Loukaniko

A coarse pork sausage scented with orange peel and fennel, where everything including the mincer is kept cold.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork, sausage casings, which are gut unless it says otherwise.

Ingredients

• 1.6 kg pork shoulder, in 3 cm cubes
• 400 g pork back fat, in cubes
• zest of 3 oranges, finely grated
• 2 tablespoons fennel seed, lightly crushed
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 150 ml dry white wine, very cold
• 40 g salt
• 2 teaspoons coarse black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 3 m hog casings, rinsed and soaked

Method

1. EVERYTHING IS KEPT COLD, INCLUDING THE MINCER PARTS. Pork fat smears above about 12C: instead of staying in distinct pieces it spreads through the meat and coats the protein, and the cooked sausage is greasy, crumbly and pale. The blade, plate and bowl go in the freezer for an hour, the meat and fat go in for thirty minutes, and if anything starts to look wet and shiny, stop and put it all back.
2. AND THE MIX IS WORKED UNTIL IT IS STICKY, which is the opposite instruction and is also right. After mincing, the meat is beaten hard until it clings to the bowl and pulls in strands. That is the protein binding, and it is what stops the sausage falling apart when it is cut.
3. Casings rinsed inside and out and left in warm water 1 hour.
4. Meat, fat and all the mincer parts chilled hard.
5. Pork and fat tossed with the salt, pepper, allspice, fennel, oregano, garlic and orange zest, and returned to the fridge 30 minutes.
6. Minced through a coarse 8 mm plate into a cold bowl. A coarse grind is the point; fine mince gives a hot dog.
7. The cold wine poured over and the mixture beaten hard with a wooden spoon or a mixer paddle, 3 minutes, until it is visibly tacky and a spoonful holds together when lifted.
8. A SMALL PATTY FRIED AND TASTED at this stage, because nothing can be adjusted once it is in the casing. Salt is the thing most often under.
9. Casings threaded onto the stuffer and filled WITHOUT PACKING TIGHT -- loose enough that the links can be twisted without bursting. Air pockets pricked with a pin.
10. Twisted into lengths of about 15 cm, alternating direction each time so they do not unwind.
11. Hung somewhere cold and airy 24 hours, uncovered. The surface dries and the flavours settle; cooked straight away it tastes raw and the skin stays flabby.
12. Cooked over a medium heat rather than a fierce one, 12 to 15 minutes, turning. High heat splits the skin and the fat runs out. Lemon over them at the end.
13. They keep a week in the fridge and freeze well raw.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Greece · All recipes