Sausages are the best, and you’ll find the best of the best in the North African Merguez, now a French staple for very good reason: they’re utterly delicious.
If there’s anything more comforting than a hamburger, then it has to be sausages. And if you’re French, then it has to be sausages with couscous, and that means one very important thing: Merguez Sausages. For those that don’t yet know what these batons of delight are, Merguez Sausages are sausages made from ground beef and/or lamb generously with harissa and other spices such as cumin, fennel, sumac and garlic. They are unlike any other sausage in their taste, texture, colour or appearance. And they are, quite frankly, delicious.
Sausages are no strangers to Asian shores. Cambodia’s food markets are garlanded with strings of local varieties of sausage, some of which may be spiced in a similar style to the Merguez, which tends to be packed full of sharper, brighter flavours than the more earthy tones usually associated with European sausages.
So for those who hesitate over European sausages, or even hesitate over sausages because they prefer not to eat pork, then the Merguez is a delicious treat that is definitely worth exploring. They’re also often less fatty than traditional sausages, so a better option for anyone watching their weight.
The word ‘sausage’ comes from ‘saucisse’, which in turn comes from the old northern French word “saussiche”, which is in turn derived from the Latin word “salsicius”, meaning savoury. In fact sausages, and especially blood sausages, were probably one of mankind’s first “recipes”, and one of the first written references to food in the West talks about blood sausages (The Odyssey). And as for the origins of the word Merguez, according to some records it is rooted in the Berber word “amrguaz”, meaning ‘like a man’.
At Khéma, you can try our delicious house-made Merguez from the deli, or our selection of classic, beloved sausages at Khéma’s Sausage Saturdays when we offer a free flow of sausages, together with French fries, salad, and condiments for just $10 per person. A deal you’d be crazy to miss out on, and not just because it’s an amazing opportunity to savour as many Merguez as you can manage.