Traditional Drywors Recipe

INGREDIENTS

· 2 kg venison (no pork or veal)
· 1 kg beef.
· 500 gr sheep tails fat (no pork or spek)
· 25 ml salt.
· 5 ml ground black pepper.
· 15 ml corriander, singed and ground.
· 1 ml ground cloves.
· 2 ml nutmeg powder.
· 125 ml brown vinegar.
· 25 ml brandy (optional).
· 25 ml marsala (optional).
· 200 gr narrow (thin) sausage casings.

METHOD

· Cube all meat.
· Mix together thoroughly and mince coarsely.
· Place meat in large bowl.
· Add all dry spices, vinegar and brandy (if used).
· Mix together lightly with a two pronged fork.
· Place in fridge for +/- 2 hours to blend flavours.
· Soak casings in water during this period.
· Fit casings to sausage maker and fill with mixture.
· Do not over- or under-stuff.

This wors is more suitable for drying than it is for cooking. Due to the absence of pork and spek, and the inclusion of venison, it is not as succulent as normal boerewors and many people find the cooked variety of this recipe a bit to dry for their liking.

Also, hang this wors a bit longer than other types of wors as most people prefer it drier than the rest. It should snap like a twig when bent.

Farm-Style Droewors

· 4.5 kg beef (Use shoulder or chuck)
· 2.5 kg fatty mutton (Use breast or shoulder)
· 15 ml ground cloves
· 15 ml grated nutmeg
· 12 g whole coriander
· 90 g fine salt
· 15 ml brown sugar
· 400 ml vinegar
· 90 g mutton sausage casings

METHOD

Place the coriander seeds in a dry frying pan and heat, stirring constantly until they become light brown. Remove them to a coffee grinder or pestle and mortar and crush the coriander seeds. Pass the crushed seeds through a sieve to remove the husks.
Cut the meat into 50 mm cubes, and mix together with all ingredients except the vinegar and casings. Mince the meat using a grinder with a coarse blade. Sprinkle the vinegar over the minced meat mixture and mix lightly (If you work too much with the meat, it will lose the coarse consistency)
Prepare the casings and stuff the mixture loosely into them.
Dip the sausages in a mixture of 4.5 litres boiling water and 350 ml vinegar, then hang them over wooden rods that are thick enough in diameter to prevent the inner surfaces of the sausage from touching.
Dry the sausage in a cook draughty place for 24 hours, then remove the sausage and flatten by rolling across a cutting board, so that any pockets of air in the sausage or between the sausage and the casing are removed. (These air pockets can cause mould to set in when the sausage is drying). Put the sausage back over the wooden rods and continue to dry to your taste. This will normally take about 2 weeks.