Back in the late-'80s, Trader Joe’s sold North African merguez sausage. I think those were the spiciest sausages I’ve ever eaten. Naturally, they were discontinued. After moving up here, and with our office in Belltown, I discovered Uli’s Famous Sausage at Pike Place Market… and he had merguez. I bought a couple of pounds. I went back later, and told him that they were good… but that they needed to be twice as spicy. He said he reduced the cayenne by half for the local market. (I could order them with the proper amount, but I’d have to buy 10 kg.)
On the weekend I happened to spy a package of Durham Ranch merguez in the frozen section of the supermarket. Oh, joy! Well… I’ve had two sausages twice (finishing the package). They taste almost, but not quite, entirely unlike merguez. I think your typical ‘hot Italian sausage’ is spicier. These sausages actually tasted a bit sweet. Sad.
Right now, it looks like I’ll have to spend $350 or more for 22 pounds of properly spicy sausages.
They’re very easy to find where I live, and merguez is one of the staple meats you find there. I’ve had merguez literally hundreds of times in the past 25 years, and I assume they sell the real deal.
You could also try sucuk, a Turkish sausage which is pre-cooked and can be eaten either cold or cooked. It’s less spicy than merguez, though but more versatile.
The first time I came up to northern Washington, we were in downtown Bellingham. My friend pointed to a pedestrian and said, ‘That’s the one Black guy in Bellingham.’ When I moved up here in 2003 I noticed a severe lack of ethnic diversity compared to L.A. It was a bit of a culture shock.
There are Native American reservations, Indian communities (mostly Sikh, it seems), Hispanics, African-Americans (though that community still seems underrepresented), Russians, and a whole lot of Scandinavian descendants. I haven’t met anyone from North Africa.
@Johnny_L.A, go to Double D Meats in Mountlake Terrace, not too far off I-5. They have an astonishing array of meats, including dozens of sausages. I don’t see merguez listed, but they have several other hot ones. They’ll make any sausage for you if you ask.
We will customize ANY sausage you like!
AND, if you have a special request from any of our meat departments, Double DD is your meat store.
They also have a large array of beef jerkys, including extra-hot.
Added bonus:
At Double DD we stock over 3000 hot sauces, 1000 BBQ sauces, 400 marinades, steak sauce and rubs.
At Double DD we stock over 3000 hot sauces, 1000 BBQ sauces, 400 marinades, steak sauce and rubs.
Eh? Of course, I appreciate that you’re in no way responsible for this statement, @needscoffee, but my curiosity is piqued. In British English “We stock” means we have the article on the premises - is the meaning different in American English?
I just checked my jam cupboard. Thirty jars (pleasingly convenient for arithmetic) are rammed into about 0.2 square meters. 3000 jars? 20 sq m, then - if they stock a single jar of each sauce. At a shelf depth of 20 cm, that would be 100 m of shelving. Plus about another 50 m for the BBQ sauces and Marinades etc. Hell, I’m going to assume they carry an average of 3 jars of each - a half kilometer of shelving?
You know the establishment? Does this sound right? If so I’m profoundly impressed. (And would definitely back them to carry merguez!)
j
(ETA - I just checked out the store photos on google maps - I’m starting to believe it may be true!)
Unfortunately it seems to be in some cases. When I go to order something from Walmart “In stock” just means you can order it. “Locally available today” means you can pick it up. I don’t like it.
If you want hot, try hot smoked chorizo sausages – these Spanish style chorizos are smoky and flaming hot! Not the same as merguez but similar, and should satisfy anyone’s craving for heat!
I have yet to find chorizo up here that’s as spicy as I got in L.A. I do have about a quarter of a pound of bulk chorizo from the supermarket. Last time I had it (a week or so ago) I added what looked like an unreasonable amount of cayenne to it. Still wasn’t as spicy as it was at home.
FWIW, I would challenge anyone to say that this particular hot chorizo is not hot enough, unless they’re from some other planet! When I have this stuff on its own as a snack, I slather it with spicy Dijon mustard just to cool it down a bit, and always have a drink handy to put out the fire!
Call 'em. Now that I think about it I know they do (or at least did) ship. It’s not inexpensive & I’ve never gotten anything shipped from them but have gotten things packed in dry ice to go.
Even the local carniceria’s chorizo isn’t quite spicy enough.