Burgers

[Oddley]

Sausagemaker posted a lot of recipes from Devro. There are some beef one's amongst them. I've not tried them so you will have too choose.

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=324

[welsh wizard]

Hi Markh

The find for me this summer has been Boerwoers. I must admit I have used Francos mix and even a SA mate of mine has really rated them so they must be there or there abouts. I tend to use the higher end of the suggusted mix which is 40gm per Kg of meat and a teaspoon of vinegar, also in the past I have put in a bunch of chopped corriander into a mix of about 3kgs (we love that stuff).

Re the meat I am lucky to have an excellent butcher where I live and purchase his mince (I have seen him prep this and it really is good) so for this sausage I save a bit on time and the old washing up

Give Boerwoers a try - they really are good!

[Oddley]

I've been meaning to try aris recipe for Boerewors for ages. As a south African himself, he must know what real Boerewors taste like. So definitely worth a go.

http://www.biltongbox.com/

[aris]

There are as many recipes for Boerewors as you can shake a stick at - and in South Africa there is really only one kind of sausage - Boerewors. Anything else is a curiosity and needs to be bought from a specialist butcher - though some of the more posh supermarkets have started selling 'British Bangers'.

The basic taste comes from the ground corriander seed. Anything else is optional, though most recipes contain vinegar.

In South Africa, every butcher has his own secret recipe. Myself, I use a combination of ground corriander, allspice, pepper, and salt. I also put malt vinegar, though last time I ran out, so used wine vinegar instead which really gave it a nice new dimension. Others add a bit of ground clove and nutmeg, but I don't like it so much. Boerewors should also be fairly coarsly minced.

Other variations on top of that include Cheese Boerewors, and tomato Boerewors which is basically the recipe above with either cheese or tomato added to it.

Every year there is a Boerewors making championship in South Africa - it's quite a laugh.

I'm going to order some of Franco's Sardinian mix soon - if he throws in a sample of the Boerewors mix, i'll let you know what I think

[Oddley]

aris, I'm going to make one of your Boerewors recipes tomorrow, which one of the two do you like best.

I was thinking of doing recipe 1, but you add 14.7-18.4 % of the meat weight in vinegar. So for a kg of meat/fat you would add 147-184 ml of vinegar. This seems an awful lot of vinegar. Just to make it clear, do you use malt vinegar?

I've analysed the spice mix and it seems bang on about 1.5% salt. Spice usage 23-24 gm per kg, for recipe 1-2.

Looking forward to trying them.

[markh]

Thanks All !

Thinking back, Boererwors were actually my first attempt at sausagemaking!

They were based on a recipe from Len Poli's site http://home.pacbell.net/lpoli/index_files/boerewors-nigel.pdf and while pretty good I found the cloves a bit overpowering. The ones on Aris's site seem to tone it down a bit so maybe I will give them a whirl.

I assume the quantity of vinegar in recipe #1 is 'four-fifths' of a cup ie about 200ml not '4 to 5' cups?

I think my favourite recipe to date is the Merguez (also from Len's site), made with Lamb and a homemade Harrissa paste based on Francos recipe - Delicious. I notice that there is a recipe in sausagemaker's Devro posts that you kindly directed me to using a mix of beef and lamb - another one I must try.

At this rate I will need a new freezer (again !)

[aris]

Actually, i've been using another recipe than the one on the site - I should actually post it. This recipe comes from an old fashioned cookbook from the 40's (lots of war-time recipes etc).

It calls for 12 lbs meat of which 9 lbs lean, 3 lbs fat (that's 5kg - just enough to fill the 8kg Reber). Pork is traditional, but you can mix anything you want. Pork and beef, port and mutton, etc. For that traditional look, coarse mince or manually cube some back fat and mix in (gives it that rustic chunky look). Personally I just use pork shoulder, and add a little back-fat if it is very lean, but shoulder tends to have just the right amount of fat for sausage.

Seasoning:

2 Tablespoons vinegar (I malt, and usually add a bit more)
2 Tablespoons Salt (I just do 1% by weight as that is what I prefer)
1 Tablespoon black pepper
4 Tablespoons ground corriander (use freshly ground if at all possible)
1 teaspoon clove (i tend to leave this out, or use half a teaspoon).
1 Tablespoon Allspice (also known as pimento, or jamaican pepper).

Mix it all up and stuff. Boerewors is traditionally cooked and served in a coil - never linked (though you can if you want), and is best cooked over a real coal fire.

For some interesting twists, you can use red-wine vinegar instead of malt, and add chilles or cheese, or some tomato puree. Use your imagination.

[welsh wizard]

Hi Aris

Yesterday Imade some Boer sausages and added some Balsamic in the mix, it really came out well - but never eaten Boer from SA I dont know if this was an authentic taste or not. Anyhow it tasted good to me and the group I was cooking for so that does for me.

Thanks for all the links I am certainly going to try some of the mixes

Cheers WW

[aris]

If your recipe had corriander in it, then it probably tasted authentic, though there is no such thing as "authentic" really. The balsamic vinegar sounds like a good idea - i'll have to try that sometime.

[Oddley]

Doh! Just call me Homer. I should have caught on to the fact that it was 4 fifths instead of 4-5 cups.

Thanks for the updated recipe, although I think I might still give recipe 1 a try, but substituting 1/2 the malt vinegar with some fig flavoured balsamic vinegar that I have.