First merguez attempt, and I like it.

[Oddwookiee]

So last year a couple of guys called the shop and asked if they brought in all the ingredients for a sausage, could I grind, mix and stuff it for them. Of course, I said yes. It turned out to be my introduction to merguez. A year later, I've taken the shop into a local farmer's market, and am absolutely killing it; I bring a little propane camp stove and fry up samples, and whatever samples, sells. I talked the boss into letting me trying my hand at making a batch of merguez myself and selling it at the market. I spend a week researching, finding spices and cranked out a batch, and off to market we go. Eureka! Next time I'll be doubling the batch up, I sold everything I brought (about 20lb) in 3 hours! Any suggestions are appreciated, as I think there is still room for improvement. Recipe (with my notes) and pics below.

Mergues (25lb batch)
I used pork and beef instead of lamb to keep cost down, and made it much more mild ot appeal to a wider group of consumers. Instead of lamb casing (another one that jacks the price up) I stuffed into a spun collagen breakfast link casing.

2 medium beef hearts, trimmed 100% clean. No valve, no 'bone' and absolutely no fat. About 6-8 lb meat weight.
Boneless pork shoulder to 25lb total weight

4.5oz Kosher salt (stARted at 3.5, added 1 oz the next day)
4 tbsp smoked paprika (I'll use more of this next time)
3 tbsp ground dried Ancho chili
1 tbsp dried ground cumin (I may fiddle this upward slightly, I haven't decided yet)
1 tbsp coriander seed, ground (I'll add 1-2 tsp more next time)
3 tbsp fresh minced garlic (I just happened to have a jar of pre-minced in the cooler. This may get adjusted upward, but I dont' want gerlic to overshadow the rest)
3 tbsp + 1 tsp dried ground Aleppo chili (I'll most likely omit this, I could not detect it in the final product at all)
2 tbsp medium-grind black pepper
2 tbsp fine-grind black pepper
Fresh parsely, most of the stems chopped off (I used a Kitchenaid food processor, and loosely packed the bowl before chopping it down)
Fresh cilantro, the big tail end of the stems cut off (same proportion as parsely)

Grind the pork and beef together through a medium plate once, then dumped into the sausage mixer. Mix all ingredients together with a couple of cups of water to lubricate and mix until the protein spools and it gets tacky. I let rest overnight to season itself and friend up a bit to test. It went back into the mixer and I added 1 oz of salt, then retested. It rested again for a couple hours, then stuffed into a 21mm clear collagen casing. Those get laid out on a bacon tray & frozen overnight, cut on the bandsaw and vacuum packaged from there.


After first mixing, off to take a meat nap.


Close-up of the mix, just before stuffing.


Laid out on butcher paper covered bacon trays (prevents sticking to the metal) to freeze.


Cutting the links. I cut them to 6 3/8". It works out that 9 pieces at that length are nearly always right close to a pound weight.


Cutting the links.


Cut links, stacked in the tub. I send them back into the big freezer to keep them frozen solid, or the vacuum machine crushes the links when it seals them down. Makes for a much prettier package, I hate smoosh.


The final product, front and back of the package. I put 2 double pieces and a single on the bottom layer, then 4 single on the top, and no matter the total batch weight, it always works out to the package with only 3 or 4 single lonely pieces left over.....which means that's a quality control situation and snack time

I know it's a pretty mild version, and no lamb or goat, but I wanted to shoot for a broader appeal. The beef heart gives it a hearty, meaty flavor that works well with the pork ad simulates the robustness of lamb or goat, and the mild peppers really went over well. Next batch I'm going to double up, I was sampling this and as fast as I could cut little pieces to give out, people were buying it.

[Dogfish]

That looks great. Tomwal just posted an inquiry on using heart. I find as you do that heart in a recipe adds a good rich meaty flavour.

[Snags]

I thought the history of the Merquez was a halal version of chorizo all the spices they loved in the original but using lamb instead of pork
heres something that might help with the spices ,but if its working why change.

http://moroccanfood.about.com/od/spiceb ... Recipe.htm

[Big Guy]

They look good, but I would call false advertizing! They aren't linked sausage. You should have individual linked sausages for that name, you have bansawed the sausages into sections with the ends open not sealed in a twisted link. These sausages would have a tendency to spit out of their cases when cooking. IMHO

[Oddwookiee]

Sorry about the delay in responding, between the farmer's market, county fair animals and several hunting seasons I'm eyeball deep in work.

Dogfish: I am very happy using heart, it gives a bigger & deeper flavor to a pork item, especially one where I'm trying to get close to the lamb or goat flavor without the cost of lamb or the average person's 'ick' at goat.

Snags: more information is always good. Thanks for the link, I'm still debating on tweaking my recipe. I'm moving 15lb or so a week in a tiny farmer's market though, so it's a maybe.

Big Guy: I used to a flip braid on pork links, but I like to get a clear package so the customer can see what I have. The '3 groups of 3' flip braid was a nightmare to get into a vacuum bag to freeze then seal. Surprisingly, the cut casing doesn't squeeze out nearly as bad as you'd think. After a ton of testing, as long as the casing is cooked at a low enough temperature not to blow up the whole thing, it won't squeeze out, only bulge just enough to make the end slightly rounded.

Next attempt: Loukanikos! After game season is over, anyway. Sleep just became a fond memory.