French Merguez Sausages - Culinary Communion

Submitted by Julesong

"From the Culinary Communion charcuterie class. Delicious! Recipe courtesy of Gabriel Claycamp, posted with permission. Makes approximately 10 pounds sausage."

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photo by Julesong

Ready In:: 2hrs
Ingredients:: 12
Yields:: 10 lbs sausage, approx

ingredients

7 lbs lean lamb, trimmed and cubed
3 lbs pork fatback, cubed
3 ounces salt
5 teaspoons granulated sugar
¹⁄₂ teaspoon white pepper
¹⁄₂ teaspoon ground cloves
¹⁄₂ teaspoon ground ginger
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
¹⁄₄ cup minced garlic, sauteed and cooled
1 ¹⁄₂ lbs roasted red peppers, peeled, seeded, and small diced
1 cup very cold dry red wine or 1 cup ice cold water
sheep casing, rinsed, 38 feet (may substitute hog casing if necessary)

directions

Marinate: toss the lamb, fatback, and dry seasonings together, then chill well (at least 2 hours).
Grind: grind meat mixture through grinder using a medium plate (1/4-inch) into a mixing bowl over an ice bath.
Mix and develop protein: in an electric mixer, mix on low speed for 1 minute, adding the red wine a little at a time. Mix on medium speed for 15 to 20 seconds, or until the sausage mixture is sticky to the touch.
Make a tester: make a test patty and pan fry. Adjust the seasoning and consistency if necessary before putting sausage into casings.
Stuff: stuff the sausage into the prepared casings and twist into 15-inch links. Cut into individual links. Make a spiral with each link and secure with a 6-inch skewer.
Cook: the sausage is now ready to prepare for eating by pan frying, baking, grilling, or broiling to an internal temperature of 150 degrees F, or hold under refrigeration for up to 7 days.
Notes: regarding the links -- we don't make the 15-inch links, we make links about 4 inches long, twisting them into link-shape as we're filling the casings. It's up to you, of course, how you make them. These sausages are absolutely delicious, and I hope you'll try the recipe! The recipe appear to definitely be a French version of Merguez, rather than the Turnisian version -- all I know is that they're very, very tasty. :).

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Reviews

What can I say but WOW! Made sausages for husband and to give as a gift for Father-In-Law. Both LOVED them! Found ingredients simple to work with, directions easy to follow! Father-In-Law said they reminded him of when his Grandparent's did their own butchering and sausage making. What a compliment! Seems that (to him) everything has a processed taste nowadays, not these! Well worth the effort! I did add 2 teaspoons ground fennel. Our families like the taste of fennel in sausage. A nice addition, but not necessary! Thanks, and Good Eats!

Susie Pots and Pans
I made these sausages last weekend - I just got a new mincer with a sausage attachment. Yes it was time consuming and takes a bit of practice getting consistent sausage lengths, but the sausages were very tasty. Will definately make these again.

Coasty

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

Julesong

Tukwila, 87

It's simply this: I love to cook! :) I've been hanging out on the internet since the early days and have collected loads of recipes. I've tried to keep the best of them (and often the more unusual) and look forward to sharing them with you, here. I am proud to say that I have several family members who are also on RecipeZaar! My husband, here as <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/39857>Steingrim</a>, is an excellent cook. He rarely uses recipes, though, so often after he's made dinner I sit down at the computer and talk him through how he made the dishes so that I can get it down on paper. Some of these recipes are in his account, some of them in mine - he rarely uses his account, though, so we'll probably usually post them to mine in the future. My sister <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/65957>Cathy is here as cxstitcher</a> and <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/62727>my mom is Juliesmom</a> - say hi to them, eh? Our <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/379862>friend Darrell is here as Uncle Dobo</a>, too! I've been typing in his recipes for him and entering them on R'Zaar. We're hoping that his sisters will soon show up with their own accounts, as well. :) I collect cookbooks (to slow myself down I've limited myself to purchasing them at thrift stores, although I occasionally buy an especially good one at full price), and - yes, I admit it - I love FoodTV. My favorite chefs on the Food Network are Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, Mario Batali, and Giada De Laurentiis. I'm not fond over fakey, over-enthusiastic performance chefs... Emeril drives me up the wall. I appreciate honesty. Of non-celebrity chefs, I've gotta say that that the greatest influences on my cooking have been my mother, Julia Child, and my cooking instructor Chef Gabriel Claycamp at Seattle's Culinary Communion. In the last couple of years I've been typing up all the recipes my grandparents and my mother collected over the years, and am posting them here. Some of them are quite nostalgic and are higher in fat and processed ingredients than recipes I normally collect, but it's really neat to see the different kinds of foods they were interested in... to see them either typewritten oh-so-carefully by my grandfather, in my grandmother's spidery handwriting, or - in some cases - written by my mother years ago in fountain pen ink. It's like time travel. Cooking peeve: food/cooking snobbery. Regarding my black and white icon (which may or may not be the one I'm currently using): it the sea-dragon tattoo that is on the inside of my right ankle. It's also my personal logo.

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