mutton
Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...
- or
beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus'').
In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...
-based fresh sausage in Maghrebi cuisine. Since the late 20th century, it has been popular in France and Great Britain due to the large Algerian populations.
Merguez is a
sausage
A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...
beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus'').
In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...
, or a mixture stuffed into a lamb-intestine casing. It is heavily spiced with
chili pepper
Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...
or harissa, which give it its characteristic piquancy and red color, as well as other spices such as
sumac
Sumac ( or ), also spelled sumach, is any of about 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' and related genera in the cashew family (Anacardiaceae). Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, including Eas ...
,
fennel
Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized ...
and
garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeas ...
.
Merguez is usually eaten grilled. While not in traditional maghrebi couscous, it is often used in Couscous royal in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. It is also eaten in sandwiches and with
french fries
French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips (Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...
.
Etymology
There are several spellings in Arabic ( ''mirkas'', pl. ''marākis''; ''mirkās'', ''markas'' and ''mirqāz''). The hesitation between ''k'' and ''q'' probably reflects the pronunciation , for which there is no standard Arabic spelling; further confusing matters is that in some maghrebi dialects, Arabic qāf is sometimes pronounced as , as an allophone of .Pellat, ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', 2nd edition It is first attested in the 12th century, as ''mirkās'' or ''merkās''.''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...
'', Third Edition, 2001, ''s.v.' merguez /ref>
The Arabic terminology for the food is also the likely origin of the Spanish names of the foodstuffs ''morcon'' and ''morcilla''.'' Trésor de la langue française'' ''s.v.'' merguez /ref>
See also
*
List of African dishes
There is a list of dishes found in African cuisine, a generalized term collectively referring to the cuisines of Africa. The continent of Africa is the second-largest landmass on Earth, and is home to hundreds of different cultural and Ethnic gro ...
* Davidson, Alan, "Merguez", ''Oxford Companion to Food'' (1999), p. 497.
* Ch. Pellat, Mirkās , ''
Encyclopaedia of Islam
The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies published by Brill. It is considered to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies. The first edition was published ...