The recipe was from Home Sausage Making, Cathy Barrow's merguez recipe. I can't export the recipe to this blog, but I will type it up.
Ingredients
20 ft lamb casing, or 10 ft medium hog casing
4 lbs boneless lamb shoulder
1 lb pork fat (I used beef fat)
8 cloves of garlic, minced
3 T kosher salt
2 T paprika
1 T dried oregano
2 t ground coriander
2 t ground cumin
2 t anise seed
2 t ground cinnamon
2 t cayenne pepper
1.5 t ground black pepper
1/4 c red wine (I used white with a splash of red wine vinegar)
1/4 c water
Method
1. Prepare the casings by soaking in warm water with a splash of vinegar and rinsing.
2. Cube up lamb and fat in 1 in. cubes and sprinkle with all spices except wine and water. Mix well and refrigerate for minimum 2 hours, or preferably overnight.
3. Grind through small disk.
4. Add water and wine and mix well with your clean hands until it is a little sticky. (This is developing the bind.)
5. Stuff into your casings. You can make 10 in lengths, or like I did, large coils. Tie off the ends, and prick any air bubbles.
6. Place sausage on a rack in a baking pan and refrigerate uncovered overnight.
7. If you made links, but them apart. The sausage can be refrigerated for 2 - 3 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator overnight before using frozen sausage.
8. Cook using the method of your choice, to an internal temperature of 160° F
Ground meat ready to be cased
Lamb merguez waiting to cure in fridge overnight
Full disclosure, I forgot to put in the garlic. Even without the vampire repelling ingredient, these were excellent sausages. I will definitely make them again and again!
How did I use the sausages
I could not grill them because the remnants of Isaias were barreling through Brooklyn. So I pulled out the instant pot, 2 cans of garbanzo beans and some collards and this is what I came up with.
1 lb merguez sausages
2 Cans garbanzo beans
1 bunch collard greens, stripped off of stem and julienned
3 scallions, sliced thin, held aside
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped
2 roma tomatoes, halved, seeds squeezed out and diced
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground coriander
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 ground cloves
1/4 t tumeric
1 t chili pepper of your choice, I used alleppo
1 large handful mint, chopped
1 large handful parsley, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
1 t ground sumac berries
1.5 t kosher salt
avocado oil
flaky salt to finish
~1 T oil sausages were cooked in to finish
Method
1. Drain and rinse chick peas.
2. Heat InstantPot on saute on medium heat level. When hot, add avocado oil, red onion and garlic. Saute until fragrant.
3. Add cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, and tumeric and saute to bloom the spices. Add beans and chicken stock mix well. Add collard greens. Mix well.
4. Add kosher salt, chili pepper, and chopped tomatoes. Mix well, taste and correct seasonings, if necessary.
5. When collards are softened and cooked, add parsley, and lime juice. Mix well, taste and correct seasonings, if necessary.
6. Heat a large pan with lid that can hold the sausages in one layer over high heat. Add small amount of oil of your choice. When the oil shimmers, add sausages, reduce temperature, and cover with a lid. When sausages are browned on one side, carefully turn over and brown other side. You can add a couple of ounces of water to steam the sausages after flipping. Cook until water has evaporated and second side is nicely browned. Use an instant thermometer to check that temp is at least 160 F.
7. Remove sausages, add some of the oil to the beans. Mix well. Taste and finish with flaky salt, reserved scallions, mint, and sumac.
Even without garlic, these were excellent sausages
This was far better than you would think. The beans and collards blended together perfectly and the "sauce" clung to everything. The mint added a nice brightness, but got overshadowed by spices after a while.
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