Sheftalia - Caul Fat Pork Sausages

Sheftalia is a delicious Cypriot food of ground pork meat wrapped in caul fat. Think of it as something like an uncased sausage. Traditionally cooked on a charcoal grill or you can grill in the oven like I do in this recipe.

What Are They?

This Cypriot sausage is similar to French Crepinettes or Crepinettes de porc as they call them. In Cyprus, they're pronounced Sheftalia or Sheftalies (plural) while in Greece we call them Seftalia or Seftalies.

This Cyprus sausage is juicy and tender with flavors of parsley, onion, and cumin. In the traditional recipe, there is no garlic or other spices added. Except for ground cinnamon which is sometimes added instead of cumin.

The caul fat adds enough flavor and also makes it pretty filling. So adding garlic is skipped (which is almost always a must in ground meat dishes). Because it would make it a little bit too heavy as well.

The Caul Fat

If you don't know what caul fat is, it's a thin inner membrane that surrounds the internal organs of animals. It's also known as lace fat. It's pork caul fat or lamb caul fat that's used mostly.

The recipe for Sheftalia calls for pork caul fat. But you can use lamb also if it's easier to find.

Other caul fat recipes include Pork Crepinettes (French) and Greek Frygadelia.

Why Is Caul Fat Added?

Caul fat adds flavor to the meat and also keeps it moist. While the meat cooks the fat starts to melt and drip, and as it melts it goes into the meat.

The Ground Meat

Traditional Sheftalies are made with ground pork. However, some recipes call for half pork and half lamb. You can choose whichever you like best. If you like the taste of lamb then do half half.

How To Make Sheftalia

To make Sheftalia first you need to soak the caul fat in water with vinegar and salt overnight. If you can do it for 24 hours then it's even better.

Caul fat has a strong smell not very pleasant and that's why we soak it. After soaking give it a good rinse and then let it drain in a strainer.

Second, prepare a ground meat mixture, combining the meat with chopped onions and parsley, ground cumin, red wine vinegar (removes odors and softens the meat), and soaked stale bread. The latter also helps keep the meat tender and moist.

For soaked stale bread, simply soak some stale slices of bread (crust removed) for 30 minutes in cold water. Then squeeze the bread in your hands to remove water from it and add to the mixture.

Wrapping

Now that everything is ready you can wrap the Sheftalia. First, make 9 pork meatballs giving them an oval egg shape. Then cut a piece of caul fat that's wide enough to fit the meatball and wrap it inside. Fold and wrap the same way as Dolma. See the picture tutorial below.

NOTE: The amount of caul fat this recipe calls for is more than what you actually need to wrap them. So there's enough space to practice and perfect your wrapping. But also room to discard parts that contain a very thick layer of fat.

Grilling

To grill Sheftalia you need either a charcoal grill or your oven. There is one important thing to keep in mind when grilling Sheftalia, the fat should be dripping and drain off. This means you can use a grill pan for example.

Also, because plenty of fat is dripping, you need to keep the fire to low. Otherwise, it will flame a lot. That's why a gas grill is not the best option because it's stronger than a charcoal grill.

Grilling in the oven is easy. You just need to place the Sheftalies on your oven's rack or an oven-safe cooling rack. And then place an oven tray or sheet pan underneath to collect all the dripping fat. Make sure you coat that tray or pan with aluminum foil so you don't need to scrub it afterward.

Serving

Seftalies are served with Pita Bread and a simple tomato salad with onion and parsley. Another way of serving them is with Cucumber Greek Yogurt Salad. Or tucked in Cypriot pocket pita together with tomato salad, cucumber salad, or both!

Recipe