Merguez a spicy, short, sausage from North Africa is made with lamb or beef, and flavored with spices

Merguez a spicy, short, sausage from North Africa is made with lamb or beef, and flavored with spices. Spices such as paprika, cayenne or harissa, a hot chili paste give Merguez sausage its red color. Sold by street vendors in Paris, can also be found in London, Belgium and New York. Merguez, the French transliteration of the Arabic word mirqaz, is a spicy small sausage used in Tunisia and Algeria.

1	meat selection	Lamb 5 lbs (2.3 kg) Try if possible to maintain 70/30 lean meat to fat ratio.	salt	36 g	2 Tbs
			black pepper	12 g	2 Tbs
			garlic, finely chopped	15 g	5 cloves
			cayenne pepper	12 g	2 Tbs
			paprika	12.6 g	2 Tbs
	ingredients		cumin, ground	6.0 g	1 Tbs
	ingredients		olive oil		3 Tbs
2	grinding	Cut meat into cubes, partially freeze, and then grind through 1/4" (6 mm) plate
3	mixing	Mix ground meat with all spices and olive oil
4	stuffing	Stuff into 24-26 mm sheep casings. Leave as one long rope or make 5" links
5	storing	In refrigerator
Notes	Some recipes call for a mixture of lamb and beef. Merguez owes its red color due to the high amount of paprika. Some recipes call for Harrisa Paste which is nothing more than a combination of the spices that are already listed above in ingredients (garlic, cumin, olive oil, hot chili peppers) plus corriander. Making Harrisa paste: 1. Place 4 oz of red hot chilies in a bowl and cover with hot water for two hours, then drain. 2. Process in a blender 1/4 cup garlic cloves, 1/4 cup ground cumin, 1/2 cup ground corriander, 1/4 cup salt, drained chilies and 1/2 cup olive oil. Add olive slowly until a thick paste is produced. For a finer consistency rub paste through a sieve. You can make a smaller amount of paste: 1 garlic clove crushed and finely chopped, 1/2 Tbs salt, 2 Tbs olive oil, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp ground corriander. Mix ingredients in a jar and skake well. Cover with a lid. We have limited ingredients to the ones that are included in most recipes. There are Merguez sausage recipes that include corriander, oregano, fennel seeds (used in Italian sausages) and even ground cinnamon. This is a spicy sausage and in addition to the spices listed in ingredients above, please feel free to add any spices that you personally like. Merguez is often made into hamburger patties or meat balls. It is served by frying in olive oil until well browned or grilled.