Beef Sausage

Photo: flickr user avlxyz

Ingredients

2 pounds boneless beef shoulder finely ground

pound beef fat finely ground

6 garlic cloves - (to 8) finely minced

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons freshly-ground black pepper

1 tablespoon cracked black peppercorns

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

teaspoon ground cloves

teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground coriander

2 eggs lightly beaten, if

making patties or meatballs

Olive oil for frying, if

making patties or meatballs

Preparation

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients except the eggs and olive oil and mix well. Divide into 2 or 3 equal portions and shape each portion into a sausage about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap each sausage well in aluminum foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate.

If you want to cook this mixture as patties or meatballs, just after making, bind it with the eggs, then fry in olive oil until golden on both sides and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. If you have stored it in the refrigerator, slice off lengths as needed, and fry them in olive oil until golden.

This recipe yields 8 to 10 servings.

Comments: As Jews were forbidden to eat pork, they developed a sausage made from beef. It is called luganega, related to lucanica, a sausage from Basilicata in the south. Arabic influence is revealed in the use of savory sweet spices. The flavorful mixture can be stuffed into well-washed beef sausage casings purchased from your butcher, but it is just as easy to shape the mixture into long sausages, wrap them in aluminum foil or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 5 or 6 days. When you need some sausage, you can just cut off the amount you want. You can al