The Wors Wars

July 27, 2016

1525

Since man first discovered
fire and brought home Dino wors,
there have been
discussions/arguments over whose wors is the best.

You will get as many answers
as there are men standing
in the smoke around the braai fire.

And, like the lotto tag line
“You have to be in it to win it”,
you cannot stand on the
periphery of the smoke and make your contribution.

Neither can you comment via
social media when images are posted.

No, you have to be at the coal
face, literally.

What makes a great wors?
As
any butcher will tell you, it is the spices that make a great
wors…
those and the quality of the meat and the casing.
Traditional
spices would include salt, pepper, coriander, cloves and nutmeg.

While there are no rules
that govern the contents of either sausage or “braai wors”,
the
opposite applies to proper Boerewors.
It has to be cut by hand and
not mechanical means
( like boiling the meat to remove it from the
bone),
there has to be a minimum of 90% meat,a maximum of 30%
and no
organs can be used.

Slaving
in cold rooms across the country butchers produce a range of wors
that is
not only iconic to our country, but region specific as well.

Yes ,
there are butcheries in far flung lands, like Australia and New
Zealand
that produce something similar.
More often than not these
products are made by ex-South Africans
who have relocated and now
hanker for a “stukkie”.

Wors,
although it can be cooked on/in a stove, needs the woody flavour
that
only a hot coal fire can produce.
Yes, gas is an option,but the
resultant wors falls short on flavour.

All the butchers that I
spoke to had a “special” ingredient
that they were not prepared
to divulge.

While “sausage” can be
used as a term of endearment
( “My little sausage” when referring
to a loved one,
it does not sound as endearing when the word ‘wors’ is
substituted)

Buying your wors from your
local supermarket can be seen as a convenience purchase,
whereas
buying it from your local suburban butcher you can be assured
of the
quality and the quantity that you purchase.

Wors is to men
what Prada is to women.
I know
that is a generalization, so in the spirit of equality,
I chatted to a
couple of female butchers to get their thoughts
on what is
predominantly a male domain.

Their
insights were, well, insightful as they saw the playing fields as
almost being level.
It is often the women who actually buy the meat
and the men just do the cooking
and claim to know their coriander
from their cloves.

The wors
that is made by female butcheries also differs in taste,
but that is
a personal preference.

But back
the the hero of this dish…the wors itself.

Unlike
chops or steak, where portion sizes can be calculated,
wors defies
that as you have to order by length.
Do you then measure to fit a
roll? Do you take a guess and run short?
Or do you just “chuck some
on the fire” and let your guests fight it out?

After
extensive research, I discovered that the ideal length for a piece of
wors
is 15-18cm…just filling a traditional hot dog roll.

Remembering
that “he who braai’s gets the first piece”!
And possibly the last
as well…well hidden from the prying eyes of the rest of the diners.

How
should the wors be cooked?
Under cooked, like a steak tartar?
Medium
so that there is very little juice left inside the casing?
Or cooked
so that it resembles an item that was found in Chernobyl and glows
in the dark?

Here again, hours of time at the fire led me to believe
that taste can be subjective
and it is better to ask your guests
before burning every piece to a crisp.

It seems
now that the old rivalry of gas versus fire has had another
competitor enter the fray
…the stove.

With the
hectic urban lives that we lead, people often braai in a pan on a
stove top.
By careful cooking you can produce the perfect piece of
wors.
That being said, almost all the wors experts will tell you that
gas is NOT the idea method.

Aside
from the flavour of the wors, the sauce that is going to be served
also plays a part in the final “taste test”.
Is it going to be a
simple tomato and onion gravy or
will it be some secret concoction
past down from father to son?

Will the
“Wors wars” ever be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction?
Somehow,
I don’t think so, but that being said, does it really matter.

Just
like most people who braai have a favourite set of tongs
that they
will use until they have to be discarded due to age,
those same
people will swear that their wors is “tops”…
until they discover
a new supplier that they believe
is better than their previous
source.

For those who are wondering,
THIS is where I get my wors.
You can find them at the corner of 8th Street and 4th Ave, Linden.
Pop in and have a chat, try their wors and
like me, become a convert…