Sujuk or sucuk is a dry, spicy and fermented

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

which is consumed in several Balkan, Middle Eastern and Central Asian cuisines. Sujuk mainly consists of

ground meat Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, incl ...

and animal fat usually obtained from

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

lamb Lamb or The Lamb may refer to: * A young sheep * Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep Arts and media Film, television, and theatre * ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut * ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...

, but beef is mainly used in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

and

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

Etymology and terminology

''Sucuk'' was first mentioned in the 11th century by Mahmud al-Kashgari in his ''

Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk The ' ( ar, ديوان لغات الترك, lit=Compendium of the languages of the Turks) is the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, compiled in 1072–74 by the Turkic scholar Mahmud Kashgari who extensively studied the Turkic ...

'' as ''suɣut''. Another mention was made by Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati in his early 14th century work titled ''Kitab al-'idrak li-lisan al-'atrak'' (كتاب الإدراك للسان الأتراك). It possibly evolved from a

Middle Iranian The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are groupe ...

word attested in Early

New Persian New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thr ...

as ''zīç'' (زيچ) and ''ziwīdj'' (زویج) (meaning "stretching, strip, cord" and "sausage" respectively) which later took the form of ''zīçak'' (زیچک), while a Turkic origin has also been proposed. Cognate names are also present in other

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia ( Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic l ...

, e.g. kz, шұжық, ''shujyq''; ky, чучук, ''chuchuk''.

Franciscus a Mesgnien Meninski Franciscus à Mesgnien Meninski (first name spelled also Francisci, François and Franciszek) (1623–1698) was the author of a multi-volume Turkish-to-Latin dictionary and grammar of the Turkish language, first published in 1680, which was groun ...

in his ''Thesaurus'' recorded the word sucuk (سجوق) for the first time in Ottoman Turkish in late 17th century. The Turkish name has been adopted largely unmodified by other languages in the region, including gag, sucuk; al, suxhuk; ar, سُجُق, translit=sujuq; hy, սուջուխ, suǰux; bs, sudžuka; bg, суджук, sudzhuk; el, σουτζούκι, sutzúki; mk, суџук, sudzhuk; az, sucuq; ro, sugiuc; russian: суджук, sudzhuk; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", sudžuk, cyџyк; ku, benî, sicûq, italics=yes.

Production

In Turkey,

is the main raw material for sucuk production. At the beginning of the process the meat is preground in plates and tested for its fat content. Afterwards the meat is mixed with

curing salt Curing salt is used in meat processing to generate a pinkish shade and to extend shelf life. It is both a color agent and a means to facilitate food preservation as it prevents or slows spoilage by bacteria or fungus. Curing salts are generall ...

, which contains 0.5%

sodium nitrite Sodium nitrite is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula NaNO2. It is a white to slightly yellowish crystalline powder that is very soluble in water and is hygroscopic. From an industrial perspective, it is the most important nitrite ...

, and stored for 8–16 hours in for further processing. Later the preground meat is mixed with frozen and ground tail fat, beef

tallow Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton fat, primarily made up of triglycerides. In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton fat. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, includ ...

suet Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys. Suet has a melting point of between 45 °C and 50 °C (113 °F and 122 °F) and congelation between 37 °C and 40 °C (98.6& ...

and additives like spices, ascorbate, dextrose and starter culture. The mixture is ground again in plates, which forms the mosaic structure of sucuk. Thenceforth the product is filled in casings made of collagen or fiber and these casings are twisted or tied to portionize sucuk. Sucuk is then prepared for ripening process, which consists of fermentation and post-fermentation stages. In the first day of fermentation stage the product is left in a high

relative humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity dep ...

(RH) environment around . After that the RH and the temperature is gradually dropped each day, resulting to and 88% RH in the last and third day of fermentation. At the end of the stage pH of the product must be dropped to 4.9–5.0. In the post-fermentation stage sucuk is matured and dried until the moisture content of the sausage is under 40%. File:Sudzhuk from Armenia 2.JPG, ''Suǰux'' from

File:Sudjuk.jpg, ''Sudzhuk'' from

File:Sucuk-1.jpg, Sucuk from

File:Sucuk_(1).jpg, Home-made ''suxhuk'' from

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

Nutrition

It was reported that sucuk from Turkey on average contained 24.5% protein, 31.5% fat, 35.65% moisture and 3.80% salt. Fat content of sucuk is highly variable; some sucuk brands tested contained only 23% fat, meanwhile others exceeded 42%.

Dishes prepared with sujuk

Thin slices of sujuk can be pan-fried in a bit of butter, while larger pieces may be grilled. ''Sucuklu yumurta'', which literally means "eggs with sujuk", is commonly served as a Turkish breakfast dish. ''Sucuklu yumurta'' is a simple dish of fried eggs cooked together with sujuk, but sujuk may also be added to other egg dishes like ''

menemen Menemen is a district of İzmir Province in Turkey and its central town. The district extends on a fertile plain formed by the alluvial soil carried by the Gediz River. Adjacent districts are, from east to west; Aliağa and Foça to the north and ...

'' (which is similar to shakshouka but with scrambled eggs instead of poached). Sujuk can be added to many dishes including bean stew (''

kuru fasulye Kuru fasulye is a stewed bean dish in Turkish cuisine. It is made primarily with white beans and olive oil, and onion and tomato paste or tomato sauce are almost invariably used. Sometimes other vegetables or meat may also be added, especially ...

''), filled

phyllo Filo or phyllo is a very thin unleavened dough used for making pastries such as baklava and börek in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Filo-based pastries are made by layering many sheets of filo brushed with oil or butter; the pastry is t ...

dough

pastries Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ...

('' burek'') and as a topping for pizza or ''

pide The International and State Defense Police ( pt, Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado; PIDE) was a Portuguese security agency that existed during the '' Estado Novo'' regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. Formally, the main roles of th ...

''. File:Sucuk with eggs.jpg, Eggs with sujuk File:Samuna me suxhuk.JPG, Bread with sujuk

References

{{Bulgarian cuisine Appetizers Fermented sausages Albanian cuisine Armenian cuisine Azerbaijani cuisine Balkan cuisine Bosnia and Herzegovina cuisine Bulgarian sausages Bulgarian cuisine Caucasian cuisine Central Asian cuisine Croatian cuisine Cuisine of Georgia (country) Greek cuisine Iraqi cuisine Kazakhstani cuisine Kosovan cuisine Kurdish cuisine Romanian cuisine Serbian cuisine Kyrgyz cuisine Macedonian cuisine Middle Eastern cuisine Ottoman cuisine Turkish cuisine

Etymology and terminology

Production

Nutrition

Dishes prepared with sujuk

See also

References