Any products sold as ‘boerewors’ in South Africa must comply with specific regulations. Traditional boerewors must contain at least 90% meat - always beef with either lamb or pork or a mixture of both. The fat content of the meat mixture may not exceed 30%.
Recipes may not contain bacon, chutney, cheese, per-peri, curry, tomato sauce, peppadews, green pepper, Parmesan, Aromat seasoning, chilli, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, paprika, whole peppercorns, green and pink peppercorns, lemon, soya, mustard, kidney fat, alcohol or venison. Ingredients that make boerewors distinct include coriander, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, vinegar, water and Worcestershire sauce.
“Take the time to fine-tune your recipe,” suggests Yvonne Blaauw, the Championship Boerewors 2018 champion. “It took me 15 years to perfect my recipe with help from my friends and family who shared invaluable feedback, and I never gave up. Knowing my boerewors is the best in the country is indescribable.”
The culinary experts at the South African Chefs Association (SACA), a recognised South African food authority, will once again take charge of the judging process to search for quality boerewors with special flavour and character. All entries will go through a validation process to ensure that recipes adhere to the guidelines for making truly traditional boerewors as per the law. Once validated, paper judging will commence to select the 30 best submissions.
The judges will then be tasked with identifying the top 10 finalists during a rigorous judging and tasting process. These finalists will be required to showcase their boerewors-making skills at the finale on Wednesday, 28 August where the winner of the 2019 Championship Boerewors competition will be announced.
Along with bragging rights, the honour of having your winning boerewors sold in Shoprite and Checkers stores nationwide and the title of the 2019 Championship Boerewors winner, prizes are up for grabs from sponsors Coca-Cola, Wellington’s, Sasko and Toyota, with the grand prize being a Toyota Fortuner 2.4 GD-6 4x4 6AT worth over R500,000.
Entry details and more information about the competition can be found on www.championshipboerewors.co.za.
