Homemade Merguez Sausage Recipe – North African Lamb Sausage

Cut the meat into strips or cubes. You can vary the size depending on how big your meat grinder is.

Add the spices (except garlic and harissa) and massage them in.

Put it into the freezer for 1-2 hours. This will help your grinding process later and make sure that the mixture does not get too warm.

Chop the garlic into small pieces and process it into a paste Add some salt and press the garlic firmly onto the board with a knife. Then cut again and press again. This way the garlic becomes a fine paste.

Now you can grind the meat. I used the finest perforated disc (3 mm). You can also let the sausage go through twice if you want it extra fine.

Now add the garlic and harissa paste and mix well for 3 - 5 minutes. You can either knead the meat with a food processor with a kneading attachment or mix it vigorously by hand. This ensures that the sausage meat will bind well and the sausage will not be crumbly later on.

Now put the casing onto your sausage stuffer and fill the mass into the casings. Make sure that there is trapped as little air as possible. Important: Do not fill the casing too full, otherwise it will burst later when roasting.

Now it's time to link the sausages. You can decide for yourself how big your Merguez should be. Put the sausage between your thumb and forefinger. Rotate the sausage away from you then move to the next link and rotate it toward you. The traditional length is between 20 - 30 cm (7.8 - 11.8 in).

Cut the individual links apart and your sausage is ready. Whether grilled or fried in a pan, enjoy.