Merguez Sausages

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1. 1Step 1: If your sausage casings need to be rinsed and soaked, follow the supplier’s instructions.
2. 2Step 2: Prepare the spice mixture by toasting the whole spices for 2-3 minutes over low heat in a small pan until they are beginning to darken in colour and smell fragrant, but don’t let them scorch. Let them cool and then grind them to a fine powder in a spice/coffee grinder (or mortar & pestle) and then combine them with the paprika, chilli powder, chilli flakes and dried mint.
3. 3Step 3: If necessary, bone the lamb shoulder and cut the meat (including all but the thickest pieces of fat) into chunks that you can feed through your mincer. Use a medium plate (6 mm) and mince the meat. Combine the minced meat with the curing salts, crushed garlic and spice/seasoning mixture and blend very thoroughly. You can do this by hand or in a stand mixer (like mixing a cake). On a warm day refrigerate the mixture for a while, before proceeding, to keep everything cool.
4. 4Step 4: Thread your sausage casings onto a medium nozzle on your sausage stuffer. There’s no need to tie off the end yet, as doing so will only trap air: just leave a short length free of the mixture as you start to fill the casings. Load up your sausage stuffer (mine is only small, and needs to be refilled three times for this quantity) and fill the casings in one continuous length. Try not to overfill the casing, as sheep casings are quite fragile and may split in handling or cooking.
5. 5Step 5: When the mixture is all in the casing, slip any remaining casing from the nozzle and very gently push the two ends between your fingers to ensure that you have an even distribution of mixture from end to end. Tie off both ends with kitchen string, cut off any surplus casing at both ends and then find the midpoint of the length. Gently pinch the sausage to displace the filling and then twist the casing to form two lengths. Repeat the process twice more, finding the mid-point of each half and pinching and twisting (twist the other way on alternate links) to make four and then eight sausages. Don’t separate them at this stage, but put them away in the fridge on an uncovered plate or in a bowl for several hours to chill and dry a little.
6. 6Step 6: If you are going to cold-smoke the sausages (optional, but worthwhile) set up your smoking equipment. I use oak smoking sawdust, but you can use whatever type of hardwood you like. Smoke the sausages for 3-4 hours and then return them to the fridge, covered, to chill again and to mature for 24 hours before cooking.
7. 7Step 7: Before cooking, carefully snip off the strings you originally tied at each end of the casing and also snip the sausages into individual lengths where they were twisted. Indoors: fry them with just a little fat in a pan over quite low heat, turning them regularly, until they are browned on all sides – taking about 15-20 minutes. Outdoors: grill the sausages over only moderate heat, trying to avoid any flare-up of rendering fat. A covered barbecue and a heat source off to the side is ideal. Serve hot as soon as they are cooked to your liking.