Maqaniq
Region: Arab Levant
Category: Sausage, Grilled Sausage, Mixed
Season: Any
Difficulty: Labor Intensive
Maqaniq (pronounced "mahAHNnik") is a thin mutton or beef sausage typically served as part of a meze table in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine. Lebanese 
Christians sometimes make this sausage with a mixture of pork and sweet red wine. These sausages are believed by at least one scholar to be derived from the Latin lucanicae sausages known by the Romans (see Note) They are best made with the small intestine of a sheep, but that is difficult to find, so you will probably use hog casing. But most hog casing sold is the large intestine, so go ahead and ask the butcher, and then use whatever you find.
[photo: Quiet Waters Farm, UK]
Yield: Makes 4 to 5 pounds
Preparation Time: 1 1/2 days in all
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1. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except the casing together well and let marinate in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap for 12 hours.
2. Open one end of the casing, fit it over the faucet in your kitchen sink, and place the remainder of the casing in a medium-size bowl in the sink. Turn the water on gently to wash out the casings. The casings are sold cleaned, you are merely washing away preserving salts and residue. Now you are ready to start stuffing.
3. Affix one end of the casing over the funnel attached to the sausage stuffing attachment of a stand mixer or meat grinder. Push the entirety of the casing onto the length of the funnel (it will contract and fit fine), leaving about 2 inches dangling from the end. Tie this end in a double knot.
4. Turn the grinder or mixer on and as the sausage stuffing begins to flow into the casing, it will push the casing off the funnel. Have a large bowl or platter ready to catch the sausages. Twist or tie off with kitchen twine in 4-inch segments to make links. Do not overstuff the sausage otherwise it will burst, either then and there or during cooking. Also be careful that the sausage stuffing enters the casing continuously and evenly and that no air bubbles develop. If air bubbles do occur it is better either to cut the sausage at that point and start a new one by tying the end off, or to prick the air bubbles with a toothpick.
5. You can freeze the uncooked sausages for up to four months or cook by poaching in water to cover for 10 minutes and then frying with a little olive oil over medium-low heat until cooked through, about 45 minutes.
Note: Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed. S. v."Ghida'," p. 1063. This important article was written by Professor Maxime Rodinson. As the word maqaniq is not fasuha (that is, classical Arabic) but colloquial Arabic, one will occasionally see spellings with the "l" or "n" as an initial consonant.
Posted: 01/09/2007
Needed Recipes:
Baharat-Mixed Spices for Syrian, Lebanese, and Palestinian Cooking