Sujuk or sucuk ( /suːˈd͡ʒʊk/) 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 Turkish,

Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

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and

Central Asian cuisine Central Asian cuisine has been influenced by Persian, Indian, Arab, Turkish, Chinese, Mongol, and Russian cultures, as well as the culinary traditions of other varied nomadic and sedentary civilizations. Contributing to the culinary diversi ...

s. 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 Animal fats are lipids derived from animals which are used by the animal for a multitude of functions, or can be used by humans for dietary, sanitary, and cosmetic purposes. Depending on the temperature of the fat, it can change between a solid s ...

usually obtained from

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

or lamb, but beef is mainly used in

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, and

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Etymology and terminology

''Sucuk'' was first mentioned in the 11th century by

Mahmud al-Kashgari Mahmud ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Kashgari; ; , Мәһмуд Қәшқири; , Махмуд Қашғарий was an 11th-century Kara-Khanid scholar and lexicographer of the Turkic languages from Kashgar. His father, Husayn, was the mayor of ...

in his ''

Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk The ' (; translated to English as the ''Compendium of the languages of the Turks'') is the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, compiled between 1072–74 by the Kara-Khanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari, who extensively documented t ...

'' as ''suɣut''. Another mention was made by

Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati Abū Ḥayyān Athīr ad-Dīn al-Gharnāṭī (, November 1256 – July 1344 CE / 654 - 745 AH), whose full name is Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf bin ‘Alī ibn Yūsuf ibn Hayyān (), better known as Abū Ḥayyān al-Gharnati (, was an Andalusian Sunni ...

in his early 14th century work titled ''Kitab al-'idrak li-lisan al-'atrak'' (). The word "suɣut" itself means "sujuk, or dried thing" and derived from Turkic root -suɣur meaning to dry or to drain off and the suffix "-çïk/-çuk" is Turkic diminutive suffix (Suɣutçuk => Sucuk). But according to some sources, this word evolved from a

Middle Iranian The Iranian languages, also called the 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 language ...

word attested in Early

New Persian New Persian (), also known as Modern Persian () 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 three stages: Early New Persian (8th ...

as ''zīç'' () and ''ziwīdj'' () (meaning "stretching, strip, cord" and "sausage" respectively) which later took the form of ''zīçak'' (), Cognate names are also present in other

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 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 West Asia. The Turkic langua ...

, e.g. , ''shujyq''; , ''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 ground ...

in his ''Thesaurus'' recorded the word sucuk () for the first time in

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

in late 17th century. The Turkish name has been adopted largely unmodified by other languages in the region, including: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", sudžuk, cyџyк; .

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 A cure is a completely effective treatment for a disease. Cure or The Cure, or variants, may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * Cure (film), ''Cure'' (film), a 1997 film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa * The Cure (1917 film), ''Th ...

, which contains 0.5%

sodium nitrite Sodium nitrite is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . 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 sa ...

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

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 and solidification (or congelation) between . Its high smoke point makes it ideal for deep frying and pastr ...

and additives like spices,

ascorbate Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits, berries and vegetables. It is also a generic prescription medication and in some countries is sold as a non-prescription die ...

dextrose Glucose is a sugar with the molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water an ...

and

starter culture A fermentation starter (called simply starter within the corresponding context, sometimes called a mother) is a preparation to assist the beginning of the fermentation process in preparation of various foods and alcoholic drinks. Food groups w ...

. 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 (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

(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, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

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

While sujuk can be eaten raw, it is typically cooked before consumption. 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 municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 573 km2, and its population is 200,904 (2022). The district extends on a fertile plain formed by the alluvial soil carried by the Gediz River. Adjacent distric ...

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

phyllo Filo or phyllo is a very thin Leavening agent, unleavened dough used for making pastries such as baklava and ''börek'' in Middle Eastern cuisine, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Filo-based pastries are made by layering many sheets of filo ...

dough

pastries Pastry refers to a variety of doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bak ...

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

pide The International and State Defense Police (; PIDE) was a Portuguese security agency that existed during the '' Estado Novo'' regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. Formally, the main roles of the PIDE were the border, immigration and emigrati ...

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

References

{{Navboxes, list1= {{Sausage {{Armenian cuisine {{Greek cuisine {{Turkish cuisine {{Bulgarian cuisine {{Serbian 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 Georgian cuisine Greek cuisine Iraqi cuisine Kazakh 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