As usual, I turned to Wikipedia first. They said, in part:
...looks like you can. So, searching further, I stumbled upon an interesting internet post at http://www.antoniotahhan.com/2010/12/21 ... m-scratch/ which describes an interesting Armenian sausage called sujuk. Check the post. It has lots of pictures. Here`s his recipe, echoed for those too lazy to visit the website. It appears to be a basic recipe, put together by someone`s aunt, done traditionally. Bear in mind that, for you and I, cure #1, possibly cure #2, is needed. (This will be discussed below.)Sujuk, also "sucuk" and soudjouk is a dry, spicy sausage in Turkish, Bulgarian and Albanian cuisine eaten from the Balkans to the Middle East and Central Asia.
Sujuk consists of ground meat (usually beef, but pork is used in non-Muslim countries and horse meat in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan), with various spices including cumin, sumac, garlic, salt, and red pepper, fed into a sausage casing and allowed to dry for several weeks. It can be more or less spicy; it is fairly salty and has a high fat content.
Sujuk may be eaten cooked (when raw, it is very hard and stiff). It is often cut into slices and cooked without additional oil, its own fat being sufficient to fry it. At breakfast, it is used in a way similar to bacon or spam. It is fried in a pan, often with eggs (e.g. as breakfast in Egypt), accompanied by a hot cup of sweet black tea. Sujuk is sometimes cooked with haricot bean or incorporated into pastries at some regions in Turkey. In Bulgaria, raw, sliced sujuk is often served as an appetizer withrakia other high alcoholic drinks. In Lebanon, cooked sliced sujuk is made into sandwiches with garlic sauce and tomato.
Sujuk Sausage
yields approx 1kg
Components
● 1kg ground beef, freshly ground
● 2 Tbsp cumin, ground
● 2 Tbsp allspice, ground
● 1 1/2 Tbsp fenugreek (optional), ground
● 1 1/2 Tbsp paprika
● 1 1/2 Tbsp salt
● 1/4 cup garlic, minced
Putting them all together
1. Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate overnight.
2. Stuff meat mixture into clean, porous stockings and let hang for 3-5 days in a cool, dry place away from any sunlight.
3. Once pouches are dry and firm to the touch, remove from the hanging rod and store in the refrigerator - leftover pouches keep great in the freezer.
Notes:Make sure whatever you use to encase the meat is clean, but more importantly make sure it does not have any detergent scent. Sujok keeps great in the freezer. I bring down a pouch at a time from the freezer to the refrigerator as I go through it.
Naturally, there are concerns about spoilage. Here are a few posts in reply to his recipe:
With regards to the temperature, this should only be done in the fall/winter when the weather is relatively cool (40-50 degrees F). If you use the freshest meat possible, keep it away from any direct sunlight, and use enough salt, you should be fine.
Sujuk is usually prepared in late fall and throughout winter in Aleppo. Most importantly, the weather should be cool outside to avoid the meat from spoiling. Choose a location that is cool and receives a lot of ventilation (the air/ventilation will help dry the sujuk). Any porous cloth should work as a bag - a lot of families sew their own "bags" made out of leftover cotton fabric. Make sure that whatever cloth you use is clean and does not have any detergent scent.
The sujuk I have always had, home-made or store bought, has a little acidity to it. Does it acquire the acidity from the fermentation during drying? Or does it have a minimal amount of some type of acid such as citric acid added. Mind you, I actually like the subtle acidity; I am just curious. I am going to try your recipe and taste it fresh and dry to compare the acidity.
Fenegreek is basic in Egyptian "Sujuk", especially "Pastrami", mixed with garlic and paprica and touch of salt. In Pastrami, you add drops of water to form a "paste", then cover all surface of the raw eye of round beef with about one or two millimeter thick.. as for fear of contamination, in "ALL" cases of eating sujuk or pastrami they shouldn`t be eaten raw in ANY CASE, they have to be well cooked or fried now that lots of bacterial contaminants are to be a concern nowadays, not only that, utensils, hands, cutting boards and anything that comes in touch with raw meat have to be sterilized, too bad for the fellow who hates the smell of bleach because it`s the best sterilizer along with detergent.
Still no mention of sumac. Further looking turned up nothing, except that it has a lemony taste and is often used in Middle Eastern meat dishes such as kebabs, fattoush (salad made with fresh vegetables and toasted pita bread), and kofta (lamb meatballs). ...which is good enough for me. In keeping with the other spices, it looks like 2 tablespoons of sumac will work.
Notice the HUGE amount of garlic, and a traditionally high salt level.. No, that`s not a misprint.
But there are other recipes which get more elaborate. Salt, paprika, garlic, fenugreek, cumin, onion powder, cayenne, allspice, cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, even pomegranate juice come into play, as well as red wine and various anise-flavored distilled spirits.
Len Poli gets in on the act: at http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Soojookh.pdf he adds cure #2 to the recipe before undergoing drying at 50 degF and 55-60% relative humidity. Cure is omitted in his "red soujouk" recipe at http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Soujouk-red.pdf which features paprika and red wine, which dries in ambient (albeit cool) air. However, in his "black soujouk" recipe at http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Soujouk-black.pdf which has black and white pepper, cinnamon, allspice, and ouzo (anise liqueur) and dries under the same conditions, he admits to optionally adding cure #1.
Poli`s recipes were sent to him by an Australian website visitor. Perhaps our Aussie friends have some recipes to share? And CW, here's an opportunity for another of your articles on dried sausages, the role of salt in reducing aW, cure#1 vs. cure #2, and why Armenian families may be dying off at the hands of kindly old aunts making sausage the traditional way.
Meanwhile, I continue to seek a way to use sumac in sausage. If you have experience with sumac, please share. Otherwise, it goes into za`atar (sumac, sesame seeds, and thyme/majoram/oregano in olive oil, for dipping pita bread). ...which, come to think of it, is a pretty good way to use sumac.