Homemade Sucuk – Intense Turkish garlic sausage
- Type
- Cured sausage
- Level
- Medium
- Rating
- Rate this recipe
In this post I’ll show you how to make sucuk yourself. It’s easier than you might think, and a moderate amount of work gives you a delicious result.
Sucuk is an aromatic, air-dried raw sausage with a firm place in Turkish cooking. Its bold spice mixture gives it an intense flavor. With so much garlic, it is also known as garlic sausage.
The meat is beef combined with veal or lamb.
The drying time changes the texture, so you can make it just the way you like it. That also sets homemade sucuk apart from the supermarket version.
Have fun and good luck making it!
Table of Contents
Sucuk recipe – what you need
Ingredients per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| sucuk | ||
| beef brisket with fat | 750 g | |
| lamb, such as shoulder | 250 g | |
Spices per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| garlic cloves | 80 g |
| paprika | 35 g |
| cumin | 20 g |
| Pul Biber (optional if you do not like heat) | 20 g |
| salt | 19.5 g |
| black pepper | 15 g |
| Cure #1 | 2.5 g |
Equipment
- Meat grinder
- Spice grinder
- Sausage stuffer
- Needle or sausage pricker for air pockets
- Beef round casings, caliber 47, or special artificial casings
If you plan to fry the sucuk immediately instead of air-drying it, you can replace the salt and Cure #1 with ordinary salt.
Equipment
- Meat grinder
- Spice grinder
- Sausage stuffer
- Needle or sausage pricker for air pockets
- Beef round casings, caliber 47, or special artificial casings
I recommend fibrous casings in caliber 55/25 for maturation. These are thicker but support maturation well. You cannot use them for fried sucuk.
See my sausage-making equipment recommendations.
Making sucuk – step-by-step instructions
1. Cut the meat
Cut the beef brisket and lamb into evenly sized pieces or strips. Choose a size that fits easily through your meat grinder.
2. Chill the meat
Put the meat in the freezer for 1-2 hours. This makes it easier to grind and keeps the mixture cool while mixing. The firmer the partly frozen meat, the cleaner the grind.
3. Make the garlic paste
Peel the garlic and use a grater or garlic press to make a fine paste. It needs to be very fine so it spreads evenly through the sausage meat.
4. Grind the spices
Finely grind the pepper, salt, Cure #1 and cumin in a spice grinder. Grind half the Pul Biber and leave the other half as whole flakes, for both flavor and visible chili flakes.
5. Grind the meat
Choose a grinder plate depending on whether you prefer coarse or fine sucuk. I usually use the small plate (4 mm), but that is a matter of taste. For a particularly fine texture, grind it twice if needed.
6. Add the seasonings
Add the spice mixture and garlic paste to the ground meat.
7. Knead thoroughly
Knead thoroughly until the mixture is evenly mixed and sticky. Allow at least 3-4 minutes. You can also use a hand mixer with dough hooks. Tip: Form a ball and hold it against your hand. If it sticks, the consistency is right.
8. Prepare the casing
Slide the casing onto the sausage stuffer and feed the mixture slowly into it. Once the mixture reaches the casing, tie the end. Tip: Cut your casing and string to length beforehand.
9. Stuff the sucuk
Fill the casings calmly, keeping air pockets to a minimum. This mixture is firmer than a typical bratwurst mixture, so take your time.
10. Tie the end
Tie off the end a little before the casing ends, pressing the mixture back firmly so the sausage is tightly filled.
11. Prick air pockets
Use a needle or sausage pricker to open any air pockets. Prick into the middle as well so everything sits tightly. This matters especially with raw cured sausage, because trapped air can cause mold.
12. Let the curing color develop
Hang the sucuk for 24 hours at high humidity (>90 %) and room temperature (20-25 °C, 68–77 °F) to let the curing color develop. Spray it regularly with water to keep the humidity high. Important: The temperature should not exceed 25 °C, or the bacteria will work too quickly.
13. Mature and dry
After the curing color has developed, hang the sucuk in a cool place. Humidity should be about 70-80 % and temperature at most 15 °C. My cellar was about 15.5 °C at 72 % humidity. Tip: Hang a damp towel nearby to keep humidity at 80-90 % during the first days. A cool cellar also works if you do not have a curing chamber; I did it that way for a long time.
14. Slice and enjoy
After about 1 week, your sucuk is ready to eat if you like it softer. I let mine mature for about 3 weeks, which makes it firmer and more intensely flavored. Your sucuk is ready. Enjoy! 😄
Frequently asked questions
How long does sucuk keep?
How long does sucuk keep?
Your sucuk keeps for about 3 to 6 months in the refrigerator. Keep it loose in the refrigerator, otherwise there is a risk of mold. I recommend checking it regularly.
Do I need Cure #1 for sucuk?
Do I need Cure #1 for sucuk?
If you are making it to fry straight away, you do not need curing salt. You can also dry sucuk using natural maturation: use ordinary sea salt and increase the salt amount to 30 g. Maturing without curing salt calls for even more care than usual. Make sure you have the right drying conditions, otherwise the sausage will rot and grow mold.
Which spices go into sucuk?
Which spices go into sucuk?
The classic mixture uses paprika, cumin, black pepper, plenty of garlic and Pul Biber (chili flakes). Paprika gives the typical color, cumin the characteristic flavor. Pul Biber is optional and adds heat. I grind half the chili flakes finely and leave the other half whole.
Can you smoke sucuk?
Can you smoke sucuk?
Yes, sucuk can be smoked for a more intense flavor. Cold smoke it after the curing color has developed, below 25 °C, before hanging it to mature. One or two smoking cycles give a light smoky flavor. Traditionally, sucuk is air-dried without smoke.
How can I change the texture?
How can I change the texture?
The texture depends on drying time and fat content. More fat makes the sausage juicier; longer drying makes it firmer. After one week it is still soft and juicy; after three weeks it is noticeably firmer and more intensely flavored. It is a matter of taste!
this will be my first try at air dried sausage and i am wondering how much cure for 1 KG of meat? you mention cure but give no specific measure
Sorry Peter, forgot to copy it in. It is added now.
Hey, so I’m not sure I understand but I see the recipe says “.25% cure”
What is that in relation to? Like .25% grams per kilogram? Sorry for the question on this.
It is grams not %. was a typo sorry.
Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.my family loved it.will be sharing this recipe with my friends.they will like it.