Macedonian Kebapi (Strumica Style Sausage)

Directions
Preparation:35min  ›  Extra time:8hours chilling  ›  Ready in:8hours35min 

1. On a large bench, take the minced chuck steak and pork neck, mix it together and spread it out. At this point if you want them to be juicier, add 1/2 of the pork fat and spread small pieces all over the meat evenly.
2. Evenly spread the minced onion onto the meat, then crack the 2 eggs into a bowl, break the yolks and give them a little stir then pour the egg onto the meat evenly.
3. Sprinkle the salt, paprika, thyme and chubrika evenly over the meat. Grind the black pepper generously all over the minced meat.
4. Fold the meat inwards from the front and back to trap all the herbs inside, once its closed up them start squeezing and folding the meat until it is all nice and mixed up.
5. Once the mixture is complete, take a small piece of the mixture, roll it into a sausage shape about the thickness of 2cms and fry it in a frypan to check the taste is okay. Once done if it is a bit dry, add the rest of the pork fat to the mixture and mix again.
6. When you are happy with the taste, you can then start rolling out the kebapi by hand. My measure is that they are about 2cms thick and the lentgth of 4 fingers (about 6-7cm). Make sure not to make them too think or the heat from the bbq might dry them out a bit. If you want to make consistant sized kebapi, use a hand meat mincer with a sausage making attachment.
7. Place a piece of baking paper into a tray and start lining up the kebapi in there until you fill the tray. once it is full, get a oil spray can and lightly spray over them before placing another baking paper on top. Repeat process depending on how many you make.
8. Leave them overnight in the refrigerator for the meat to absorb all the spices and they will be ready next day to cook on a nice wood fired bbq!

Quantity

This recipe will make about 130 or so kebapi so you can adjust the quantities to make the amount your require. The meats are specially chosen as they have a bit more fat in them which give the kebapi the nice flavour and tenderness whilst keeping them juicy too.

Chubrika

Chubrika is a bit hard to find but can be traced it back to be Summer Savoury. Not sure if there a multiple types of it but the one i use has thin dark green leaves about 1.5-2cms. Chubrika blossoms with a white/purple small flower also. It has a peppery oregano taste.