Merguez is a lamb sausage of North African origin. The lamb is processed to be lean meat, presumably to avoid using the fat, which could (yes, no, maybe?) adversely flavor the sausage. Instead, the lean lamb meat is combined with pork fat ... The perfect fat for virtually all sausages in terms of mild taste, lack of waxiness, and handling characteristics (melting point).
When you review the ingredients you will find two spices that are not typically in use in the USA, Harissa and Sumac. I purchased both quite inexpensively through Amazon®. I selected the DEA® brand of Harissa based on Kenji's recommendation.
Harissa is a paste of chili peppers and other seasoning ingredients, which vary according to brand. Sumac provides a tart, lemony flavor.
I made this sausage and I give it about 90%; of excellent. I will modify the recipe in some minor way(s) once I figure out what I want to do. I am reluctant to change anything until I actually use pork fat, for I had no pork fat when I made Merguez, substituting beef suet instead, which worked but which does not cook quite the same when making sausage patties. Beef suet tends to melt out of the sausage during frying, more so than pork. Well, time to do some experimenting.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. of fat trimmed lamb shoulder meat
1 tbsp. of kosher salt
6 ounces of unseasoned pork fat
3 medium size garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp. of Harissa
1 tsp. of dried oregano
2 tsp. of fennel seeds (crushed/powdered via a Magic Bullet® mixer, my variation)
1 tbsp. of Sumac
1 tsp. of freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Cut the lamb meat into cubes about 3/4" on a side.
Add the salt to the meat and mix well by hand. Then pack the mixture tightly in a Ziploc® freezer bag and refrigerate it overnight. Also refrigerate the pork fat in a separate bag.
Dice the pork fat into 1/4" cubes and mix it by hand with the lamb and salt mixture.
Process the meat, fat and salt mixture through a meat grinder, using the die with 1/4" diameter holes.
Use the paddle attachment and an electric mixer on medium speed for three minutes to blend the meat and fat.
Put the fennel into a one quart Ziploc® freezer bag. Crush the contents using a kitchen mallet and a hard surface counter like granite until the fennel is well broken up. Alternatively, use a Magic Bullet® mixer to turn the fennel seeds into fine pieces.
Sprinkle the fennel and all of the other seasoning ingredients (except salt ... you already used that) over the blended meat and fat, then mix the meat, fat and seasonings on medium speed for three to five minutes.
At this point the sausage has been made. But how does it taste?
I suggest test grilling, or frying perhaps 2 ounces of the sausage in 1/2" thick patty form first, if needed in a small amount of canola oil (about 1 tsp.), then eating it to see if you need to adjust seasonings. If not, proceed. If you need to add seasoning(s) then do so in small measured amounts and, each time, mix the sausage again for two to three minutes.
Form the finished Merguez sausage into 3/4" diameter logs, or 1/2" thick patties, or stuff it into lamb or pork casings.
Kenji shows a picture in The Food Lab© of the Merguez sausage wrapped in log form around a wooden skewer, and being grilled on a charcoal grill, where the heat level appears to be medium as opposed to hot. It sure looks good!
I processed my first batch of Merguez into patties and into pork casings. I've yet to cook any of the stuffed sausages but I'll do that soon. At the moment I'm freezing the sausages. Then I will vacuum seal them and return them to the deep freeze. Oh, while watching a video of sausage stuffing I noticed the chef pricking each casing with a needle like device. The purpose is to give any air pockets/steam a way to escape during later cooking so the sausage casing doesn't rupture.
For the record, stuffing sausages using a grinder accessory with a tube attachment with typical home mixers is not fun. It is a lot of work. I recommend buying a sausage stuffing machine, either the electric type or the manual plunger type.
This sausage should be refrigerated as soon as it is made. It can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or vacuum sealed and kept in the freezer for up to 3 months.