The Boerewors Bulletin

 

Braaivleis in Cape Town 

In my best Brooklynese: My Gwawd! My noives!

What a rollercoaster of suspense, excitement, anticipation, disappointment, resignation and rekindled hope.

Having boerewors dangled just out of reach is nail-biting stuff.

After the very promising beginning, with My Favourite Butcher, Pedro,  at Los Paisanos, and then not hearing back from the owner, with whom I spoke subsequently, to whom I gave the recipe, and who spoke about 30 lbs minimum, and being worried about the recipe, and the shelf life of the sausage,  I had resigned myself. To No Boerewors.

But I went back this afternoon to buy some beef for a pot roast, but really to see what had been decided, and saw...My Favourite Butcher. I greeted him with sad eyes and my tail between my legs, expecting to hear that the boerewors was not going to happen, but then he said they received my email (which I'd sent ten days ago, making a case for boerewors in Brooklyn) and that he was going to make the sausage: 5 lbs. And because it will be for our consumption only, I may provide the spices...We discussed casings, and he said for the coil I want, pork is best. Sheep casings were the other option, but they are narrow, for something like mergeuz - (good for droëwors, though, but let's not get ahead of ourselves!).

So I have an appointment to see MFB on Thursday with the spices and his own copy of the recipe.

Joy!

I bought my pot roast, thanked him effusively, and went to Sahadi's at once, where I found coriander seeds, already-ground garam masala, and malt vinegar.

I got home, spilled the good news to the Frenchie who'd come back from his run to find himself locked out because I'd taken so long, and then set about collecting my ingredients for a slow-cooked dinner.

But there was no pot roast in amongst my purchases of spices, Pinotage, carrots, onions and parsley.

I had left it behind on the Los Paisanos counter.

Way too excited.

I called to make sure it was there, and instead of letting us fetch it, they sent it by bicycle!

So, for now, the boerewors is on.

Update on Thursday.

6/20/11: Find my perfected boerewors recipe at 66 Square feet (the Food)!