Asip

Ingredients

Sausage

• 400 gsheep’s liver, minced
• 200 gsheep’s lung and heart, minced, optional
• 300 gsheep tail fat, chopped small
• 300 grice, rinsed and soaked 30 minutes
• 3onions, chopped very fine
• 2 tspsalt
• 1 tbspground black pepper
• 1 tspground cumin
• sheep intestine, cleaned, about 2 m

Broth

• 2 litreswater or lamb stock
• 1onion, halved
• 2bay leaves
• 1 tbspsalt

To serve

• sorpa — the cooking broth, in bowls
• raw onion rings and black pepper

Directions

1. Clean the intestine thoroughly: rub with coarse salt, rinse, turn it inside out and repeat until it smells of nothing. This is the whole job and it cannot be hurried.
2. Mix the minced liver and offal with the chopped fat, the drained soaked rice, onion, salt, pepper and cumin.
3. Fill the intestine no more than half full. The rice swells enormously as it cooks and a two-thirds-full asip splits every time.
4. Tie into 20 cm lengths and prick each one four or five times.
5. Bring the broth to 85°C (185°F) — steaming, no rolling bubbles — and lower the sausages in.
6. Poach for an hour to an hour and a half, until the rice is fully cooked and a skewer comes out clean. Never let it boil: the casing splits and the filling empties into the broth.
7. Lift the sausages out and rest them for ten minutes before slicing — they firm up as they settle and cut far more cleanly than they do straight from the pot.
8. Slice thick and serve warm with bowls of the cooking sorpa, raw onion and plenty of black pepper.

Technique

• Half full, no more. The rice is the reason and this is the mistake everyone makes once.
• Clean the casing until it smells of nothing at all. Salt, rinse, turn, repeat.
• Tail fat is what makes it asip rather than a rice sausage. Ordinary fat does not render the same way.

Substitutions

• Beef intestine and beef liver, both easier to source.
• Barley or bulgur in place of some of the rice.
• Skip the lung and heart and use liver alone, which is common.

Variations

• Made alongside kazy and karta at the autumn sogym slaughter and served on one platter.
• Some households add a handful of chopped garlic to the filling.

History

Made at slaughter time so nothing is wasted, then sliced and served with sorpa broth.

Frequently asked questions

What is Asip?

Asip is a charcuterie & cured from Kazakhstan: sheep intestine stuffed with rice, liver and fat, boiled in broth. Made at slaughter time so nothing is wasted, then sliced and served with sorpa broth.

How long does Asip take to make?

Asip takes 1 hour of preparation and 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes makes 6 sausages. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Asip?

Yes, within limits. Beef intestine and beef liver, both easier to source. Barley or bulgur in place of some of the rice. Skip the lung and heart and use liver alone, which is common.

What is the most important thing to get right in Asip?

Clean the intestine thoroughly: rub with coarse salt, rinse, turn it inside out and repeat until it smells of nothing. This is the whole job and it cannot be hurried.