A dry-cured beef sausage heavy with cumin, garlic and red pepper, fried with eggs until the fat runs orange. It is the fermented dry sausage of the wider Turkic world; Kayseri and Afyonkarahisar are the recognised Turkish production centres.
It is a fermented raw-meat cure where safety depends on hitting a pH and water-activity target in the first days, measured rather than judged, and on a cold room held steady for weeks.
What goes into it
- beef, and beef tail fat
- salt and curing salt
- cumin, garlic, sumac and red pepper
- beef casings
How it is made
Minced beef and fat are mixed with salt, nitrite and a heavy spice load, rested overnight, then stuffed into casings and hung in cold air. The sausage ferments over the first days, which drops the pH, and then dries for three to six weeks, often pressed flat between boards.
How long it takes: three to six weeks
How it is eaten
Sliced and fried until the fat runs, with eggs, or in a pide and on kuru fasulye.
History
Fermented dry sausage of the wider Turkic world; Kayseri and Afyonkarahisar are the recognised Turkish production centres.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sucuk?
Sucuk is a charcuterie & cured from Turkey: dry-cured beef sausage heavy with cumin, garlic and red pepper; fried with eggs. Fermented dry sausage of the wider Turkic world; Kayseri and Afyonkarahisar are the recognised Turkish production centres.
How is Sucuk made?
Minced beef and fat are mixed with salt, nitrite and a heavy spice load, rested overnight, then stuffed into casings and hung in cold air. The sausage ferments over the first days, which drops the pH, and then dries for three to six weeks, often pressed flat between boards. It takes three to six weeks.
Can I make Sucuk at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. It is a fermented raw-meat cure where safety depends on hitting a pH and water-activity target in the first days, measured rather than judged, and on a cold room held steady for weeks.
What goes into Sucuk?
Beef, and beef tail fat, salt and curing salt, cumin, garlic, sumac and red pepper, beef casings.
How is Sucuk eaten?
Sliced and fried until the fat runs, with eggs, or in a pide and on kuru fasulye.
