Droëwors is a South African dried sausage, often seasoned with coriander. It needs a process designed for ground meat in casings; a method for whole-cut biltong is not interchangeable.
Droëwors is a South African dried sausage often flavored with coriander. Unlike a whole strip of biltong, it uses ground meat in a casing, so its formulation and drying process need to account for that.
The method
These are the main preparation stages. Use a validated dried-sausage process for the actual amounts, dimensions and drying conditions.
Grind & keep some fat
Use the meat and fat proportions in a validated dried-sausage formulation. Keep the meat cold while grinding and mixing.
Season the biltong way
Mix the measured ingredients evenly. Coriander and pepper are common seasonings; follow the formulation’s required salt and vinegar amounts.
Stuff thin natural casing
Use the casing type and diameter specified by the process. Fill it evenly and follow the preparation instructions for that casing.
Hang in moving air
Use equipment that can maintain and monitor the process’s required drying conditions. A ventilated room alone does not confirm those conditions.
Dry 1-3 days to your bite
Use the validated process’s completion criteria. Firmness and color alone cannot tell you whether the sausage is safe.
Droëwors needs a process written for dried sausage.
Dry it in the box
Read about biltong-box equipment and monitoring. Check that your setup can meet the requirements of your dried-sausage process.
Build a biltong boxHow casing size affects drying
Casing diameter and drying conditions affect the time required. A thin sausage can dry differently from a thick strip of biltong. Follow the process’s completion criteria rather than relying on a squeeze test or a fixed number of days.
Common mistakes
Pay attention to the mixture, casing and drying conditions:
- Grinding it too lean. Unlike jerky, droëwors wants roughly 15-20% fat; too lean and the thin stick dries to chalk and loses the coriander flavor.
- Warm meat and smeared fat. Keep the meat, grinder and stuffer cold. Warm fat smears instead of grinding clean, giving a greasy, dense texture that dries poorly.
- Air pockets in the casing. Trapped air is where mold starts. Fill evenly and prick any bubbles you see.
- Casing too wide. Thick worz loses the fast-drying advantage and drifts into salami territory, which needs different, more careful curing.
- Walking away. Because it’s thin it can over-dry fast, check it at least daily once it starts firming.