Merguez
Servings 8 half-pint jars
Ingredients
- 2 lb ground lamb
- 1/4 cup harissa
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 1/4 cup mint
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 4 allspice berries
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper or chili powder
- 1 tsp sumac
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
Instructions
Toast and grind the whole spices
- Separately for each portion of cumin, fennel, coriander, and allspice, toast the spices over a medium flame until fragrant
- Grind the spices to a medium to fine coarseness in a food processor
- Set spices aside for later
Make the marinade
- In the food processor, add the toasted spices along with the remaining spices, mint, cilantro, garlic, harissa, and vinegar
- Process in to a marinade in the food processor
Marinate the lamb
- Place the ground lamb in a large bowl and add the marinade
- Work the marinade in to the lamb (wear disposable gloves if possible)
- Punch deep holes in to the meat with fingers
- Cover bowl with a paper towel and place in the fridge
- Leave to cure for a minimum of 2 hours, maximum up to 3 days, I usually let it sit for 12 hours (overnight)
Canning the Merguez
- Cook the merguez in a large pan over medium high heat
- Simmer until merguez reaches uniform consistency, about 5 minutes
- Set up the eight half-pint jars near the cooking area with their lids and rings handy
- Distribute the merguez evenly among the half-pint jars up to 1/2 inch headspace
- Wipe the rims of the jars clean as necessary
- Apply lids and screw the bands to finger tightness on the jars
- Using the jar lifter, lower the jars in to the instant pot
- Secure the lid of the instant pot and make sure the pressure valve is set
- Program the instant pot to cook under high pressure for 1 hour and 10 minutes, and make sure to disable the Keep Warm setting
Wrapping up the process
- After the instant pot has finished cooking, be sure to let it come down to ambient pressure using the natural release cycle, do not try to do the quick release cycle as this can cause liquid to be forced out of the jars and potentially break the seals
- Once the instant pot is safe to open, open it and use the jar lifter to pull the jars out and place on a towel too dry and cool down
- If the rings on the jars are loose, they can be finger tightened again, carefully
- Leave the jars to cool, you should hear the lids popping as the pressure creates a seal on the jars
- After the jars have cooled, the rings can be removed and the jars are now shelf-stable and safe to store in a pantry to be eaten later
- If any jar failed to seal, it is safe to either eat immediately or reprocess in the instant pot, though you may need to replace the lid since it did not seal properly
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