of hanging. Droewors and smoked droewors can be frozen for up to two months in an airtight container or wrapped in cling wrap.

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