One of the first things that South African expats look for in a foreign country, is boerewors. You know… that yummy South African sausage that everyone likes to braai on a Sunday (or a Tuesday, or a Friday…)

The problem is… the USA isn’t like South Africa where you can go to the grocery store and buy boerewors. You either have to buy it online or you have to learn how to make boerewors yourself.

While it is convenient, buying boerewors can be a hit or a miss. This is why some people choose to learn how to make boerewors themselves.

Luckily, it isn’t rocket-science. Here’s how to make boerewors yourself…

Disclaimer: For complete transparency, I want you to know that there are affiliate links in this article. That means we get paid a commission for products you buy. BUT it does not cost you more money. The retailer shares some of their profit with us. If you have questions about this, please contact us.

What You Need To Make Boerewors

You will need a few items to make boerewors. Here’s a list:

1. Meat: We use a beef/pork mix of 75% beef and 25% pork. For the beef, we use trimmed brisket because it already contains a good amount of fat. You need about 10 – 15% fat in your meat mix.
2. Casing: You can buy casing online[link to Amazon.com], or in the meat section of many grocery stores, or at a meat market. Here in Central Texas, we buy hog casing at HEB. One packet makes about 20 lbs of boerewors.
3. Spices: Some people buy boerewors spices online [link to Amazon.com] and others use a boerewors recipe that they adjust for taste as they go along.
4. Meat Grinder with Sausage Stuffer: When we started out, we used a $100 meat grinder with a sausage stuffer attachment. It worked fine, but was quite slow. Then we bought this meat grinder [link to Amazon.com] and it changed our world!
5. Cutting board & knife: You’re going to need to cut your meat into cubes.
6. Large plastic tub: You’ll need a large plastic tub [link to Amazon.com] (or two) to mix your meat cubes with the spices and to hold your ground meat before stuffing.

Hint: Make sure your grinder has a 6 mm (1/4 inch) cutting plate [link to Amazon.com]. It gives the correct coarseness to your ground meat.

Preparing The Boerewors Meat

In a nutshell, to prepare the meat, you’ll cut the meat into cubes, mix in the spices, and grind the meat. Here are the details:

1. Cut all the beef into 1.5 – 2 inch cubes.
2. Since you’ll have less pork and want nice distribution, cut the pork into slightly smaller cubes, let’s say 1 – 1.5 inch cubes.
3. Mix all the beef and pork in your plastic tub.
4. Add the spices to the meat and mix thoroughly. (I usually spread about 1/4 of the spices over all the meat, mix, and repeat.) Our method also uses malt vinegar and water, which I add at this point as well.
5. Grind all the meat. Remember to use your 6 mm (1/4 inch) cutting blade. (If you use a 10 mm cutting blade you’ll have to grind twice. If you use a 4 mm cutting blade, your ground meat may be too fine.)

Preparing The Casing

Natural sausage casing, like the hog casing we use, comes packed in salt. So you have to prepare the casing before stuffing:

1. Remove the casing from the package and rinse under running water. Also run the water through the casing.
2. Put warm water (not hot) in a bowl. Add a little white vinegar to the water. About 1 tablespoon is enough. The vinegar softens the casing and helps to give it that little “crisp” on the braai. (Thanks to my friend, Ron Hetzler, for that tip.)
3. Put the casing in the water for approximately 45 minutes before stuffing.

Stuffing – Making The Boerewors

You are now ready to make your boerewors, that is, stuffing the meat into the casing.

Hint: Up to this point, one person could do it all, but with the stuffing, it’s easier to have two people… one person to feed the meat into the stuffer and one person to control the flow of the casing off the stuffer pipe. You don’t want to over-stuff the casing, or the sausage will burst on the braai.

1. Set up the sausage stuffer on your grinder. We found the bigger stuffer pipe to work better than the small one.
2. Pull one or more of the pieces of casing over the stuffer tube.
3. Fill the stuffer with meat, turn it on, and wait for the meat to start pushing out of the stuffer tube.
4. As I mentioned earlier, the person who controls the flow of the casing off the tube, has to stay aware of how tight the sausage is being stuffed. You definitely want to avoid over-stuffing it.

Hint: If the sausage appears to be over-stuffed, simply turn off the machine, pull some more casing off the tube, and redistribute the meat in the sausage by squeezing it by hand.

And that’s all there is to it. You may feel a little unsure at first, but you’ll get the hang of it in two ticks!

Now it’s time to head outside and have a nice braai!

Resources From This Article

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LEM #5 Big Bite Meat Grinder [link to Amazon.com]

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LEM #5 6mm Cutting Plate [link to Amazon.com]

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LEM Heavy-Duty Meat Lug (Plastic Tub) [link to Amazon.com]

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Crown Ouma’s Boerewors Spices [link to Amazon.com]

Natural Hog Casings [link to Amazon.com]

Please share this article with your friends, and share your boerewors successes with us in the comments below!

“Let’s have a braai!” – Epic words spoken by many a South African.

(The word “braai” means “to grill food” and is pronounced “bry.”)

The South African braai is much more than a way to cook food. It is an event that fills voids in lives!

When things go right, like the Springboks winning, South Africans celebrate with a braai. When things go wrong, like Eskom cutting electricity again, a braai is the answer. The braai fixes anything!

South Africans will braai in any type of weather. There have even been sightings of South Africans clearing an opening in snow to make a fire and have a braai.

The Typical Fun South African Braai

 With a typical South African braai, the guests will arrive close to the set time. 

The first order of business is for everyone to open or pour their favorite drink… usually alcoholic. Most of the guys will open a beer. Some will go straight for brandy and Coke. The ladies often drink wine. Many love a beer shandy, which is a mixture of beer and Sprite.

