Making Sausages with Ryan and Gus

These foodies have a love of cooking, especially on their braais, and have the hours of experimenting in the kitchen to back up their recipes. Ryan is part owner of several family-owned butcheries as well as the specialist pork products company Georgie’s, so he knows his meat. Gus is an enthusiast with an impressive list of braai recipes in his back pocket, including a 10-hour brisket that takes a lot of dedication to get right. We were treated to a masterclass in making sausages at home, and here are some pointers and the recipes to try for yourselves.

Sausage-Making Tips

Ryan and Gus have some valuable information to pass on regarding the art of sausage-making.

Read this first before you start:

• Have the meat as cold as you can before mincing or the meat might get stuck and gloopy in the mincer. Place the meat in the freezer for at least an hour before mincing.
• For a longer-lasting product, use dried spices in your sausages. For a burst of flavour and for sausages to be used immediately, use fresh spices and herbs.
• If you are making several different types of sausage at the same time, grind all the meat together and then measure and divide for the various recipes.
• Natural casings are preserved in salt. Soak these overnight in water and then pour water through them again before using to get rid of most of the salt. As a guideline, you will need about 800g of meat per meter of casing.

Dry-spice Boerewors

A combination of beef and pork gives this wors sausage a good texture. The use of brisket for the beef and rib-eye for the pork gives the end product the best fat content for flavour without the need to add any extra.

• 2kg beef brisket, cut into chunks and very cold
• 1kg pork rib-eye, cut into chunks and very cold
• 2 tablespoons ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons flaked salt
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon red wine or apple cider vinegar
• Natural hog casings, rinsed

Using the largest plate on the sausage maker, grind the meat separately into bowls. Mix all the spices together. Mix the meats and the spices together so that it is well spiced throughout, and mix in the vinegar. Add a small tester of mixture to a hot pan and cook. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, before filling the casings. Thread the casings onto the sausage machine funnel and then feed the minced mixture through the machine. This is a two-person job: one person to feed and the other to gently ease the sausage meat through the casing to form a long link. TIP: This recipe is best done a few days before cooking. Mix the spice into the meat and refrigerate overnight before putting through the casings. Once made, hang overnight in the fridge to further improve its flavour.

Fresh-spice Asian pork sausages

The use of fresh spice in these sausages makes it fresh and vibrant. Definitely worth a try.

• 2kg pork rib-eye, cut into chunks and very cold
• 2 small red onions, finely chopped
• 1½ tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
• 2 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
• 1½ tablespoons fish sauce
• 1½ teaspoons chilli sauce (Ryan used Mazavaroo)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons palm sugar
• 1 stalk lemongrass, very finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon red wine or apple cider vinegar
• Natural hog casings, rinsed

Using the largest plate on the sausage maker, grind the meat into a bowl. Mix all the spice and sauces together and then mix thoroughly into the ground meat. Cook a tester in a frying pan and taste, then adjust the seasoning if necessary. Fill the casings as you would with the boerewors. Once the long link has been made, twist sections into sausage links. This recipe is best eaten within a few days.

For more tasty recipes from Georgie’s, visit www.georgies.co.za and look out for Georgie’s pork products in your local supermarket.