Boerewors
Also known as Wors
Coiled whole over the coals and served with pap or in a roll, boerewors must by law be at least 90% meat and no more than 30% fat.
- TraditionSouth African braai
- Kind of dishBraai
- SeasonAll year
- OccasionHeritage Day, 24 September, a public holiday that the Braai4Heritage campaign promotes as National Braai Day
Coarsely minced beef, often mixed with pork or mutton and a little fat, is seasoned with coriander, pepper and other spices and filled into a long casing. Boerewors, farm sausage, is cooked over hot coals until charred outside and still juicy inside, then cut into lengths or served in a roll.
Regulations published in August 2022 set out what may be sold as raw boerewors in South Africa: at least 90% meat, from cattle, sheep, pigs or goats, with no more than 30% fat, and no mechanically recovered meat or offal apart from the casing.
Wors is often eaten with stiff pap and a tomato relish, a pairing common enough to have its own name, pap en boerewors. It is also central to Heritage Day, 24 September, a public holiday that the Braai4Heritage campaign promotes as National Braai Day, a name that is popular but not official.
Check out these sources
- Agricultural Product Standards Act: regulations regarding processed meat products (Government Gazette 46789, 26 August 2022) · Government of South Africa
- New guidelines for producing boerewors in South Africa · Farmer's Weekly
- Heritage Day, Braai Day or Shaka Day: whose heritage is it anyway? · South African History Online
- Making boerewors · The Gardener (Let's Braai)
- pap · Dictionary of South African English
- Boerewors with tomato relish and cheese · Jan Braai
