Recipes / Meat
Boerewors rolls with tomato smoor
A coil of boerewors cooked slowly over medium coals, served in rolls with a soft tomato and onion relish.
- Prep
- 15 min
- On the fire
- 30 min
- Serves
- 6
- Done at
- 160°F (71°C)
Ingredients
Tomato smoor
Method
Cooking on gas?
- Preheat with the burners on high and the lid closed for 10 minutes, then turn them down to medium so the lid thermometer settles at 175 to 200°C (350 to 400°F). Brush the grates clean and oil them.
- Close the lid between turns. It cooks a little faster than an open braai, so start checking about 5 minutes early.
- Keep one burner off or on low as a cooler zone. If fat flares up, move the food there. Never use water on a gas grill flare-up.
- For a smoky taste, put a handful of wood chips in a smoker box, or a foil parcel pierced with a few holes, over a lit burner while the grill preheats.
On a skottel?
- Coil the wors in the centre of the skottel on a medium flame and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, turning every few minutes. Do not prick it.
- Make the smoor on the slope beside it, and toast the cut rolls on the rim at the end.
- Start the smoor first. Heat the oil in a pan or a small flat-bottomed pot at the edge of the fire. Cook the onions for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and golden.
- Add the garlic and chili and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until thick. Move the pan to a cooler spot to keep warm.
- Leave the boerewors in its coil. Do not prick it: the fat inside keeps it juicy, and a pricked sausage dries out and flares the coals.
- Lay the coil in a hinged grid, or push two skewers through it in a cross so it turns in one piece.
- Cook over medium coals for 8 to 10 minutes a side. Turn it only once or twice. If fat drips and flames come up, move the grid higher or to a cooler part of the fire.
- Rest the boerewors for 5 minutes, then cut it into six lengths.
- Butter the rolls and toast the cut sides on the grid for a minute. Fill each with boerewors and a big spoon of smoor.
Done when: the casing is brown and tight, the juices run clear, and a thermometer in the thickest part reads 71°C (160°F).
Tips
- Outside South Africa, look for boerewors at South African butchers and online shops. A coarse, coriander-spiced beef sausage is the closest substitute.
- Medium coals matter here. Over a hot fire the casing splits before the middle is cooked.
- The smoor keeps for 4 days in the fridge and is just as good on pap.
Boerewors means farmer’s sausage. It is coarse beef, sometimes with pork or lamb, spiced with toasted coriander, black pepper, nutmeg and cloves, and it is always sold as one long coil. A boerie roll is what most South Africans eat at a school fete, a rugby match or a hardware store on a Saturday morning.