The first 20-30 minutes is about catching up on news and chatting about important things, like the Springboks. The braai isn’t lit yet… Remember, this is a process and like any decent process, it takes time.

After a while, the hostess might get antsy and give her husband the look. “Go light the braai!”

The host will then head to the braai to light the fire. All the other guys follow closely. This is an important job and needs to be done right. Advisors need to be on hand.

Once the coals are ready, the meat goes on the grill. The host braais the meat and anything else his wife tells him to braai. The other guys won’t interfere with this. They only offer occasional advice and refill drinks when necessary.

The ladies will usually hang out in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the side dishes. Their discussions are a bit of a mystery. There is a rumor that they might discuss their husbands from time to time.

After all the food is ready, everyone dishes up and eat together. Some might sit at a table, but many will have their plates on their laps.

After the meal, everyone will visit together for at least another two hours before the first guests start heading home. Another perfect braai under the belt!

How To Plan Your Own Braai

Let’s get down to planning your own South African braai…

Something has to Cook the Food

We have to get one thing clear… a real South African braai is done on coals, not on a gas grill! You can use charcoal, but if you want to stay traditional, use wood. That’s the law of the land!

What is a Braai without Meat?

The typical meat for a South African braai is boerewors (sausage) and lamb chops. People also braai chicken, steak, and sosaties (kebabs).

Boerewors isn’t always easy to buy in the US, but there are some people out there who sell it. Many people make their own boerewors.

Lamb chops can be really expensive in the US, especially loin chops. A cheaper option is to buy a deboned leg of lamb and then cut it into 3/4-inch slices. Lamb chops are seasoned before the braai, or while on the braai. If you don’t have a favorite seasoning, salt and pepper work well.

Chicken drumsticks are very popular. A great variation is to wrap them with bacon before the braai.

Hamburger patties? No! This is a braai, not a barbecue.

Side Dishes and Desserts to make your Mouth Water

If a braai were up to men, as in a “guy-braai,” there would only be meat and drinks. But most braais include the ladies and kids too, so we have side dishes and desserts as well.

Side dishes include various salads. A Greek salad or pasta salad works well. Potato salad is a favorite!

“Pap en sous” (grits and gravy) is a favorite with many South Africans. Some people make a tomato-and-onion gravy, but many also use regular brown gravy.

“Braai broodjies” (grilled sandwiches) is another favorite. They are quite easy to make. Make a sandwich and fill it with sliced tomato, onion, and some cheese. Then braai the sandwich after the meat when the coals are not quite as hot. (Tip: turn the bread regularly to avoid burning.)

Dessert can be as simple as ice cream, but South Africans love traditional desserts, like malva pudding or milk tart.

You now know most of what you need to know to have an amazing South African braai.

Join the Braai Party

Do you have anything to add to make an awesome braai even better? Tell us in the comments…

Whereas American jerky is usually made from slim strips of meat that consist of very little fat, traditional South African biltong are manufactured using large cuts of meat, often having a third of the cut consisting of fat.

The meat cuts are normally thicker than other dried-out meat cuts and the moisture differs greatly depending on the cook’s preference.

I personally favour my biltong to be moist and have a slightly pinkish colour in the middle, including a thick strip of fat on the side, whilst my better half enjoys the biltong without any fat and much-much drier.

Some folks argue that venison biltong ought to be really dry – almost to the point of falling apart, while others like it really soft. There are several different inclinations as there are South Africans on this planet.

We think the real shame is that many people cannot afford this South African delicacy, or even more depressing, have absolutely no idea how to make it for themselves.

Please check the biltong recipe below and afterwards you can enjoy this awesome treat watching the local rugby game on television or enjoy it as treat if you are peckish. You can always pop a few pieces in your youngster’s lunch box; they will enjoy it immensely. It’s not a difficult recipe and quite simple to make, so let’s give it a try.

A Typical South African Biltong Recipe

• 5kg sirloin/rump meat (normally use silverside or topside)
• A cup of brown sugar
• 500 grams of coarse salt(not normal table salt)
• 2 tablespoons of bicarbonate soda
• 1 cup of broken up coriander seeds
• 1 cup of red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp cracked up black pepper

Just what is the procedure in making your first batch of biltong?

Begin by cutting your meat into strips; remember to only cut on the normal grain of the meat. I definitely prefer our end product to be a little moist on the inside, so if you enjoy a bit of pink in the middle, try to keep it 5cm wide. If you like it dry, you can make them a bit thinner.

Now you need to mix up the salt, coriander, pepper, bicarbonate of soda and the sugar together to make rubbing mixture. You now need to use a large glass container; wipe and rub some of the mix into each item of meat. Place a solitary layer of the mixture in the bottom of this container. Spray some of the red vinegar over meat strips then continue the exact same procedure till all the meat is layered and there is no more vinegar left. You need to remove the access salt from the meat otherwise you may produce really salty biltong.

You now have to cover the container with some cling wrap and leave it to marinade for at-least 12 to 24 hrs depending on the thickness of the meat and the strength of the flavour you want.

At this point you should find a cool completely dry and well-aerated location to hang your meat (we normally hang it high it in the garage area and cover it up with a net to keep the bugs and flies away). If you live on the beach front or in an area where it’s not always dry, you may want to invest in a biltong-maker-ventilation-system. Not everybody likes it moist, so for those that don’t want the biltong to be moist you can leave it for longer to dry out more completely.

Get some galvanized wire hooks to hang your meat. You can hang them until the exterior is dark. Try some of the biltong after 2 days. You will then be able to do a taste test to determine if it is working for you or whether you need to leave it hanging for a while longer.