Boerewors, cheese and chutney
I’m fortunate to have many friends from South Africa; they are very proud of their braai culture, so I ran this recipe by a few of them to make sure it wouldn’t cause any upset. Needless to say, although I had unanimous approval from them, they all wanted to have a taste. I was in two minds about skewering sausage as it can easily lose its juice to the flames. I decided to use very fine skewers so the holes were minimal in size, as I felt it was important to maintain the shape of the sausage wheel so it could be loaded up with the cheese and chutney (according to my friends it has to be Mrs Balls chutney). You should be able to pick up the boerewors sausages pretty easily these days. The authentic wood to use for flavour is a Namibian hardwood kameeldoring (camelthorn).
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 large boerewors sausage in a wheel (about 500 g/1lb 2oz)
50 g grated Cheddar cheese
3 tbsp Mrs Balls Chutney, or other spiced fruit chutney
Chunky bread, to serve
Heat
Moderate glowing embers
Method
Set up a bed of hot charcoal – a couple of handfuls should be enough. Place two small pieces of braaiwood, such as camelthorn, onto the coals and let the wood burn down to embers. You could use oak or cherry, but it won’t have the authentic flavour of braaiwood. Once the flames have settled down and you have a fragrant bed of embers, you are ready to start cooking.
Place two very fine metal skewers at 90 degrees to each other through the sausage to hold the shape together. Cook the sausage slowly – ideally with the lid down. It should take about 15 minutes to reach an internal temperature of 74°C/165°F on a digital probe thermometer. Top the sausage with the grated cheese and chutney, I did this to follow the wheel of the sausage. Cook with the lid down for another 5 minutes or so until the cheese has melted.
Serve with chunks of bread and enjoy with a cold beer.
Skewered by Marcus Bawdon, published by Dog ‘n’ Bone Books (£16.99)
Photography by Marcus Bawdon © Dog ‘n’ Bone Books
