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Spicy Sausage Review
Posted:
Sun Jan 16, 2005 12:57 pmby Oddley
I made both these sausages and as I am not a great lover of spicy sausage. I'm not sure that I am the right person to review these.
I found the Merguez sausage quite edible not too spicy and the aniseed taste came through quite nicely. This particular recipe needs some adjustment I believe the balance of spices is not quite right. But as a starting point well worth a try.Merguez sausages
350 g lean beef or lamb shoulder, roughly chopped
100g beef or lamb fat, roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of cold water
1 teaspoon harissa
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon Smoked paprika
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
Here is a harissa recipe, from " The Morrocan Collection", Hilaire Walden.
2 Red sweet bell peppers
1 oz fresh red chilleis INCLUDING the seeds
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspon of roasted corriander seeds
2 teaspoons of carraway seeds
olive oil
salt
Grind the dry ingredients to a spice powder. Grind the chillies and pepper together/liquidise and garlic. Heat peppers & chillies gently to reduce to a paste if necessary.
The Hot Italian was as it's name suggests a bit hotter than the merguez but still quite nice. The spices came through and was OK. But as with the merguez this recipe needs some adjustment. With a little work these would be an excellent sausage. Hot Italian Sausage
375 gm Beef
125 gm Suet
8 gm salt
4 gm Coarse Ground black pepper
5 gm Ground Coriander
1/2 gm Ground Dried Birdseye Chilies
5 gm Smoked Paprika
1 Small Clove garlic Minced
1 Tbsp or 18 fl oz Dry White Wine
Method
Mince trimmed Beef add suet Mix in all the rest of the ingredients. Keep meat cold Put in the bottom of the fridge or in the freezer for a short time if necessary. When skins are stuffed leave the sausages in fridge overnight.
In conclusion I think that both sausages are quite nice and both are worth making if you like spicy sausages and intend to develop the recipes.
Sausage Review
Posted:
Mon Jan 17, 2005 5:48 pmby Parson Snows
Oddley
thanks for the information. I hope that efforts like this don't get lost in an eventual maze of miscellaneous threads and postings.
You need the feedback, that's why I mentioned
it might be a nice feature to be able to have people "rate" a recipe plus post a comment
WHY REINVENT THE WHEEL EVERYTIMEkind regards
Parson Snows
Posted:
Tue Jan 18, 2005 9:27 amby Twoscoops
Interesting that you used beef in the Italian. I was talking about sausages to the guy in Lina Stores i Soho a little while a go, and he told me that they only used pork shoulder. I'm going to have a go at Italian sausages in a couple of weeks.
Posted:
Tue Jan 18, 2005 9:36 amby Oddley
I was not really going for authenticity on these two, going more for taste. These sausages didn't suite my tastes so I'm thinking of developing my own spicy sausage based on a recipe which I make for a weekday dinner sometimes.
Posted:
Tue Jan 18, 2005 10:00 pmby robin
I've tried several of Franco's mixes as well as some of my own recipies based on postings from this forum and I have to say that the Italian sausage mix Franco sells is my favourate so far by a long way. The fennel and chili really comes through nicely. My wife's family are Italian and they agree with me. So far I've infilicted all my efforts on them.
I fancy trying the Merquez recipe posted here so I might give that a whirl next.
Posted:
Tue Jan 18, 2005 10:17 pmby Oddley
Nice one Robin whatever you do to produce a sausage that suits you is great. I have not tried Franco's mix's but I'm glad to here they are good.
For me the hunt is everything I have a few core recipes that I make all the time and I expand from there with my own ideas.
Posted:
Wed Jan 19, 2005 4:43 pmby _Darkstream_
Parson said:
"WHY REINVENT THE WHEEL EVERYTIME"
Right on!
But someimes it is neccessary to re-invent the CONCEPT of the wheel, so that you actually understand what it is. People do forget.
Rating would be a good thing, if there was a logical register of all the recipes.
Texas Hots would get 5 stars from me. (And my kids).
Posted:
Wed Jan 19, 2005 4:47 pmby TobyB
Oddley,
do you use fresh suet or the packet stuff? If the latter do you hydrate it before stuffing?
Posted:
Wed Jan 19, 2005 5:41 pmby Oddley
TobyB I used packet suet out of the supermarket. It worked fine with the beef. As I said I was just trying out something new as I had not tried a beef sausage before.
If I did it again I would probably use half beef half pork for a slightly softer texture.
Beef Sausages
Posted:
Thu Jan 20, 2005 6:23 amby Parson Snows
regarding beef sausages Oddley wrote
If I did it again I would probably use half beef half pork for a slightly softer texture
I would recommend that you use
half as much pork as beef with the pork being pork belly (60 vl)
kind regards
Parson Snows
Posted:
Thu Jan 20, 2005 12:53 pmby Oddley
Parson so what your saying is use 1/3 pork belly Ok. The reason I'm interested is I have this idea for a spicy sausage that I think will be a winner.
I don't want to waste to much meat experimenting with it. I will probably be making it over the next week or so as I have other ideas on the go, such as the dreaded saveloy.
Posted:
Thu Jan 20, 2005 1:43 pmby Parson Snows
Oddley
you wrote
Hot Italian Sausage
375 gm Beef
125 gm Suet
You asked
Parson so what your saying is use 1/3 pork belly Ok.
Yes 1/3 pork belly (60:40 vl) to 2/3 beef
Cuts of beef typically used for sausage production areThin Flank (80 vl)
Thick Flank or Top Rump (80 vl)
Clod and Stickling (80 vl)
or if you want to use some of the beef suetin this case I would recommend that you use 300 g of lean beef (100 vl)
(
300 g Beef [100 vl] x 8.7/100)+(
150 g Pork belly [60:40 vl] x 46/100)+(
50 g Beef Suet x 74.8/100)
This will work out at approx. the same fat content as your original one
You wrote
1 Tbsp or 18 fl oz Dry White Wine
You need to check the conversion/ Typo.?
kind regards
Parson Snows
Posted:
Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:20 pmby robin
Oddley,
I tried your merquez recipie. I thought they turned out well. Thanks for the recipie.
Posted:
Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:57 pmby Oddley
Robin If you like the merguez you'll love the Chilli Willies. I made up the recipe and if I do say it myself is one of the best sausages I've made.http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopi ... highlight=
Posted:
Tue Feb 01, 2005 3:30 pmby robin
Oddley,
Yes I had noticed your earlier post. I've been meaning to try a pork and beef sausage in any case so I'll give this a try as soon as I get time.