From the most delicious breakfasts to the tastiest lunches, sucuk has always been a preferred food. Because of both its own flavor and its ability to make every dish it is added to even more delicious, almost everyone enjoys eating this food today. As the star ingredient in the tastiest toast and sandwiches, the most delicious pastries, and kuru fasulye—one of the beloved recipes of Turkish cuisine—sucuk even helps make the moments spent with your loved ones more enjoyable.
Whether you enjoy it at breakfast, lunch, dinner, around a fire, or at a barbecue, if you are curious about the stages this food goes through and are wondering how sucuk is made, we have compiled every detail for you in this article.
What Is Sucuk?
Sucuk is a food product obtained by filling inflated and dried intestines with minced meat blended with special spices and then fermenting it.
Sucuk is a food that is frequently consumed mainly in Armenia, Bulgaria, and Türkiye, is believed to have reached our tables from Central Asia, and is loved by everyone.
Traditional Turkish sucuk, as defined in Turkish Standard TS 1070, is a food product made by mincing meat and fat in a meat grinder or cutter, blending them with various spices, and then adding salt and additives. The resulting mixture is filled into natural or artificial casings. The mixture filled into these casings is matured under suitable conditions and in an appropriate environment—with a specific temperature and suitable relative humidity—and these processes produce sucuk.
Sucuk, which can be described as one of the oldest processed food products, comes in varieties such as Kangal, Baton, Parmak, and Varyanta. It is also named separately according to its intended use.
What Ingredients Are Used to Make Sucuk?
To make sucuk, minced and matured meat must be blended with special spices. The meat blended with additives and special sucuk spices is filled into special casings and left to mature. In these processes, the type of sucuk and the meat used are important.
This food, which can be made using beef, buffalo, mutton, goat meat, or poultry, must be blended with a special spice mixture. This spice mixture, which gives sucuk its flavor, consists of black pepper, cumin, red pepper, and garlic as a seasoning. The spice mixture may vary depending on the producer or may be based on other recipes. In addition to meat and fat, nitrite—one of the substances required for fermentation—is added to this mixture during sucuk production. Salt and sugar are also added, ultimately producing the sucuk that is enjoyed by consumers.
The Journey of Sucuk Until It Reaches Your Table
Making sucuk requires specific stages and suitable conditions. First, meat from animals such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats, or poultry, is needed. Mixtures of these meats prepared in specific proportions may also be used.
1. The first stage in making sucuk is maturing the meat to be used. The meat must be matured and its acidity reduced. The meat should be rested for a period of time so that its acidity can be lowered to a pH of 5.4–5.8.
2. Once maturation is complete, the meat is separated from the bones and passed through a meat grinder with a large plate. It is important that the grinder used here has a large plate and sharp blades. This ensures proper mincing.
3. Salt, sodium nitrite, ascorbic acid, and sugar are added to the meat passed through the grinder. These substances help with curing. Fat is also added to help form the mosaic structure and assist with drying. The added fat also plays an active role in giving sucuk its softness.
4. At this stage, the spice mixture is added to the meat dough. This special spice mixture, which varies according to the producer, is added to the dough, which is then transferred to a mixing machine. The dough is mixed in this machine without incorporating air.
5. The dough mixed in special machines without incorporating air is filled into natural or artificial casings. After filling, the casings are shaped according to the type of sucuk and tied. The structure of the casing used here is particularly important. For example, if an artificial casing is used, it should be permeable to oxygen and water vapor and have a shrinkable structure.
6. At this stage, the sucuk filled into and tied in casings is hung up. The sucuk pieces are hung so that they do not touch one another and are left to rest. During the resting stage, the water in the casings drains away and the dough fills the casing completely. To complete this process, the sucuk must be rested for approximately 6–12 hours at 10–15 degrees Celsius.
7. Once the necessary environment and temperature have been established, the rested sucuk is transferred to maturation rooms. At this stage, drying takes place along with fermentation. This process may vary according to the producer. Fermentation may occur naturally or through the addition of pure cultures to the sucuk dough. During this fermentation stage, the meat must be monitored continuously. This stage should continue until the moisture content of the final product falls to approximately 40%.
8. The final stage of sucuk production is storage and packaging. The products should be stored in cold rooms below 10 degrees Celsius, at 65–75% relative humidity and with an air flow of 0.05 m/s. Products whose moisture content has fallen to 40%, whose color development is complete, which are suitable for slicing, and whose taste and aroma have settled are packaged. The stage following packaging is defined as marketing. Sucuk production is completed and the product is put up for sale.
What Should a Suitable Fermentation Environment Be Like for Making Sucuk?
Sucuk production consists of a series of processes that must be carried out by establishing suitable environmental conditions. There are also specific procedures that must be followed for fermentation. Although these procedures vary according to the producer and the type of sucuk, certain points require attention. These points are relative humidity, air flow, and temperature.
- During fermentation, the relative humidity should initially be 95%, and this level is expected to decrease to 75–80% toward the end of maturation.
- At the beginning of fermentation, the air flow in the environment should be 1 m/s and should gradually decrease throughout maturation.
- The temperature of the environment is very important during fermentation. It should be between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius.
What Are the Methods of Producing Sucuk?
Sucuk can be produced using two different methods. These methods are fermentation and heat treatment. There are two varieties: fermented sucuk and heat-treated sucuk.
What Should Be Considered When Making Sucuk?
Since sucuk, which is enjoyed by everyone, is made from meat, particular attention must be paid to certain points. The considerations in sucuk production are listed below.
- Using high-quality meat,
- Ensuring that the meat is properly rested after slaughter,
- Carefully monitoring the pH balance,
- Removing bones, coarse fat, tendons, ligaments, lymph nodes, large blood vessels, nerves, and fascia from the meat to be used in sucuk production,
- Using fat, tail fat, and subcutaneous fat in production,
- Properly balancing the ratio of meat to fat when preparing the dough,
- Not using DFD or PSE meat (DFD = Dry Firm Dark; PSE = Pale Soft Exudative),
- Preferring the use of nitrite and monosaccharides,
- Ensuring that the additives used in production are pure and of high microbiological quality,
- Hanging the sucuk in the maturation room so that the pieces do not touch one another,
- Correctly adjusting humidity levels, air flow, and temperature, which are important points to consider during production.
