Making Merguez Sausages

[Chris Amirault]

When I was in Portland OR this spring, I had a chance to get some grass-fed lamb shoulder, which I kept frozen until this past week. I defrosted it thinking that lamb shoulder might have the same beneficial effect on sausages that pork shoulder does, so I ground it up for merguez.

I also went back to my books to see if there were any interesting ideas out there for merguez, and I couldn't find too much. Ruhlman's Charcuterie has a recipe that requires roasted red peppers, which might be interesting for some but wouldn't suit my needs. So I ended up winging it.

I trimmed very little fat off the shoulder, added no extra fat, and diced the meat. I then made a seasoning batch with salt, sugar, garlic, cayenne, cumin, black pepper, paprika, and small amounts of cinnamon, clove, and allspice; the salt and sugar is in proportion with other sausages I've made, but the rest of the spices are stronger than usual. (I foolishly didn't write the proportions down.) Finally, I ground, beat, and stuffed it following the guidelines I've learned from Ruhlman (keep it cold, cold, cold, basically). I don't have any lamb casings, so I used standard pork casings and have fatter-than-ideal links.

I really like the finished product. It has an intensity that I'd want a merguez to have; as far as I'm concerned, when I'm having spicy lamb sausage, I want it to taste like spicy lamb sausage. It's also got a swell mouthfeel thanks to the shoulder meat and fat, leading me to believe that a fear of lamb flavor has encouraged recipe writers to cut the lamb with beef or -- bizarrely -- pork, to the harm of the sausage. Finally, breaking down a shoulder is a lot less work than dealing with a leg of lamb and all that silverskin and tendon.

Are there any other folks out there who make their own merguez? What recipes do you use? Seasonings? Cuts? And do you try to hide the lambiness or bring it out -- and how?

[melkor]

Roasted peppers are key, as is harissa. Lamb casings, lamb fat, ground lamb, spices, stuff, grill, serve with couscous. Without the mix of peppers the flavor isn't right. Using anything other than lamb fat makes the finished product something else entirely.

[Chris Amirault]

Dave, do you have ratios or do you go by feel? And what roasted red peppers do you use? A lot of recipes I've seen omit peppers and the (chili-based) harissa, which I've come to prefer.

[melkor]

I roast red peppers and use them. There are a lot of horrible harissas available - you need to find an authentic one like tucal. I go by feel and taste. Keep a cast iron pan handy and you can sample the sausage mix as you make it.

[dougal]

...

I trimmed very little fat off the shoulder, added no extra fat, and diced the meat. I then made a seasoning batch with salt, sugar, garlic, cayenne, cumin, black pepper, paprika, and small amounts of cinnamon, clove, and allspice; the salt and sugar is in proportion with other sausages I've made, but the rest of the spices are stronger than usual. (I foolishly didn't write the proportions down.) Finally, I ground, beat, and stuffed it following the guidelines I've learned from Ruhlman (keep it cold, cold, cold, basically). I don't have any lamb casings, so I used standard pork casings and have fatter-than-ideal links.

...

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There's no Aniseed-y flavour there... there has to be that note!

I posted my recipe *here*

Points -

grilled/charred and skinned red peppers (long, pointy sweet ones) and I added the juices they left after sitting steaming and skinning

toasted, then ground, cumin

fennel seed for the anise-ish hint

garlic puréed with the salt

quite a lot of paprika (and smoked paprika goes very well)

dunno if the rosewater comes through, but, hey why not! I think that the spicing should be strong but with chillie, paprika, garlic and anise coming through identifiably.

Even using (sadly supermarket) minced lamb ("less than 20% fat") for the last batch gave a result that attracted specific positive (and independent) comment when grilled over charcoal.

I underplay particularly the Harissa, and then top it up after tasting a small sample seared in a dry non-stick frying pan.

I think Melkor's point about cast iron may be the same as mine - sear and dry-fry when sampling!

And don't "sample" it all...

[melkor]

I think Melkor's point about cast iron may be the same as mine - sear and dry-fry when sampling!

And don't "sample" it all... 

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Exactly. Just make twice as much as you need so you can eat half the batch while you're "sampling".

[Chris Amirault]

Hrm. So people feel that the anise note is essential? I've not missed it when I've left it out -- and that's certainly not the case with pork sausages, where it's a yawning gap.

[Abra]

I'm so glad you started this topic, Chris. There's merguez in every shop here, but so far I haven't found one that's really lamb-y or spicy. I'll be enjoying this thread, albeit far from my grinder and stuffer.

[dougal]

Hrm. So people feel that the anise note is essential? I've not missed it when I've left it out ...

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Chris, I've noticed it in Merguez I've eaten in France, its in many recipes and *I* like it!

The thing with 'rolling your own' is that you can do it whatever way you like.

Reading the "Casa Moro" recipe, I thought the spicing was waaay OTT, so I fiddled with it to get something I liked better. But, I'd never have thought of Rosewater. And it certainly doesn't do any harm. The smoked sweet paprika is a very noticeable improvement of mine, for me.

Like you, I'll be interested in learning of the ways others make theirs 'special' for themselves.

Maybe someone's tried smoked chillie?