Tweet
Well this weekend was quite a little project. Both of these sausages are traditionally Lamb based. The Merguez was the easiest because there are a multitude of recipes available in many books and on the internet. The recipe that I finally based mine on is one by Christine Benlafquih, the About.com Moroccan food expert. http://moroccanfood.about.com/od/bee...age-Recipe.htm
My final recipe was this:
• 4 lb. Lean lamb shank
• 1 lb. lamb fat
• 12 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed
• 10 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (coriander) (omitted, I HATE cilantro)
• 10 tablespoons merguez spice mix
• 1/3 cup harissa
Merguez Spice Mix
INGREDIENTS
• 1/4 cup sweet paprika (I substituted smoked)
• 2 tablespoons ground fennel seeds
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander seeds
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
• -------------------------
• 4 teaspoons powdered sugar (optional) (I did not include)
I cut my meat and fat into chunks that would fit in the throat of the grinder. I added enough water to the spices to make a thick slurry and messaged that into the meat pre-grind. After grinding, I gave it a go in the Kitchenaid with the paddle for about 3 minutes just to get everything mixed. I then stuffed into 22 to 24 mm sheep casings that I purchased from Sausagemaker some time ago. Man I hate these things. Short lengths and quite a few blowouts. They just seem very delicate. I won’t buy these again unless they are pre tubed and then I don’t think I will buy them from these guys again. I struggled through, got them stuffed and linked into about 3” sausages which from what I read is the traditional way. I will say this, I really love this sausage. It just assaults your taste buds with that exotic blend of North African spices, cinnamon, cumin, fennel, coriander, pepper, garlic, harissa and Lamb. It has a nice lingering heat, but it doesn’t overpower all the other flavors. Really delicious and I will make these again.
Now to the Droewors. This is an Afrikaans word that simply means dry sausage. I found far less information on this one. Some great input from Curious Aardvark, since he has made it in the past. I know CA has a strong aversion to Clove, but every one of the recipes that I found other than CA’s included it albeit a very small amount 1/8 tsp. for 5 lb. of meat. Anyway I found a recipe on the Len Poli site and decided on CA’s advice to increase the amount of vinegar to the amounts that CA used in his recipe, but for the other seasonings, I followed the Poli recipe. After the discussion that occurred on another post regarding the lack of cure I opted on the side of safety and added 5.5 grams of cure to 4.8 lbs. of meat. So, the recipe turned out like this:
http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/DroeworsKeith.pdf
With the exception that I substituted the amount of vinegar for 300 ml. Consisting of:
150 ml balsamic vinegar
75 ml malt vinegar
75 ml sherry vinegar
3 tsp lea and Perrins
I also did not include the mixed herbs or the red wine.
The meat differed in that it consisted of 3 lbs. of lamb, 1 lb. lean beef, and .8 lb lamb fat. CA was certainly correct in that this made a very stiff mix and was quite difficult to crank through the 5 lb. stuffer. I prevailed in stuffing it into 24 mm. collagen casings and hung it in my masterbuilt smoker for drying. I will report on the progress in a couple of days. I did attempt to “dry” some by setting my microwave to 10 % power for 6 minutes and then giving it a taste. Interesting, but won’t really know until it is fully dried.
Merguez Seasoning Mix:
The Lamb:
Merguez Fry Test:
Droewors makin's:
Merguez ready to link:
Little Merguez links:
Droewors drying:
Thanks fer lookin'
My final recipe was this:
• 4 lb. Lean lamb shank
• 1 lb. lamb fat
• 12 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed
• 10 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (coriander) (omitted, I HATE cilantro)
• 10 tablespoons merguez spice mix
• 1/3 cup harissa
Merguez Spice Mix
INGREDIENTS
• 1/4 cup sweet paprika (I substituted smoked)
• 2 tablespoons ground fennel seeds
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander seeds
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
• -------------------------
• 4 teaspoons powdered sugar (optional) (I did not include)
I cut my meat and fat into chunks that would fit in the throat of the grinder. I added enough water to the spices to make a thick slurry and messaged that into the meat pre-grind. After grinding, I gave it a go in the Kitchenaid with the paddle for about 3 minutes just to get everything mixed. I then stuffed into 22 to 24 mm sheep casings that I purchased from Sausagemaker some time ago. Man I hate these things. Short lengths and quite a few blowouts. They just seem very delicate. I won’t buy these again unless they are pre tubed and then I don’t think I will buy them from these guys again. I struggled through, got them stuffed and linked into about 3” sausages which from what I read is the traditional way. I will say this, I really love this sausage. It just assaults your taste buds with that exotic blend of North African spices, cinnamon, cumin, fennel, coriander, pepper, garlic, harissa and Lamb. It has a nice lingering heat, but it doesn’t overpower all the other flavors. Really delicious and I will make these again.
Now to the Droewors. This is an Afrikaans word that simply means dry sausage. I found far less information on this one. Some great input from Curious Aardvark, since he has made it in the past. I know CA has a strong aversion to Clove, but every one of the recipes that I found other than CA’s included it albeit a very small amount 1/8 tsp. for 5 lb. of meat. Anyway I found a recipe on the Len Poli site and decided on CA’s advice to increase the amount of vinegar to the amounts that CA used in his recipe, but for the other seasonings, I followed the Poli recipe. After the discussion that occurred on another post regarding the lack of cure I opted on the side of safety and added 5.5 grams of cure to 4.8 lbs. of meat. So, the recipe turned out like this:
http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/DroeworsKeith.pdf
With the exception that I substituted the amount of vinegar for 300 ml. Consisting of:
150 ml balsamic vinegar
75 ml malt vinegar
75 ml sherry vinegar
3 tsp lea and Perrins
I also did not include the mixed herbs or the red wine.
The meat differed in that it consisted of 3 lbs. of lamb, 1 lb. lean beef, and .8 lb lamb fat. CA was certainly correct in that this made a very stiff mix and was quite difficult to crank through the 5 lb. stuffer. I prevailed in stuffing it into 24 mm. collagen casings and hung it in my masterbuilt smoker for drying. I will report on the progress in a couple of days. I did attempt to “dry” some by setting my microwave to 10 % power for 6 minutes and then giving it a taste. Interesting, but won’t really know until it is fully dried.
Merguez Seasoning Mix:
The Lamb:
Merguez Fry Test:
Droewors makin's:
Merguez ready to link:
Little Merguez links:
Droewors drying:
Thanks fer lookin'
Comment