Wors Making

[Xhale]

So this weekend I stepped out of my comfort zone, picked up a #5 manual meat grinder, some stuffing tubes, some artificial casings (more on that later), some meat, some freddy hirsch spices, and some tunes to listen to.

Result:


I think it looks ok for my first ever attempt. There's 3 of them in total. Not stuffed tight at all, and the mince was done very roughly, as I read it should be

So, comments from the guys in the know: I left if for a day in the fridge as recommended by many people to chill and dry or bond and become one with the universe or something. But I get conflicting opinions on the casings...yes yes, Xhale you poephol you should use sheep casings, but the stuff looked miff to me. I dont like snot, and handling snot etc. So I used collagen casings, and dont have clue if the result will be satisfactory or not. So, from the guys in "the know", am I onto a winner here, or did I shoot myself in the foot?

 

[Alex]

It looks good. although I am by no means an expert. Sure do feel like a boerie roll now :yumm

Found this tip:
"RE: The perfect Boerewors
Hi- I agree that too lean a mixture would result in dry boerewors, also when the mince is too fine.
A good idea, (for newcomers) before you start, is to test your mixture by mixing a very small amount, for instance 1 tablespoon of meat with 1 teaspoon of pork fat and one teaspoon of mutton, (or what your preferences are) add spices and fry in a small pan before mixing the different meats and fat. That way you can add or omit until you are satisfied with the taste and use your favourite ratio as a guideline to create your own recipe.
A good ratio is to use 70% beef with 30% of pork, of which the pork must consist of 2/3 meat and 1/3 white ground pork fat. Not referring to the liquid kind of fat or ghee. (‘spek’, bought at the butcher)
If your beef is too lean or too finely minced, it will be dry. You can add white ground beef fat as well. If you do not want to use pork, try mutton and mutton fat. Also try 80% 'lean' beef, and 10% beef fat, plus 10% white ground pork fat. This was our favourite ratio. We never added liquids.
Never knead the meat or overwork it, just mix very lightly!

 

[Chef Guest]

Never, ever use synthetic casings.

Trust me.

I'm a doctor.

 

[Xhale]

Never, ever use synthetic casings.

Trust me.

I'm a doctor.

but..but..but...I dont want to trust anyboy, least of all those who make statements and then disappear without explaining

please tell me the "WHY" part.


like, dont ever eat grapefruit after 9pm. Trust me, I'm a pilot
(means nothing...really..means nothing)

for reference, that piece in the picture was frozen on saturday, defrosted yesterday and cooked and turned into boerie rolls. Succesfully. Either I am Jesus, worker of miracles, or...?

 

[Chef Guest]

Just get some decent quality topside/silverside. You want the hard white fat (spek).70/30 meat to fat is about right. Less fat if using pork fat.

I personally use 50% beef, 10% mutton, 10% pork (all hindquarter or roast cuts), then 15% beef spek, 10% mutton spek, 5% pork spec.

Chop all the pieces up into cubes about 3cm x 3cm and marinade overnight with your spice blend (NO SALT!!!) and whatever else you wanna use to flavour. I like a little (BUT A LITTLE!!!) red wine vinegar and demerara sugar for that caramel flavour.

Take one end of your sheep casing and stick it over the tap. Run cold water through the entire length for about 45 secs. Then rinse thoroughly in clean cold water. It's then ready for use.

When you're ready to stuff your sausage... season the meat and fat mix with salt and pass it through the mincer, coarse. Please dont put your fingers in while it's running. I've seen terrible things...

Then do the sausage stuffing. Not too tight. Guide the sausage out of the anal tube and just let it flow naturally to get a perfect fill. (God but my mind is sick!)

And then you should have a perfect sausage. Practice makes perfect when it comes to the filling, but the other stuff is pretty elementary.

Then you enter that checkers competition and give me an honourable mention.

JOB DONE!

 

[Chef Guest]

How about:

Trust me, I'm a chef?

 

[Xhale]

How about:

Trust me, I'm a chef?

I'm not trying to be difficult, you are a chef so you would know the answer to the question of WHY.
Everyone has conflicing recipes, heck even the spices I bought had a boerie recipe that doesnt match what was said above, and I know it isnt a science, just personal preference.
So I am a newbie and struggling to find answers, please give me answers
Does the casing need to be stretchy? yes? because WHY
What are collagen casings used for them? Only meat products that will dry, ala salami? If so, are they OK for droewors?

I know they cant twist tie a string of sausages with them, I know they break if overstuffed etc. I know the sheep ones are probably the safest bet. I dont know WHY.

I dont care for rules or tradition much, but I have 3kgs in the freezer using these collagen casings, and one successful cooking session so far. If I know WHY NOT to use them, then I may figure out what to NOT DO with this batch.

Actually, I'm a bit tired of researching this already

 

[Chef Guest]

Ok, here goes...

Artifical casings lack the inherent moisture and elasticity that natural casings have. Therefore, they are more prone to break under stress of any type, and will certainly provide you with an inferior end product. A natural casing will also break, but the breaking tension limit is higher than artificial due to the NATURAL collagen present, which is held together by proteins.

Stress on the casing comes from handling, stuffing and application of heat. combine these three things and you can see that the casing undergoes a considerable amout of stress during the sausage making process.

Artificial casings will not absorb moisture from the filling and will infact continue to dry out unless kept moist from the outside too.

During the cooking process, water is lost. The reson for your fat content is to keep the inside of the sausage moist, since fat doesn't evapourate. Fat is also a flavour carrier (much like PG) and will pick up the flavours of your marinade mix, further enhancing depth of flavour.

Artificial casings exist simply because they are easier to manufacture in a factory than having to troll through a mountain of sheep guts to get that very fine lining used for sausages. They also cater for a specific group of the market that will not eat offal of any kind. They can be used in the production of vegetarian food items, and can be made in different sizes with ease so that you can make thin or thick sausages. (Imagine if you can, sorting through the casings for the right size ones for different applications when they all look like long tapeworms. It would be impossible to differentiate without running water through them to establish diameter.)

Even in a large pick and pay, you can go to the butcher and ask him for casings. He'll probably give em to you for free, and I guarantee you that they will be natural.

The question then, is why does every butcher worth his salt only use natural casings? The short answer is that they are cheaper, and provide a significantly better quality end product. For justification, please see above.

Also, your sausage will roll properly, not kink and be much prettier.

Hope this helps a bit. Feel free to pick my brain more should you need to.

(P.S. Make sure you toast your spices lightly before you add them to the meat/fat mixture. This releases the natural oil in the plant matter and enhances and deepens flavour.)

 

[Chef Guest]

Or you can PM me if you want my number and I can talk you through any other questions you may have. Will be less time consuming than typing theises on sausage making...

 

[Xhale]

thank you for all the typing I'll do the natural casing bit next time and compare

 

[Chef Guest]

How about:

Trust me, I'm a chef?

Trust me.

I'm a Chef.