French sausages

[tristar]

Probably as many Harrissa recipes as there are old North African Grannies!

[Wohoki]

My point precisely. The only North Africans who buy harrisa are either to poor to have a cook or to rich to make their own. Any restaurant in Tunisia will tell you, with pride, that the chef makes it himself: I know this because I asked. I add fennel seeds when I'm serving it with fish, I add carraway instead of cumin if the maranade for the meat has cumin in it. Enless variation within a basic technique: one of the things I love about cooking.


And what was "the disastrous Bratwurst escapade"? Sounds like the 'plot' from a Carry-On film.

[pokerpete]

Don't quite get your point, Pete. I've aready posted a couple of harrisa formulations (never heard of one made with fresh chillis tho', Tunisians and Algerians always use dried even when fresh are available) without courting disaster, and I thought it might be an idea to get a few different recipes together in one place. Harrisa doesn't have a definitive recipe, it's rather like garam masala in that respect, so a few new ideas are always welcome.

Ah well, there was me thinking that this was a discussion board again.

Agreed. But I don't remember finding any seeds in my tubes of Phare du Cap Bon, so that's why I'll be making mine with fresh hot chilis, with and without seeds for a start. Of course fresh chilis need scalding, as do dried ones. But I don't need to fiddle about deseeding the dried variety. Do not throw the water away, use it in the liquidiser to get a consistent paste.
Please wear your marigolds and goggles when messing about with this stuff. It's dangerous.
I saw a terrible accident once at one of my Chinese customers factory when a young man was making chili sauce in a high speed bowl cutter. A dollop jumped up and went in his eye, he was carted off to the eye hospital.

[pokerpete]

Probably as many Harrissa recipes as there are old North African Grannies!

Maybe so, but that's a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of chili sauces in the world.

[Wohoki]

A couple of tips to add to what Pate said above:

I find that rubbing some oil onto my hands before working with chillies removes the need for gloves: just wash your hands well afterwards and all the capsaicin gets washed off with the oil.

To de-seed dried whole chillies just split them lengthways with a knife, drop them into a large jar with a handfull of dried butterbeans, put the lid on and give it a damnned good shake. If you empty the lot into a bowl and give it a few taps the seeds settle to the bottom and you can just take the part you want off the top. Probably removes 95+% of the seeds and it only takes a couple of minutes to do a lot of chillies. (It's probably best to disguard the butterbeans .)

If using fresh chillies to make pastes, try roasting them in a very hot oven (220C, or even a grill) until the skin starts to blacken, dump into a paper bag for a couple of minutes then rinse and rub most of the skin off (Marigolds are a good idea here) and de-seed. It adds a smokey hint to the paste (this is a trick from Laos: they scorch shallots, garlic and chillis over a flame for everything: lovely flavours.)


Oh, and I dispute that chillies are dangerous: painful yes, but you can't injure yourself with them, no matter how hot. I grow Caribean red-hot and Scotch Bonnet c. chinensis varieties, as well as some of the calmer c. annuum varieties, and I will admit to a few uncomfortable half-hours, but I can still see and use a normal toilet, so......

[vinner]

A simple way to deseed fresh chiles (and this only works well with smooth skinned, symmetrically shape chiles like jalapenos and serranos):

Simple hold a sharp knife parallel to the chile, and "pare" the flesh off of the rib structure whilst holding the stem end. No seeds, no ribs (which are llikewise loaded with capsaicin).

[Wohoki]

Or you can cut the top off and scrape the ribs and seeds out with the handle of a teaspoon. This works best with thick fleshed straight chiles, and you can hold the fruit under water to avoid getting sprayed with the juices.

[Muncher]

Hi,
I'm planning on making some Merguez, and have some good looking recipes. I want them to be similar to the ones I buy in France, as the ones available here seem to bear no resemblance to the "real thing".
I have two fairly basic questions:- Should I use rusk, and what cut of lamb would be recommended for this type of sausage? They do always seem to be remarkably fatty, and reduce dramatically in size on cooking.

[Oddley]

Hi Muncher Welcome to the forum.

Below is a couple of links to discussions, and recipes for Merguez sausages. Most thing have been discussed on the forum, you will find the search button at the top of the page very useful.

Merguez sausages

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=430

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=166

[pokerpete]

Don't quite get your point, Pete. I've aready posted a couple of harrisa formulations (never heard of one made with fresh chillis tho', Tunisians and Algerians always use dried even when fresh are available) without courting disaster, and I thought it might be an idea to get a few different recipes together in one place. Harrisa doesn't have a definitive recipe, it's rather like garam masala in that respect, so a few new ideas are always welcome.

Ah well, there was me thinking that this was a discussion board again.

The reason for using for using fresh red chilis, was so I could smoke/roast them and hopefully produce a harissa paste with a slightly smoky taste.

[dougal]

... the ones available here seem to bear no resemblance to the "real thing".
I have two fairly basic questions:- Should I use rusk, and what cut of lamb would be recommended for this type of sausage? They do always seem to be remarkably fatty, and reduce dramatically in size on cooking.

Hi Muncher and welcome!

Where is "here"? (on this forum there are folk from most of the timezones right around the globe!)

Rusk - there wouldn't be any in the North African original. Its use characterises British sausage style.
Meat - The French versions I have enjoyed have been a sheep/beef mix. The recipe linked off the second thread that Oddley pointed out http://www.cliffordawright.com/recipes/merguez.html seems pretty close. Perhaps using Beef, rather than Lamb, for the extra fat would be even closer?
Or you might prefer one of the variations in the recipe cited by Parson Snows.
Shoulder seems like a good starting point.
I do wonder a bit about the choice between lamb and mutton... hmmm.

I think that the use of small (sheep) chipolata casings would be an important aspect of authenticity. They are spicy *little* things.

There's an interesting suggestion in that recipe that they should be poached, either entirely or as a preliminary to grilling or frying.

[Muncher]

Thanks for the tips Dougal & Oddley.

I've checked out the links, and there's some good looking stuff there.

"Here" is deepest West Wiltshire (I forgot to put the location on my profile).

I am a complete novice to sausage making, but am an avid fan of sausages of all types, with Merguez & Toulouse at the top of the list. The fact that my normal sources of supply from the other side of the channel have disappeared, and that those imitations sold here seem to bear no resemblance, I concluded the best idea would be to attempt to make my own.

Having purchased a no.10 mincer with stuffing tubes, some hog casings and rusk/flavouring mixes, the plan is to make some different varieties of pork sausages. Once I am happy that I've perfected my technique, (and decided whether to get a stuffer for Christmas), I'll move towards my holy grail of a never ending supply of perfect merguez!

I'll keep you posted as to how I progress.

By the way, does anyone know any good recipes for Cumberland Sausage?

[Oddley]

Below is the one from len poli's site that, Franco the owner of this site, sent him. You will need the free program Adobe Acrobat installed to read it.

http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Eng ... erland.pdf