Seeking Sumac Sausages. Sujuk?

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el Ducko
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Post by el Ducko » Sun Jan 12, 2014 04:09

Soujoukforlife wrote:Soujouk still in stocking casing and soujouk with casing removed:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/40/tw4g.jpg/
I recently found three brands of soujouk for sale at a Lebanese grocery in Austin, Texas. We've been in uncivilized territory recently (...anything east of the Neches River and north of the Red River), so I haven't had a chance to get back there, but will in the near future.

My question: the recipes talk about fermenting soujouk using ladies' stockings for casing, like shown in the picture, yet it looks flat when removed. So did the soujouk in the store. Do you remove it from the stocking after a couple of weeks, then pound it flat? Is that so it will dry faster? Or :lol: did the lady want her stocking back? (Just kidding. ...I hope. :roll: )
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Soujoukforlife
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Post by Soujoukforlife » Mon Jan 13, 2014 16:34

After stuffing your casings, you should put them between wooden boards and put some slight weight on it for 24 hrs then hang. This action will squeeze out juices, adhere your stocking to your meat, and give you that flatter shape. In commercial soujouk with animal casings, (often beef or something to stay halal, but some companies cater strictly to non-muslims by using pig) there's a good chance that air got in there when stuffing, so they pin-prick air bubbles and flatten it to remove air. Either way, flattening reduces thickness which in turn decreases drying time.

Taking it out of the casing early to pound it wound not be wise for two reasons.

First, when you take them out they will literally peel off the meat and you wont be able to get back to that meat+stocking tight contact you had before.

Additionally, you want to let it produce a slight exterior curb on its own as it dries inward and any pounding could be counter-productive and mean waiting longer. You could take it down and gently roll over it with a rolling pin every 2-3 days if you feel it's necessary. Eventually it will dry in the shape you have suggested for it

But, since a stocking casing is way more air permeable than air drying through pin pricked intestines I would say your sausages would dry quicker this way anyway and your lady will have her stockings back in no time :mrgreen:
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Post by el Ducko » Sat May 31, 2014 05:33

Recently bought some "Eureka" brand dried beef soujuk at a Lebanese grocery store in Austin. It was produced by Eureka Sausage Company in North Hollywood, California. It`s a flattened sausage with oval-shaped ends, about a foot long by 2-1/2 inches wide by a uniform one inch thick. It`s very dense, giving it the texture that you would expect in a fermented, dried sausage. The list of ingredients gives us a clue to its recipe:
  • Beef
    Salt
    Cumin
    Garlic
    Allspice
    Dextrose
    Sugar
    Sodium Erythorbate
    Lactic Acid
    Sodium Nitrite
I was surprised that there was no sumac. The flavor was... how to describe...? deep, maybe, similar to beef jerky but with a middle eastern taste and a nice tang from the ferment and the lactic acid.

The grocer told me that the key to his version is sumac and vinegar. (I suspect that his recipe is for a fresh sausage, given the vinegar.) It should be interesting to pursue this farther. Meanwhile, I found a merguez recipe which uses sumac, which I'll make today.
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