Merguez Sausage
Merguez sausage is the most popular type of sausage in North African countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. The sausage is a combination of various ratios of lamb and beef, stuffed into lamb casings. This particular recipe uses 3 parts leg of lamb, 1 part beef fat. It is seasoned with freshly toasted whole cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds, paprika, cayenne, and Tunisian harissa paste.Merguez are typically grilled, but obviously can be pan fried. They will take about 5-6 minutes a side to cook through. If pan frying, you won’t need to add any oil. There is enough fat in the sausages that will render out to fry in. Serve the merguez with herbed couscous.
Equipment
- Spice grinder
- meat grinder
- sausage stuffer
Ingredients
- 3 lbs boneless leg of lamb cubed
- 1 lb beef fat
- 2 tbsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1/3 cup harissa
- 1/3 cup ice water
- lamb casings
Instructions
- Dry toast the cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds in a small skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes. Let cool. Grind to a powder in a spice grinder.
- Mix all of the spices together.
- Grind the lamb and beef fat once through a meat grinder with a medium ground plate.
- Add all of the ingredients to the ground lamb. Mix thoroughly.
- Place in the refrigerator and allow the ingredients to commingle for an hour before stuffing.
- Stuff the sausage into the lamb casings. Twist to 6” in length.
- Allow to rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before cutting the links apart. Wrap whatever you don’t plan to use in the next 3 days freezer paper.
- Heat up a skillet over medium high heat. Add the sausages to the skillet.
- Cook for 5-6 minutes a side. These sausages can also be grilled for the same amount of time.
