Mititei (Romanian Sausage)

Nothus Farciminum Edax



Lex Culinaria has issued a challenge, she writes: "I somehow manage to keep coming back to the same old standby foods when we do a barbeque: sausages, steak, potato salad, corn on the cob," and suggests, "If you're like me, stuck in barbeque rut, step outside your comfort zone and come up with one interesting barbeque dish."

Leaving aside her probable misuse of the word barbeque (I suspect she means grill) I don't know if I'm in a rut or not. I never get some sort of generic urge to barbeque or grill something. Instead

...There's the adventure of the ingredient, the new spice, the new grain. There's the adventure of the new pot... ~ Paula Wolfert

I get an urge for barbequed ribs (meaning smoked over low heat for many hours) or a grilled steak or a roasted Cornish hen. And when I get the urge for ribs or a steak that's what I fix. While the fire's going I may grill or smoke something else such as potatoes or bell peppers or asparagus or baby artichokes, but those dishes don't motivate me to build a fire the way a slab of meat does. Nevertheless her challenge did motivate me to try something new in the realm of meat.

Oddly enough, although I regularly barbeque and grill beef, pork, poultry, and fish, I don't recall ever grilling sausages over a fire. As a matter of fact, this winter after buying a cast iron grill pan was the first time I ever recall grilling a sausage at all.

Also, I've decided to declare this the Year of the Sausage (more on this in a later post) and so it seemed obvious that I needed to make some sausages and grill them. I found an appealing recipe in Steven Raichlen's The Barbeque! Bible for a Romanian sausage called Mititei. It's an unusual recipe because it calls for a mixture of pork and lamb -- meats that are seldom paired.

To go along with it I fixed couscous using some water I had poached a couple of slices of country ham in (for inclusion in another sausage recipe) and dried figs. I also had leftover baked baby artichokes. A Castle Rock zin proved sweeter than expected and, as such, provided a surprising foil to the carbon/onion/meat flavors of the sausage

Mititei

12 oz ground lamb
12 oz ground pork
1 ea sm onion -- finely minced
2 cloves garlic -- finely minced
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp hot or sweet paprika
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp allspice
1 pinch ground cloves
1 tbsp olive oil

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together with your hands, squeezing and kneading to combine thoroughly.

Pinch off a small piece, fry it, and taste to adjust seasonings.

Form mixture into 8 sausage-shaped rolls about 1 inch in diameter and 3 1/2 to 4 inches long. Arrange on a lightly oiled platter or large plate, cover with plastic, and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours.

Build a hot fire, oil the grate, and cook, turning with a spatula, until browned and cooked through -- 6 to 8 minutes. Serve immediately.

Overall, the sausages were excellent. The combination of lamb and pork was interesting but not tremendously so. However, the minced onions (I used my food processor) and garlic were wonderfully prominent and backed up nicely with the heat of the paprika and black pepper. I think I'll use a half-again as much caraway next time and I think I'll substitute dill for the marjoram.
And in the event you didn't attempt to look up this post's title, it's Latin for "sausage-eating bastard."

Delectatio!

Technorati: Food | recipe | main dish | lamb | pork | grilling | barbeque | sausage | Summer Barbecue Challenge