Dry Wors or Droë Wors (in Afrikaans) is a favorite South African snack that dates back to the early voortrekkers. Although it is based on the traditional, coriander seed spiced boerewors (wors) sausage, it has it’s own recipe and should not be made from regular wors that is used for cooking.
The spices are very similar to traditional wors but the meat ingredients are slightly different as the meat is dried slowly as opposed to cooked over a hot fire and therefore does not include pork or veal as this meat tends to go rancid if dried slowly. In addition, you should use lean beef with no more than 5% fat in the mix to avoid ending up with fatty, greasy dry wors. The sausage used is also thinner than regular cooking wors, enabling it to dry quicker and therefore less likely to spoil. Although not recommended, slightly thicker sausage can be used but should be flattened to dry quickly.
As opposed to traditional European dried sausages (e.g. Italian salami or German dry worst), dry wors is usually dried quicker and in warm, dry conditions whereas European dry sausage is dried more slowly and in relatively cold and/or humid conditions. Dry wors also does not contain a curing agent as found in a traditional cured sausage. This means that dry wors should be kept as dry as possible to prevent mold which can more easily begin to form than with a cured sausage or biltong. We recommend eating as soon as possible!
Ingredients:
- 3 lbs beef (or venison if available) – the leaner the better. Do not use pork as it does not dry well (goes rancid). The final mix should have no more than 5% fat in it – so about 1/4 lb (or one cup) of cut-up beef fat (again, no pork). Too much fat will make for greasy dry wors…
- 1.5 tablespoons of salt.
- 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper.
- 2 tablespoons coriander (seeds can be slightly cooked in a pan and ground – or use coriander powder).
- A few ground cloves.
- Pinch of nutmeg powder.
- About 1 cup vinegar (malt vinegar or white vinegar both work fine).
- Narrow (thin) sausage casings. Recommend no larger than 20mm (approx. 3/4 inch). Tip: collagen casings are less messy and easier to use.
How:
- Cut all the meat into small cubes, mix together and grind to a coarse texture. Tip: to improve texture, put the meat in the freezer for 20 minutes prior to grinding and mixing. This will keep the fat from spreading over the beef.
- Add dry spices and vinegar and mix together manually (lightly)
- Let the mix sit for 2-4 hours in a fridge and prepare (soak) the thin casings in water
- Fit casings to sausage maker and fill with mixture, do not overfill
Dry the wors in your biltong box for 3-4 days (longer if necessary). The wors should be dry and break easily.
Note – all-in-one sausage grinder and stuffer machines are relatively reasonable. Alternatively, you can opt for a separate sausage / meat grinder and stuffer.
