Skewered house-made Lebanese style lamb sausages with Turkish chilli flakes recipe

By Greg Malouf
Difficulty challenging
Cooking time more than 2 hours
Serves 10 or more

And this is why you make a sausage from scratch. You'll never look at the humble sausage the same way again.

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
2 teaspoons nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground mahleb
80 ml red wine
1kg diced lamb (shoulder)
200 g diced beef flank
2 cloves crushes garlic
80 g duck fat
sea salt
80 g pinenuts
1.5kg sheep casing
60g Turkish chilli flakes

METHOD

1. Chill all your grinder parts, including die with ¼ inch holes, in freezer until very cold, about 1 hour. Chill a large stainless-steel bowl in refrigerator until cold.

2. Place lamb and beef in a single layer on 2 plastic wrap–lined baking sheets; cover and freeze until meat is very firm but not frozen, about 1 hour.

3. Combine all the spices together into a bowl and set aside.

4. Grind meats on high speed 3-4 pieces at a time into a chilled bowl. Add garlic and duck fat and mix gently with your hands as it just begins to distribute, about 20 seconds. Sprinkle reserved spice mixture evenly over meat and knead, rotating bowl, until spice mixture is evenly distributed and a light film has formed on the side of the bowl, about 1 minute.

5. Add wine and knead until mixture holds together and is very stiff (it will spring back when pressed), about 1 minute. Don’t overmix or sausage will be crumbly.

6. Place sausage casings in a large bowl under cold running water and let sit, allowing water to overflow and flushing water through casings (take care not to tangle) until softened, about 2 minutes. Slide 1 casing onto sausage stuffer nozzle, leaving a 15cm overhang (do not tie). If casing is too long or tangles, cut in half and work with 1 piece at a time.

7. Pack a handful of sausage mixture very lightly into stuffer. Working with a partner and with stuffer on high speed, use plunger to push meat through, gradually filling casing; gently slide filled casing off nozzle onto a baking sheet as you go.

8. Fill casing firmly but don’t overstuff (mixture will tighten when links are twisted, and overfilled casings will burst when cooked). As casing fills, lightly prick air bubbles with sausage pricker. Leave at least 15cm of empty casing at the end. Repeat with remaining casing and sausage mixture.

9. Tie off 1 end of casing, making the knot flush with the meat. Starting 8cm from knot, pinch off a 8cm length, squeezing on both sides. Twist link toward you 2 rotations. Starting 8cm from link, pinch off another 8cm length, squeezing on both sides, and twist link away from you 2 rotations. Repeat, alternating direction of twists, until you can’t make another 8cm sausage. Squeeze out extra meat; tie off casing.

10. Prick each sausage link in 3 places with a steel small skewer (this helps prevent bursting). Arrange links on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill, uncovered, to dry out casings, at least 12 hours.

11. Using kitchen shears, cut casing between links to separate. Sauté sausages briefly in a hot pan for 4-5 minutes with a teaspoon of olive oil in batches of 10. Squeeze lemon juice and serve with Turkish chilli. Alternatively, skewer sausages and grill over charcoal. serve with lemon and Turkish chilli.

Do Ahead: Sausage mixture can be made 4 hours ahead (if you do it longer the meat will begin to cure); chill.
Sausages can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill. Alternatively, freeze on baking sheet until frozen, then store in re-sealable plastic freezer bags up to 3 months. Defrost 12 hours in refrigerator before cooking.

Note: If casing bursts while you are filling, pinch off on both sides of tear, squeeze out meat in the middle, and tie off casing. Begin again as from the start.
Image and recipe courtesy of Greg Malouf for a one-off dinner, rich in the flavours of his Lebanese heritage, at Nomad, Surry Hills on Monday 20 November, 2017