Makanek are the small Lebanese sausages of the mezze table: finger-length links of beef and lamb in sheep casing, studded with pine nuts and seasoned with allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cumin. They are fried in a hot pan until they blister, then tossed with lemon juice or pomegranate molasses — sometimes both — so they come to the table glossy, sour-sweet and spiced.
The diagnostic detail is the warm spice with the acid. To a Western palate the spices read as baking; the lemon or pomegranate finish turns them savoury, and the pine nuts give a soft crunch no European sausage has.
The name is old. Arabic laqaniq and naqaniq, Lebanese makanek and Hebrew naknik all come, through Aramaic, from the Latin lucanica — the same Roman sausage that became Greek loukaniko. The tenth-century Baghdad cookbook of Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq already had a chapter of laqaniq recipes. Most makanek are halal, beef and lamb; Lebanese Christian makers sometimes use pork and wine.
I have not made this one yet. The formula is Marianski’s with more lamb and pine nuts and without the wine; it is untested.
Ingredients
MEAT BLOCK (2,270 g / 5 lb), % of meat weight
- 1,590 g (3 lb 8 oz) beef chuck, about 80/20 — 70%
- 680 g (1 lb 8 oz) lamb shoulder with its fat — 30%
SEASONING (% of meat weight)
- 36 g salt (1.6%)
- 4.5 g black pepper (0.2%)
- 6.8 g allspice (0.3%)
- 3.4 g ground cinnamon (0.15%)
- 2.3 g ground nutmeg (0.1%)
- 2.3 g ground cumin (0.1%)
- 1.1 g ground cloves (0.05%)
- 11 g fresh garlic, minced (0.5%)
- 68 g pine nuts (3%)
- 23 ml white vinegar (1%)
- 115 ml ice water (5%)
TO FINISH (per 500 g cooked)
- 15 ml olive oil
- 30 ml lemon juice
- 15 ml pomegranate molasses — optional
CASING
- 22–24 mm sheep casings, about 6 m
Directions
Key ingredients
Allspice · Black Pepper · Cinnamon · Molasses · Olive Oil
- In the collection: Allspice, Cinnamon, Olive Oil.
- Toast the pine nuts lightly: a dry pan, shaken, just until they colour at the edges. Raw pine nuts go soft and taste of nothing inside a sausage.
- Grind twice: chilled beef and lamb through a 6 mm plate, chill again for 30 minutes, then through a 3 mm plate. Makanek is a fine sausage — the pine nuts need a smooth background.
- Mix: salt, spices and garlic into the meat, then the vinegar and ice water, until sticky. Fold in the cooled pine nuts last so they stay whole.
- Taste: fry a teaspoon. The spice should be clear but not perfumed; if it smells of a cake, cut the cinnamon and cloves.
- Stuff and link: sheep casing, gently, then twist into 8–10 cm links. Leave them joined in chains; cut them apart after cooking or just before.
- Chill: overnight on a tray, uncovered, so the casings dry a little and the spices settle.
- Fry: cut into single links. Heat the olive oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat and fry, turning, until browned and 71 °C / 160 °F inside, about 8–10 minutes. Prick any that balloon.
- Finish: pour off most of the fat, add lemon juice (and pomegranate molasses if using) and toss for 30 seconds until the sauce reduces and coats them. Serve hot with bread.
- Decision point: if the casing splits, the heat is too high or the links too full. The North African lamb sausage in the collection is Merguez; the Turkish dry sausage of the same spice line is Sucuk (Turkish Garlic Sausage).
Notes
Where this recipe came from — and what it isn’t. Backbone: Marianski’s Makanek — per kg, beef 800 g, lamb 200 g; salt 15 g, pepper 2 g, cumin 1 g, nutmeg 1 g, cinnamon 0.5 g, pine nuts 15 g, vinegar 15 ml, white wine 15 ml; 6 mm then 3 mm plate; 26 mm sheep casings; 5-inch links. Deviations: (1) lamb raised to 30%; (2) pine nuts doubled to 3%; (3) allspice and cloves added, which Lebanese descriptions name; (4) Marianski’s white wine removed and replaced with water — his own text calls the sausage halal, and wine contradicts that; the Christian pork-and-wine version is in Variations; (5) garlic added. I have not made it; it is untested.
Where makanek came from. The Arabic sausage word laqaniq (later naqaniq, maqaniq) is borrowed through Aramaic from the Latin lucanica. Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq’s tenth-century Kitab al-Tabikh, a Baghdad cookbook, gave a whole chapter to laqaniq, made in small intestines. Modern makanek are most associated with Lebanon and also made in Syria, Palestine and Jordan. Modern Hebrew took the same word: naknik simply means sausage.
The name. Makanek is the Lebanese plural; spellings include maqaniq, mekanek and ma’anek.
Variations. Pork and wine makanek made by Lebanese Christian butchers; spicier versions with chilli; sujuk-style dried makanek; finishing with garlic and coriander instead of pomegranate. Some modern butchers add a little red food colouring; leave it out.
Sourcing and gear. Sheep casings from a halal butcher or sausage supplier. Pomegranate molasses (dibs rumman) from a Middle Eastern grocer — check the label for pure pomegranate, not sugar syrup. Pine nuts are expensive; Mediterranean pine nuts are longer and finer-flavoured than Asian ones.
Why the acid at the end. Frying in a hot pan browns the casing and renders some of the lamb fat; the lemon or pomegranate molasses then deglazes the pan and turns that fat and fond into a thin glaze. Adding the acid earlier would stop the browning, and adding it at the table would leave it sitting on the surface instead of clinging.
Still open. Whether the dive page’s ‘sometimes lightly cured’ describes any traditional makanek is not established; none of the sources read describes a cured version. No Lebanese printed formula with weights was checked.
Read more on the site. A Grand Tour